Hopkins out until at least Brno

The Kawasaki rider crashed at over 140mph and slid through a gravel trap before landing feet first in a tyre wall. The impact fractured the bottom of his tibia, reopened a previous fracture from earlier in his career, and also fractured the lateral malleolus bone at the top of his ankle.

The American had a further examination when he returned home last week, which revealed another break, a tibial plateau fracture, just below the knee, and damage to the cartilage which was causing his knee joint to lock.

He underwent surgery in Los Angeles on Monday to reset the bones in his ankle and repair the cartilage in his left knee. He will not be able to put any weight on his left leg for three weeks and will then begin his rehabilitation. It is expected to be six to eight weeks until he has fully recovered.

Kawasaki team boss Michael Bartholemy says Hopkins is disappointed to be missing his home race at Laguna Seca particularly, but hopes he will be able to return at Brno on August 17.

"I'm sorry for John because I know he was looking forward to racing in front of his home crowd at Laguna," said Bartholemy. "But it's just not possible, he's had surgery to fix his injuries and needs sufficient recovery time to ensure he's fully fit before he makes his racing return.

"We're hoping that will come at the Czech Republic Grand Prix but we'll monitor his recovery very closely and we have no intention of putting him back on the bike before he's ready. If that means he doesn't race at Brno, then that's how it will be, we don't want to risk making things worse."

The team will consider a replacement for the American round next weekend, but will not draft in another rider for Sachsenring this weekend.

"Now we know the full extent of John's injuries we're looking at the possibility of running a replacement rider at Laguna Seca," he added.