BRITAIN'S Cal Crutchlow has taken his first ride on Yamaha's M1 MotoGP bike in a private test session in Japan ahead of his 2011 campaign in the premier class series.
Joining Colin Edwards in the Tech 3 Yamaha team in 2011, Crutchlow tested the M1 at Yamaha's own track in Fukuroi, Japan, ahead of next month's official end of season testing in Valencia.
Speaking about the experience, Crutchlow said:
“The M1 felt a lot smaller than my Yamaha R1 superbike,” said Cal Crutchlow. “I actually found the positioning more comfortable than the WSB machine. There is a lot of power but it feels very useable, it felt very different to a production based machine in terms of its delivery. In the wet we used the normal steel brakes but when it started to dry I had a chance to try the carbon ones which were cool, I managed to get quite comfortable with them.
"I found the chassis very stiff, it was really easy to change direction and the electronics were really different, even more advanced than the high level I’m used to in Superbike! It was a shame the weather wasn’t great so I wasn’t able to push to the bike’s full potential, I’m really looking forward to the Valencia test so I can get back on it and give it a proper work out!”
