Motorcycling: Rossi recovering after motocross accident
 

[May 26, 2017]  (Reuters) - Valentino Rossi has suffered slight liver and kidney lesions in a motocross accident, but the Italian MotoGP great is making "positive progress" and could be released from hospital on Friday, his Yamaha team said.

The 38-year-old nine times world champion was admitted to hospital in Rimini after the accident in eastern Italy on Thursday.

"Valentino will continue to receive pain relief over the next 12 hours and, over the course of the day, he will undergo routine diagnostic tests," Yamaha said in a statement.

"If the results are positive, he may be discharged from the hospital within the day."

Yamaha said Rossi, currently third in a championship he led before crashing in France last weekend, had spent a quiet night in hospital and felt less pain in his chest and abdomen.

"The pain is the result of slight liver and kidney lesions that have not evolved into further complications," the statement added.

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider Valentino Rossi celebrates with trophy after finishing third in the German Grand Prix MotoGP at the Sachsenring circuit in the eastern town of Hohenstein-Ernstthal, Germany, July 12, 2015. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke/File Photo

Rossi's home grand prix at Mugello, near Florence, is the next round of the MotoGP championship on June 4.

(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

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