Cal Crutchlow blamed Loris Capirossi for his off-track excursion at the end of qualifying which consigned him to 11th on the grid. The Briton felt a top ten place was possible but ran into the gravel on his final lap, a moment he blamed on the Pramac rider.
“I’m pretty disappointed with Loris today. He is the most experienced rider on track and he should know better than anybody that riding slowly at the end of a qualifying session when everybody is going to be pushing hard for a decent grid position isn’t the right thing to do. The worst thing was he looked behind twice and saw me coming but he stayed on the racing line when he knew I was on a fast lap. I had to swerve really quick to avoid hitting him and that is disappointing. I’m not saying I was going to jump into the top five, but I’m sure without that I might have qualified inside the top 10.”
The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 man admitted that he wasn't completely happy with the set-up of the YZR-M1 today but still feels his pace is good enough to challenge the riders ahead of him.
“That would have been a good result because I’m struggling with the front-end again. I keep losing the front and it is proving quite difficult at the moment to find an improvement. I’m working really hard, and so are my guys, to find a solution. But we haven’t quite made me as comfortable on the bike as I’d like. My pace is still not that bad and I’m sure I can be fighting in a group with Nicky and Alvaro tomorrow. If I can get a good start, I’m hopeful I can stay with them and have a good scrap.”
