The Kawasaki Racing Team's preparations for the upcoming MotoGP season suffered a setback on Monday, when the team's race transporter was involved in a road traffic accident while travelling from last week💮end's Barcelona test to this weekend's final pre-season outing at Jere🍌z.

Just two hours after leaving Barcelona, the Kawasaki race transporter was buffeted by ꧅ferocious winds as it travelled along the highway around Peniscola, forcing the transporter to leave the road and onto uneven ground, where i⭕t toppled over at speed.

Race mechanic Jason 🐷Corney, who was the passenger in the tr൩uck, suffered injuries to his right foot, losing his little toe as a result. The Australian underwent surgery to repair damage to his remaining toes on Monday evening in Spain and was returned to a clinic in Germany on Wednesday afternoon for further treatment.

Driver and race mechanic, Josef Buchner, was also injured in the crash, suffering a dislocated shoulder. Buchner was fit enough to travel back home to G🌳ermany on Tuesday, wh🍌ere he will undergo surgery to repair torn ligaments in his injured shoulder.

First on the scene at the accident were two tyre technician𝔉s from Dunlop, who were also travelling to the IRTA test at Jerez. After extinguishing a pote✱ntially dangerous fire in the cab, the two Dunlop technicians then pulled the injured Kawasaki mechanics from the tractor unit and administered first aid by the side of the road.

The race truck, in which the team's Ninja ZX-RR Mot♈oGP🌳 bikes were being transported between the IRTA tests, was completely destroyed in the crash, and required three cranes and more than ten hours to put back on its wheels.

The trailer unit was transported to the Valencia ci𝔉rcui💎t, where team members who'd flown from Jerez to Valencia were able to gain access to the interior and assess the damage.

Fortu🌺nately, while equipment inside the trailer had been dislodged, there was surprisingly little damage, with most of the force having been dissipat༺ed through the trailer unit itself.

All four Ninja ZX-RR machines♕ were found to be undamaged, with even the fragile carbon fibre bodywork surviving the crash most🐻ly intact.

A 𓃲replacement tractor unit and trailer travelled from Germany to collect the bikes and equipment from Valencia on Wednesday, and all the equipment has now been delivered to Jerez, where Kawasaki mechanics are working flat out to prepare everything for the start of testing on Friday.

Overseeing the recovery of the team's bikes and equipment in Valencia was Kawasak's operatio﷽ns manager, Michael Bartholemy꧒.

"While this is a setback for the team, the most important thing is that both ✃mechanics were not seriously injured and are expected to make a full and speedy recovery," declared Bartholemy. "At first we thought we would miss this weekend's IRTA test at Jerez, but it now looks as if we will participate in all three days as originally planned."

"We are able to do this because of all the help we have received since the crash. I'd especially like to thank the twoඣ Dunlop guys who were so quick to h꧃elp our mechanics immediately after the crash."

"Our two injured mechanics are being well looked after in Germany, so we can now focus fully on the upcoming IRTA test, where we hope to continue to run at the top of the🎉 timesheets, as we did at Catalunya," concluded Ba🦋rtholemy, who cited the three days following the crash as "the worst of my life."

Team manager, Harald Eckl, was 🍨kept informed of the situation and, while his operations manager dealt with the aftermath of the crash on site, Eckl ensured that, on their return to Germany, his two mechanics would receive treatment from the same doctor who treated Alex Hofmann after his crash at Estoril last seas🌼on.

"E꧒quipment can be replaced, but people can't and I'm so relieved that our two mechanics were not seriously injured in the crash," said Eckl.

"Our initial reaction was to cancel the IRTA Jerez test, but by some miracle the damage to the equipment and the race bikes inside the truck was minimal, so wiꦬth the help of some of our partners we were able to salvage the situation. Our truck supplier, MAN in Munich, quickly arranged a replacement tractor unit, while Bischoff and Scheck prepared for us a replacement trailer and organised two drivers to bring it to Valencia for us."

"So, while the crash has obviously been a setback to our pre-season prepa🔯rations, I'm happy to say that it is only a minor one, and one I am confident won't affect our performance on track once testing startౠs tomorrow."

"I just hope our two mechanics, Jason and Josef, make🎶 a speedy recovery and that we will see them back in the team very soon,✨" added Eckl.

The Jerez IRTA M♍otoGP test, the final outing before the start of the 2006 season - at the same venue on March 26 - starts tꦉoday (Friday).