The hectic MotoGP schedule sees Monster Yamaha Tech3‘s duo of Cal Crutchlow and Colin Edwards head to sunny Mugello, Italy for this weekends grand prix, only a week after the Assen TT. That grand prix was one to be forgotten for both riders, as, when they looked set to score their first double top six finish until both riders were hit with catastrophic front tyre wear. As both riders had to pit, all hopes of a decent finish were scrapped.
Crutchlow has used the short break to continue his recovery from his broken collarbone, and as the recovery continues, he will be hoping to continue his heroics from last weekend. Crutchlow qualified in 6th before leading Valentino Rossi around a track he had never raced on, before the tyre issues cropped up.
“I was disappointed last weekend in Assen because I’m sure I could have got my best MotoGP result, but I’m determined to make up for it with a strong performance in Mugello.” said Crutchlow “After all the effort I put in to ride, it was a pity not to finish where I should have done last weekend but I can’t change what happened an d now my focus is solely on doing the best job I can in Mugello.”
He continued, “It is another new track for me again and it is going to be very difficult. But I’ve done a decent job at the other tracks I’d never seen before this year, so I’m confident I can be competitive. It looks like very technical with lots of different challenges but I’m up for it.”
Colin Edwards’ collarbone is all but healed now, but the veteran American is still struggling with his ribs, which were also damaged in the same accident. With the amount of chicanes and fast corners at Mugello, Edwards isn’t expecting an easy race.
“My ribs are still sore from Assen and I’m expecting them to cause me a few problems this weekend because Mugello has a lot of fast changes of direction.” said Edwards. “That’s the point where I suffer the most because I don’t have 100 per cent strength in my upper body. I am looking forward to getting to Italy and seeing all the Italian fans. I’ve loved racing in Ital y right from my World Superbike career and the atmosphere at Mugello is always special.”
He continued, “The first job will be checking the new surface. I’ve heard good reports about it but the extra grip means we’ll probably have to tweak the set-up of the bike a little bit. But the Yamaha has been working well recently and I’m sure we’ve got a competitive package. Hopefully we can have better conditions too. Silverstone and Assen have been pretty wet, so I’m looking forward to a whole weekend where we can put on a show for the fans on a dry track.”
