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Patrick Carpentier will miss this weekend's Molson Indy Vancouver CART event after suffering an injury in a cycling accident over the weekend.
The driver of the Team Alumax Reynard/Mercedes-Benz broke his left collarbone after falling from his bicycle in a park near his home in Indianapolis. Carpentier was admitted to Methodist Hospital Saturday evening where he underwent surgery to repair the injury. He was released on Sunday afternoon.
"I was riding my bike and put the front wheel off the pavement," Carpentier explained. "Leaving the pavement made the front wheel go away and I flipped. It all happened so fast I did not even have time to brace myself for the fall. It's kind of ironic that I could walk away from a major crash like I had in qualifying at Elkhart Lake and then end up hurting myself riding my bicycle!"
Carpentier is planning to be back in time for the Toyota Grand Prix of Monterey Featuring the Texaco/Havoline 300 at Monterey, Calif., on Sept. 7. A replacement driver will be announced later this week for the Vancouver race.
[SpeedCenter has a hunch - Roberto Moreno already spent the whole weekend at the Bettenhausen team as advisor in Elkhart Lake. He's a proven shoe-in from earlier this season when he successfully took over for the injured Christian Fittipaldi. He's also looking for a ride in '98, and another chance to show what he's got should be tempting enough to have a chat with Tony Bettenhausen right away...]
Source: CART News Service