Cal Crutchlow has admitted he needs “get his head down” after another accident cost him a possible top ten result at Brno. The Briton has crashed at one stage in each of the last three events and has only scored four points since his career-best finish of seventh at Catalunya at the beginning of June.
The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider will take part in the post-race test at Brno tomorrow and hopes to find a solution to the front-end problem that is causing him such difficulty.
“Nobody is more disappointed than me with what happened because another crash is the last thing I needed. I am currently having a difficult run of races but all I can do is get my head down, work hard with my crew and try and put things right in the future. At the moment I am struggling with grip in the front-end and we seem to have been going round in circles a little bit to find a solution. Today I was off brake and accelerating at the first corner when I lost the front. The last person who wants to crash is me, but I can only do my best. I am sorry to my Team and Yamaha but I am sure they realise that I am trying as hard as I can to get a good result.”
“We’ve got a test tomorrow and that is important because we can work on the bike without the time constraints of practice. We can dedicate all our time to trying to give me some confidence back in the front. I still believe in myself and I am determined to get a good result in Indianapolis.”
Team Manager Herve Poncharal is refusing to be too critical of his rookie rider but has admitted that the recent spate of crashes is not doing him any favours.
I always try to understand, support and help, but he doesn’t feel confident with the front for some reason. Part of this game is to adapt yourself and the riding style to the bike you have and we are crashing too much. And not finishing the races, I don’t think that this is the way to learn in your rookie year. I don’t want to blame anybody, but we need to be positive and think what we can do to help him in the future races. We know what he is capable of after the way he started the season so strongly, so we need to get back to that level of performance and hopefully it will come soon, starting at the next race in Indianapolis.”
