Pedrosa Injury Leads To Rider Reshuffle

It appears that complications resulting from surgery on his
collarbone will keep Dani Pedrosa out of yet another MotoGP race,
all but ending his hopes of a championship.
The Spanish rider was involved in a controversial collision with
rider Marco Simoncelli on May 15th. Although it was initially
speculated he would be out no more than a month, doctors later had
to readjust a piece of bone after he had surgery on the injured
area. After this weekend's race, the rider will have missed more
than 40 days of action.
The Repsol Honda factory team has elected to replace Pedrosa for
the upcoming race in Assen this weekend. Japanese rider Hiroshi
Aoyama, racing for San Carlo Honda Gresini alongside Simoncelli,
will be come a temporary member of Repsol Honda and ride on the
factory bike for the race, according to Cycle News.
To fill the hole left by Aoyama's absence on the San Carlo team,
Honda will be using another Japanese rider, Kousuke Akiyosh, who is
currently a test rider for Honda.
Aoyama has been in MotoGP for seven years, although not always in
the top class. After winning the 250cc World Championship in 2009,
the Japanese rider stepped up to the upper class, where he finished
15th overall in his rookie season.