Having been thoroughly checked over and after discussions with his Super Nova team, Doctor and Physiotherapist, the decision has been made that Christian Bakkerud will not start tomorrow's sprint race.

The Dane had to retire from today's race following a re-occurance of the same back problem that he experienced for the first time one year ago at the Spanish circuit.

On his way to the airport Christian said the following – "I'm very very tired but feeling slightly better than I did when I first got out of the car but as I have had so many injections etc this afternoon I'm not sure where I really stand with regards to my injury. I made the decision to fly home tonight as it's better for me to recover at home. On Monday I'm going down to Austria to have a full scan and I will have a proper assessment of my back to find out what is going on."

"I could feel that my back was slightly tight yesterday but Erwin, my Physio, gave me a massage and I felt better afterwards. However, when I came together with Ben Hanley on lap two in the first corner something happened with my back as I landed from being airborn for a second. After that it kept getting worse until lap 16 when I just couldn't move from pain."

"I'm very pleased though to be able to congratulate my team mate Alvaro Parente on his win today. It's a great achievement for both him and the Super Nova team. Well done everyone!"

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