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After hurting himself in pre-season tests, and even toying with the idea of going home to get surgery at one time, Eugene Laverty (Aprilia Racing) was able to get himself onto the grid for the two opening races of the year at Phillip Island last weekend. His effort was worthwhile in one way as he scored points for eighth in race two, but he was only able to get on the grid at all by bringing over his own physiotherapist from Europe, Mickey Kerr.

For Laverty, it is obvious that the opening race did not go the way he planned it, even after suffering an injury in testing, but he knows every point will count in 2012. "It would have been nice to have got points in both races. It would have made the effort more worthwhile if I had got two eighth positions," said Laverty from his home. "It was such an effort to ride at that level so to make it so far along and then to have the problems that had that robbed me of the points in race one was frustrating. In the end we were where we needed to be on track. It was important that Mickey came out to work with me and he really helped my chances. His help got me on the grid really. Scoring points made it worthwhile."

All the drama and fallout of two big pre-race crashes can almost be summed up in the fact that Laverty had to race with his 2011 crash helmet, as he had wrecked his two latest versions. After the heat of battle Laverty describes his own list of injuries. "Two big bangs in the head," he said. "My ankle is sprained but my left hand feels a bit more normal even after a couple of days after the race. I am just well beaten around, so my right shoulder and left fingers are hurting. My head is starting to clear up a bit more and luckily we have a bit of a break now until the next round. I don't think I need any surgery on my cracked hand. I had a similar injury a few years ago, opted against surgery and it turned out to be the best thing I could have done. I am not a big fan of getting metalwork in there unless it is completely necessary! It was a really frustrating ten days or so and everything that could go wrong did go wrong, but it wasn't really anyone's fault in the end."

Laverty, who had been a leading light of pre-season testing since he first put a leg over the Aprilia RSV4, knows he needs time more than anything to help his hand heal up - but he has an important date even before he heads to Imola for round two of the championship. "It is important that we have such a big break between Phillip Island and Imola but we have a test at Aragon on 18 and 19 March. I am aiming to be fit for that. I want to be back and to be able to ride the bike in the way I know I can. In the races in Australia it was very unnatural and not being able to push on the left handlebar was a strange feeling."