Jonathan Rea Hospitalized After Phillip Island Crash

The latest World Superbike testing session at Phillip Island caused some important victims earlier this week, with the biggest “casualty” being Jonathan Rea. What's worse, his fall in Turn 3 of the Australian circuit is actually a repeat of a previous crash on the same circuit that he suffered no further from last week.

After being forced to pay a short visit to the hospital last week, this latest crash – which also caused the first red flag of the testing session – ended just as bad for the Ulsterman. He was immediately taken to the hospital via helicopter for further X-rays on his left wrist and hand.

The third and last bad news for Rea is that the 2011 World Superbike season kicks off from as early as this very weekend, at the same Phillip Island track. Whether he'll make the grid in the season opener or not, we'll probably find out in the next couple of days. The first practice session in Australia is scheduled this Friday.

As said before, Rea was not the first rider who visited the medical centre this week, as Michel Fabrizio, Marco Melandri and Joan Lascorz all suffered tumbles that eventually hampered their testing on Day 4 of the Phillip Island test.

Meanwhile, Spanish veteran Carlos Checa completed his sweep of the World Superbike group test on Monday, after topping the timing reports for the 4th consecutive day in Australia. Under the circumstances, he heads into the season opening round as clear favorite of the pack, despite recording a lap time about a second slower as compared to the previous day.