Toni Elias targeting Brno MotoGP return

Toni Elias has targeted a return to action just 50 days after suffering a horrific break of his left femur in Assen.

Elias is hoping to return to ride his Gresini Honda RC212V at the Brno MotoGP in the Czech Republic on August 19, 2007.

He underwent successful surgery at the Wilhelmina Hospital last week and flew back to Barcelona on Saturday to begin his rehabilitation.

Incredibly he was walking assisted less than 24 hours after his operation.

If Brno comes too early then he intends to return in the Misano MotoGP on September at the latest.

Toni Elias crashed in the opening free practice session in Assen at the Dutch MotoGP and smashed his left femur when he was sent hurtling into the air by the trackside gravel trap.

Doctors expect the recuperation period to be three months, claiming the average person would need between seven and 11 months to regain fitness from such a severe injury.

Toni Elias said: “I want to be back racing as soon as possible. It is a bad injury but I am determined not to be away for too long. I hate watching the races on TV.”

Elias’s crash continued his wretched luck in Assen, and he has yet to contest a MotoGP race at the Dutch venue.

He missed the 2005 clash after breaking a wrist and ankle in a test at Le Mans, and 12 months ago broke and dislocated his shoulder in opening free practice.

Safety Commission member Valentino Rossi refused to blame the gravel trap for causing Toni Elias’s injury, but said the situation needed to be reviewed for the 2008 Dutch MotoGP.

“The gravel bed is exactly on the same level. The problem is a body of 60kg arriving at 130 or 140km from asphalt it is normal to fly. The problem for me is the gravel bed is too deep.

“The body when arrive is more easy to have a bad crash because it is too deep.

“If you walk in the gravel, f**k when you put the foot the gravel arrive very high and this is the problem for me and we have to improve for next year,” said the Italian.