Barbera Aiming For Return To Track & Good Form At Sepang

A globetrotting few weeks for the MotoGP World Championship continues this week as the series moves from Australia to Malaysia in the matter of a few days for the penultimate round of the 2011 season at the Sepang International Circuit. It is a track the riders know like the back of their hands, having spent much of the preseason testing there, but it remains one of the most demanding on the calendar. Designed by Hermann Tilke it combines fast and slow corners with two interminable parallel straights and the racing invariably takes place in unbearable heat. The series arrives with a new MotoGP World Champion in Casey Stoner but without the potential runner-up, Jorge Lorenzo, who is missing through injury.

Exercises in articulation, mobilisation, strength and stability, as well as intense massage and kinesiotherapy bandages have been the only thing on the menu for MAPFRE Aspar Héctor Barberá over the past week, following his release from hospital last Monday. The Spaniard has been putting in two gruelling sessions a day in order to be as fit as possible following his broken collarbone sustained at the Grand Prix of Japan three weeks ago and after missing out in Australia he is desperate to get back on his bike in Malaysia. Héctor knows he will not be at 100% fitness but he is determined to try and return to the good form he was showing before his injury.

Héctor Barberá:
“I have not stopped working ever since I left the Hospital USP Dexeus. The crash in Japan was pretty nasty and it was a shame that I got hurt but when these things happen you just have to deal with it in the best way you can. At first I was really upset and in a lot of pain but little by little I have been able to recover and I want to thank Dr. Xavier for the perfect job he has done on me. I also want to thank my physiotherapist Jordi Reig for his help because without him such a swift recovery would not have been possible. Ever since I left the hospital I have been in Alcoy with my physio, doing two sessions a day and working extremely hard to be in Malaysia in the best possible shape. I know I won’t be at 100% but I am keen to give my best and return to the good form we were showing before the injury.”

Source: Aspar Media