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During an event at the Buffalo Chip venue at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, masses gathered to see former-racer, bike designer, and motorcycle lifestyle brand purveyor Roland Sands. Unfortunately for all of those involved, the debut didn’t go quite as planned.

As the video after the jump shows, Roland rides his Hooligan race bike onto the stage (not the new Indian Scout FTR750, as had been reported earlier)…and then right off of it, and into the watching crowd. Right before the bike goes off the stage, you can hear someone say that the bike has no front brakes.

American race fans will see a familiar face during next weekend’s World Superbike races at Donington Park, as its has just been announced that MotoAmerica’s Cameron Beaubier will be ridng with the Pata Yamaha factory team.

Cameron Beaubier will be filling in for the injured Sylvain Guintoli, who fractured his ankle during the Superpole session at the Imola round – an injury that is taking longer to heal than expected.

While it’s bad news for the Guintoli, the move is a boon for Beaubier, as the weekend will likely serve as a public audition for the young American in the World Superbike paddock.

The Octo Pramac Yakhnich Ducati team yesterday confirmed that Michele Pirro will substitue for Danilo Petrucci during the Italian’s absence. Petrucci was forced to pull out of the Qatar Grand Prix after bone fragments from his the broken metacarpals in his right hand displaced while riding.

Petrucci had broken his hand in a crash during testing at Phillip Island, and had tried to ride despite it being just 22 days after surgery, where normally the recovery periods is at least 4 to 6 weeks.

The announcement that Pirro will be replacing Petrucci came as a disappointment to many fans who had been hoping that Casey Stoner would step in to replace the injured Italian.

However, speaking to the official MotoGP.com website, Stoner made it perfectly clear that he had no intention of racing, and wanted to focus solely on testing.

We will miss the one-wheeled antics of Jack Miller, as the Australian is to miss the Sepang MotoGP test, due to start on Monday, February 1st.

The Marc VDS Racing rider broke the bones in his right leg during a motocross training accident two weeks ago, and will not be fit in time for the opening three-day test of the 2016 MotoGP season.

Miller is continuing his recovery, and already back in training, working on his fitness with the aim of being ready to participate in the second MotoGP test, at Phillip Island in his native Australia, on February 17th.

Jack Miller has broken his right leg in a motocross training incident. The Australian was riding at the Bellpuig motocross track in Spain on Sunday, when he landed heavily, fracturing both the fibula and tibia down near the ankle joint.

In a post on Instagram, Miller explained that he had been forced to shut off the throttle when another rider lost control on the up-ramp of a triple-jump. He had not crashed, but the impact of the landing had caused the damage to his ankle.

Miller was taken to the Dexeus Institut in Barcelona, where he was examined by Dr. Mir, and then had both the bones in his leg plated with screws. Examination after the surgery confirmed that it had been successful.

The injury to Miller does mean that his participation at the first test of the year at Sepang is in doubt. In a press release issued by the team, Marc VDS team manager Michael Bartholemy stressed the importance of waiting until the Australian was fit enough to ride.

The link between helmet laws and motorcyclists fatalities may seem intuitive and obvious, but now because of a study published in the American Journal of Surgery we have scientific proof that helmets save lives.

The study focuses around Michigan, which repealed its mandatory helmet law (thanks to help from the AMA) in April 2012, and has since had three riding seasons with a greatly reduce helmet-wearing requirement.

After the repeal, motorcyclists in Michigan can now ride without a helmet if they are over 21-years-old, have had their license for at least two years, and have at least $20,000 in additional medical insurance coverage.

Postulating that legislatures made a mistake in that repeal, the basic conclusions from the study are that the state has seen an increase in injury severity for motorcycles, a higher in-patient mortality for motorcyclists, and worse neurological damage for motorcyclists.

While those are all painful logical results, the numbers paint an even more grim picture.

Aleix Espargaro has fractured a vertebra in a training accident. The factory Suzuki rider was out training on an off-road bike, when he landed heavily from a jump, and felt pain in his back.

He was taken to hospital, where an MRI scan revealed a flexion fracture of the vertebra, which will force him to miss the Sepang test planned for next week.

The injury suffered by Espargaro should not see him out of action for long. The Spaniard was discharged from hospital on Friday morning, and will now have to rest for a two to three week period to allow him to recover.

Alex De Angelis is home at last. After spending nearly two weeks in a hospital in Japan, recovering from serious injuries suffered in a big smash at Motegi, the Iodaracing rider was flown home on Sunday, where he received further treatment in the State Hospital of San Marino.

With the doctors happy that he was well enough to go home, De Angelis was discharged from hospital yesterday.

Given the severity of his injuries – fractured vertebrae, broken ribs, and a badly bruised lung – De Angelis faces a long rehabilitation process. He will have to wear a back brace for 45 days, undergo continuous medical checks and start physical rehabiliation to recover his fitness.

The doctors have ruled out a return to racing in the short term, but say that it may be possible for De Angelis to be fit for MotoGP testing in Sepang, at the start of February 2016.

More good news on Alex De Angelis’ condition. On Saturday, the Ioda Racing team issued a press release announcing that De Angelis had been cleared to fly home by the doctors at the Dokkyo University Hospital.

After eight days in the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital, doctors are no longer listing him as being in critical condition. With De Angelis no longer critical, he will be able to fly home to San Marino, where he will receive further treatment in the State Hospital in the tiny mountain microstate.

The Ioda Racing team have posted another update on Alex De Angelis’ condition after his horrific crash at Motegi. Overall, it is good news, though there is still plenty of reason for caution.

De Angelis’ condition is stable, though he still faces several threats to his health. The good news is that the intercranial hematoma has not grown, meaning it will probably be naturally absorbed by the body in the coming days. Doctors continue to monitor that situation.

De Angelis remains immobilized due to the spinal injuries he suffered. The fractured vertebrae mean he is being forced to lie still while they start to heal.

Alex De Angelis remains in hospital in Japan after his horrific crash during practice at Motegi. He suffered multiple injuries in the accident, including fractured vertebrae, broken ribs and contusions on the lung. He also took a severe blow to the head, rendering him unconscious.

Though CT scans of his brain showed no initial damage, on Sunday, the Italian developed some intercranial bleeding, or bleeding in the brain. De Angelis was kept under sedation, to reduce the pain from his fractures, and to allow the doctors to stabilize his condition.