One of the hot topics this time of year is testing. It is when the new bikes are rolled out after a winter of modifications and put under the harsh scrutiny of the stop watch. Like the melting of snow in the spring, the bike covers melt away to reveal new secret compound tires, fancy unobtanium brake systems, magic suspension modifications, monster engine upgrades and sleeker more aerodynamic bodywork. The crowds ohhh and ahhh. Some factories beat their chests in triumph while others sulk back to the workshop for some frantic last minute changes. Timing sheets show lap records that have been shattered, everyone predicts the most competitive season yet and the track owners start trying to figure out how to deal with bikes that go 10 mph faster than last year without dumping millions into track re-configuration projects. Ah, the joys of spring.

One thing that usually only gets mentioned in passing are that the riders aren’t usually put under that same level of scrutiny, despite their mental and physical conditioning being more essential to success than anything on the bike. The off season is usually a time when riders recover from the previous season: some guys relax, others go into obsessive training while others visit their favorite surgeons to fix the problems that accumulated over the previous season. There are always the guys that are left scrambling for rides during the off-season and teams trying to sort out what bikes, classes and mechanics they will have available for the next year. Anyone that comes to the first test session in anything other than 100% fitness, without 100% focus and without a team that is 100% prepared is already behind the eight ball.

In MotoGP this year, there have only been a few riders in that position because of health problems. The biggest name in this position is Max Biaggi. At the end of last season, he broke his leg in a Supermoto training accident. Being unable to walk wasn’t a big enough hindrance to prevent him from getting promoted to the much coveted lead Honda rider position but did threaten to sideline him for the first official test after the mandatory winter test ban. However, the miracle of modern medicine raised its head, along with a helping of space age technology, and he showed up at Sepang with only a heavy limp and a fancy carbon fiber boot. As it turns out, he was able to cut respectible times ending the test fifth fastest and less than two seconds of session leader Capirossi’s best. Out of potential disaster comes success.

The only other MotoGP rider still on the injured list is Capirossi’s teammate on the Ducati, Carlos Checa. Checa suffered a freak accident during a joint Ducati-Ferrari press event where he cut his left hand on the ice screws on a go-kart. Checa made the Sepang test, despite the injured hand, but then caught the flu and was unable to ride the majority of the test. Despite missing most of the first test, he showed up a day early for this week’s second official test at Sepang and punched in on the clock to start getting seat time. Tomorrows time sheets will show how well he has bounced back from his injury.

Both Kenny Roberts, Jr. and Nicky Hayden suffered from late season injuries last year but both claimed to be back at 100% by the first Sepang test. Otherwise, the MotoGP paddock has been uncharacteristically injury free during the off season and starts the new season generally healthy. But given the reputation for crashing with riders like Xaus and Melandri, there are still a a few more big hurtles to cross before a full grid of injury-free riders can really be announced for the first race at Jerez in April.

Closer to home, things are looking a bit more gruesome.

First of all, two of the star riders in the AMA paddock spent time late last year having hardware removed from their bodies. Jamie Hacking and Miguel Duhamel both took the off season to visit the famed Dr. Ting to have plates removed from previously broken bones. Honda’s star rider Duhamel, after a few sessions of this, has reversed his previous transformation into a cyborg and is back to being more bone than metal plates. Miguel trains with Lance Armstrong’s fitness coach so he should have all the tools necessary to recover quickly. For Jamie, it was the final step in repairing the damage that may well have cost him and Yamaha a championship last season. Both spent some time resting on the couch but otherwise shouldn’t be affected. Both showed up at Daytona fit and appeared to be race ready.

The same can nearly be said of Ducati rider Eric Bostrom now that he’s had the winter to continue the healing process with his shoulder which he injured in his crash at Road Atlanta. He claims to be close to 100% and has already been putting in strenuous training time aboard his bicycle and the rock climbing wall. Again, only the stop watch will show if he’s really ready to race but nothing raises a red flag at this point. Eric really needs thing to go well this season and can’t afford to start with with a bum shoulder.

Another question mark is whether Erion Honda’s Kurtis Robert is ready. He missed the first tire test at Daytona but did start riding today at Fontana. He spent half his 2004 MotoGP season with an injured wrist but says that he has completely healed. Since wrist injuries are among the slowest to heal, only having seat time on the bike will really answer the question of how the hand has recovered. That could be answered as soon as tomorrow since his first day at Fontana was spent adjusting the bike and learning the team.

More seriously on the injured list is Mat Mladin who is still recovering from the effects of his 80mph crash at Daytona during the first tire test. He was back aboard his Suzuki today at Fontana, turning the second fastest lap of the day, so obviously he isn’t too injured. The question is how well that chipped bone is doing and whether the race season will start before the bone has re-knit itself. If so, he’ll be fighting that leg injury all season long. Possible bad news for Mat but perhaps the only chance his competition has of getting the Superbike championship away from the Aussie.

The final person fresh from a hospital visit is Kawasaki’s Roger Lee Hayden. News broke today that he was in a serious bicycle accident last week while training which has turned the left side of his body into one big slab of roadrash. While skin heals pretty quickly, its basically impossible to move for a week without the painful experience of breaking scabs open and that rules out any physical training. It also rules out this week’s testing at Fontana. With Rog racing a new ZX-6RR this season, that lack of seat time could be tragic. We’ll see if he’ll be ready for Kawasaki’s next test at Laguna or if he’ll miss that test too.

Even among the riders listed as full fit, there are some lingering wounds that may yet play a part. Yamaha’s Damon Buckmaster spent most of last season with various bone injuries but returned for the last two races of the year. Likewise, Josh Hayes took a pretty big tumble at Road Atlanta that had him hurting for a few months. Those kinds of incidents may not affect the rider on the bike but just one nasty highside can re-break bones or re-tear tendons at the side of a previous injury. Something that takes a rider from healthy to bed-ridden in one quick twist of the throttle.

The prognosis on these two series? Well, MotoGP appears healthy and ready to bring on another season of excitement. The AMA, on the other hand, has some major players on the injured reserve list. With only a month until the opener at Daytona, the doctors may have as much to do with race results as the crew chiefs! Lets try to stay healthy out there!

[image from MotoGP web site.]