Crutchlow vows to bounce back in Assen

Cal Crutchlow’s incredible run of form ended in the early stages when he fell out of fourth while in pursuit of Spanish trio Jorge Lorenzo, Dani Pedrosa and Marc Marquez. 

Seeking to add to his brilliant top three finishes in Le Mans and Mugello, the 27-year-old had further raised expectations when he topped the timesheets in this morning’s warm-up session. 

The British rider still remains in fourth position in the World Championship standings on 71-points and he is confident he will be back in the podium hunt at the next race in Assen.

Cal Crutchlow DNF – 71 points:  

“Obviously I am disappointed that a great weekend ended with a crash and I have to hold my hands up and say it was a stupid mistake on my part. Like last season and again in the first few races of 2013, I have been struggling to stop the bike in the early laps with a full fuel load. I was giving it my all to stay in the battle with the top three and unfortunately I hit the kerb on the inside and crashed. It was a silly mistake and I am sorry to the team because I am confident I could have stayed in the fight for the podium right to the end. We have got to understand why we don’t have so much grip at the start of the race but I can take some big positives out of the weekend again. I was on the front row, I was fastest in the warm-up and I was battling for the podium in the race. Now we can go to Assen confident that I will have good speed and be in the rostrum fight again.”

Herve Poncharal – Team Manager:  

“We are a little disappointed because we had big expectations for Cal after he did a great weekend and was fastest in warm-up. He was right behind the top three and we knew the first laps would be difficult with the full fuel tank. We had passed that difficult moment but the conditions were tricky with the heat and the surface was very greasy. Cal crashed and it is a shame but he has still done a fantastic job this season and I know he will be strong in Assen.”