Former MotoGP world champion Nicky Hayden has broken two ribs and a shoulder blade during a training accident in Kentucky.

The Ducati team rider suffered the injuries near his home in Owensboro and has since had x-rays, a CAT scan and an MRI.

Ducati said no surgery had been scheduled but that the 30-year-old rider would have the fractures assessed by a specialist in California this week.

“Obviously, injuries are never good but it’s part of motorcycle racing,” Hayden said. “Just like at Valencia, it was kind of a freak accident.

“I was starting to train again, like I normally do during the winter, at a private track near my house. I came up behind another rider, and he went to move out of the way.

“I wasn’t going that fast, but he clipped my front wheel and I went down and landed pretty hard on my left shoulder, and that was it.”

Hayden, who became MotoGP world champion in 2006, had been training for the first time since he broke his wrist during the November 6 Valencia Grand Prix.

“It’s disappointing, but there’s nothing to do about it but heal quickly,” said Hayden, who is nicknamed ‘The Kentucky Kid’.

“Anyway, this doesn’t change my expectations for 2012.”

Photo courtesy Ducati