This comes from Troy's PR Agency, not an independent news source. Keep that in mind. It's dated today.

PRESS RELEASE (for immediate release)
Vimercate, October 23

CORSER RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL
LOOKS SET TO STAY WITH DUCATI IN 1999

The latest news from Troy Corser, who suffered three fractured ribs and a ruptured spleen injury in a crash at the final WSBK round in Sugo (Japan) on October 4, is that the Australian was released from Sendai hospital on Friday 16 October. After staying in Japan for the weekend, he flew out on the following Monday. The Aussie had originally planned to go back to Australia for a holiday but decided to fly back to Europe to get things sorted out for next year. We caught up with the 1996 WSBK champion today:

WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT BILL OF HEALTH?
‘My health is improving every day and the doctors said I have made a full recovery. Obviously I need a few more weeks just to make sure I’m fully healed. They didn’t have to do any surgery to stop the bleeding, I went through a non surgical operation and now there’s no pain in the spleen area. The doctors said I had to be careful not to get hit in that area for the future. The three fractured ribs are giving me a bit of pain at the moment but that’s natural for a short while with this condition’.

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE YOU TO GET BACK TO FULL FITNESS?
‘I think that in the next four to six weeks I’ll be pretty much 100% fit. I want to go back to Australia for a few weeks to relax and then start training as soon as I’m strong enough to do it. I’ll be coming back to Europe for the Motorshow in Bologna on the first weekend of December then I’ll fly back to Australia for Xmas with my family’.

YOU’VE HAD TIME TO THINK ABOUT 1999 IN HOSPITAL. WHAT HAVE YOU DECIDED?
‘At the moment I’ve agreed to a proposal Ducati put to me. I haven’t signed a final contract yet but will probably do so by the end of next week when final details have been sorted out. In 1999, Davide Tardozzi will be running the show with the new Ducati Corsa team, together with Claudio Domenicali and it looks like my teammate will be ... Carl Fogarty’.

DID YOU HAVE ANY OTHER OFFERS FROM RIVAL MANUFACTURERS?
‘I spoke to three other manufacturers who were all keen to have me on their bike, but all things considered I felt Ducati was the best choice to win the championship next year. I’m happy working with Tardozzi, I won a title with him in 1996 and this is my best bet for 1999’.
 

WHAT IS YOUR TIMETABLE FOR THE NEXT FEW MONTHS?
‘My first ride on the new bike is planned for the first weekend of February so I’ve got enough time until then to get myself fully fit. The official WSBK tests will be in Australia on the 8th/9th February but maybe I’ll be on the bike somewhere before in Italy if Ducati plan another test’.

ANY THOUGHTS ON WHAT HAPPENED AT THE FINAL ROUND?
‘Obviously I’m not happy about the outcome of the race for me but I’ve put it behind me now. This year’s finished and there’s no use crying over spilt milk. I’m just ready to go out and have a successful 1999. What happened, happened. It was unfortunate for me and the team because they put in such a great effort for me and it’s really unfortunate it happened at the last round. But I’m not going to let it worry me, I’m just going to get on with next year’.

WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED AT TURN 1 DURING THE SUGO WARM-UP?
‘I haven’t looked at the bike telemetry yet but I’m pretty sure I
backshifted into 1st instead of 2nd in turn 1. I grabbed the clutch, tried to ride through the gravel and come back onto the track, but the bike came to an abrupt stop and I went over the handlebars. It was my mistake, the engine had so much compression and just locked up the rear wheel. I was in the wrong gear more or less but I’ll be able to tell 100% when I have a look at the telemetry. That’s what I did and I paid quite dearly for it’.

ANY CHANGES PLANNED FOR THE 1999 DUCATI?
‘Ducati told me they have made some changes for the better with the engine and chassis and they’re going to have their own test team for next year to work over the winter a few weeks before we get out on the race-track again’.

WHAT RIDERS ARE GOING TO BE UP THERE WITH YOU NEXT YEAR?
‘I think the three guys in this year’s championship battle will be there again in 1999, and maybe with Yamaha making some improvements Haga will be more competitive; Suzuki might even get some good results, depending who they get on the bike’.

A CERTAIN ‘LUCA CADALORA’ COULD EVEN THROW A SPANNER INTO THE WORKS ...
‘Obviously Luca has been spoken to by a lot of manufacturers including Yamaha and Ducati, we’ll just have to wait and see where he ends up. Whatever happens, I’m not worried about it, he’s just going to be another racer out there on the track’.