Disappointing weekend for Crutchlow

BRITISH MotoGP rider Cal Crutchlow was left disappointed that he couldn’t challenge at the front for his home Grand Prix race at Silverstone on Sunday.

The 27-year-old suffered three heavy crashes over the weekend with one at 180mph, unsurprisingly damaging both bikes.

Despite these fast crashes, a loss of set-up time and injuries including a right-arm abrasion the Englishman still finished inside the top ten in seventh, just in front of Nicky Hayden on the factory Ducati where Crutchlow will be heading to at the end of 2013.  

Crutchlow said: “Honestly I’m pleased the weekend is over and at least we finished the race. It certainly wasn’t the easiest race I have ever done and it is disappointing that I couldn’t challenge.

“But after the crashes I just had no power at all in my right arm and I was also lacking grip at the start when the tyres were cold. Unfortunately that is what happens when you crash three times in a weekend.

“I didn’t give myself enough time to get laps under the belt to set the bike up properly. The only positive we can take away is that we have been faster than last year.”

Crutchlow has also praised marshals for their excellent job whilst dealing with the incident in warm-up on Sunday morning which saw Marc Marquez's Repsol Honda fly towards marshals where the Briton had crashed seconds before. 

Speaking at Silverstone, the Yamaha Tech3 rider said: “The marshals did a fantastic job and we said afterwards that a lot of marshals around the world could learn from their example.

“They had one guy watching the track while the others were picking it up and I have never known that. And if it wasn't for that, four guys would have been hammered, including me. They did a great job, really.”

Cal Crutchlow is currently fifth in the World Championship, only 20 points behind factory Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi.