Takahashi surprised by Scot's decision

The team announced yesterday that it would only run Gabor Talmacsi - who joined the line-up using Takahashi's spare bike from the Catalunya race onwards - for the remainder of the season.

Although Scot stated that the main reason Takahashi was losing his ride was because of a lack of finance, the press release announcing his departure also referred to the need to recover from an ongoing back injury.

Takahashi said he was surprised by this, and that he had been ready to compete at Laguna Seca this weekend.

"I saw the release and I'm very sad about this situation," he told the official MotoGP website.

"I wanted to continue riding. But it's the team's decision. I cannot say anything now.

"But some journalists said my back is a big problem, but for me it is not a problem. Sure I had a problem with my back, and also in Assen I crashed and got damage to my back, but now I'm here and it's not a problem.

"Now I have time so I will have massages and do physical training and I'll just hope to be back to MotoGP."

MotoGP medic Dr Claudio Costa added that in his opinion the back issue was not severe enough to prevent him competing.

"At Assen Takahashi raced with a broken left index finger, and the latest crash did not make his back situation worse," Costa was quoted as saying by Gazzetta dello Sport.

"He has a lumbar disc herniation between the fifth lumbar vertebra and the sacrum, but in the Netherlands he was on his saddle with just physiotherapy and anti-inflammatory drugs. Sportsmen with the same problem did the Olympics."