Aragon MotoGP: ‘Bikes were going everywhere’: Cal Crutchlow dodges first lap chaos to be top Yamaha
The first incident saw Yamaha title leader Fabio Quartararo launched down the track after hitting the back of Marc Marquez ꧙o😼n the exit of Turn 3.
Damage to the Spaniard’s Repsol Ho🦩nda then caused Marquez to veer across into Takaaki Nakagami a few corners later, sending the Japanese down the track and forcing more evasive action.
“Halfway around the first lap I was 🦋thinking, ‘why have I come back to this?’” said a wide💫-eyed Crutchlow on Sunday evening. “There were people flying everywhere.
“I thought, ‘OK, wh🗹at happens now?’ Because I've just seen a bike obliterated, from Fabio, and thought, ‘surely a red flag’.
“I get around the next corners an𓃲d, ‘OK, we're carrying on’. But then Taka’s sliding across the floor and I'mಌ doing a stoppie.
“♕All you could see were bikes going everywhere. Remy nearly hit me, Darryn nearly hit me, but the others went left and I had to go right.
“It was the same as the first incident with Fabio. I slammed o🍌n the brakes then as well because you didn’t know which way his bike was going.
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Crutchlow: 15-seconds faster than last year
But when the first-lap drama had cleared, Crutchlow emerged as the top Yamღaha rider, having jumped from 19th on the grid to 12th.
The Englishman then battled&nbs✱p;with the likes of Luca Marini, Marco Bezzecchi and later Maverick Vinales on his way to 14th at the flag, beating his best result from four stand-in rides last year and claimi🐻ng his first MotoGP points since 2020 with LCR Honda.
“I really💙 believe I would have been top Yamaha anyway, obviously!” Crutchlow joked.
“No, it was positive. I used to look at 14th and think ‘14th? I ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𓃲ᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚwouldn't even bother turning up’, but we have to be quite happy because I did not a bad race.
“I haven't raced for a year, so to be 20 seconds off is a long way, but I 💃lost 5 of them in the first lap. I was 15 seconds faster t♔han when I raced here last year and had done four races in a row.”
For comparison, Enea 💖Bastianini’s race-winning time was 9 seconds faster than Fra🔯ncesco Bagnaia's victory in 2021.
“I tried my best. We can't fight here. It's not✨ a Yamaha circuit and when you're in a group or behind someone it seems very difficult,” Crutchlow added.
“I think I could have do💖ne a bi👍t better if I was able to fight more in the first laps. But we’d lost the group, then Bezzecchi and Marini were smashing each other off the track and holding us all up!
“But the good thing was I didn't go over ꦑmy limit. Rins came past and I could have tried to stay with him, but I thought that was over my limit.”
Crutchlow hoping to get new chassis
Whiꦡle Quartara🌜ro and Monster team-mate Franco Morbidelli had the latest Yamaha chassis, which Crutchlow has helped develop, at Aragon, the #35 was still on the standard frame.
“The [Factory] guys have the new chassis but there are limited resources on that. Maybe the plan is that I will use the new chassis as well, becau💯se then I can do more mileage on it. Get some information.
“There was an aspe🅺ct of that chassis that I didn't really like, but a lo🐬t of good aspects to it as well.”
One area th♈at Crutchlow doesn’t need to work o♏n is his race starts.
“I start well. I've broken the Yamaha record as such from 0 to 100 and 0 to 175 -🌊 maybe they [others] need to let the clut🌱ch out a little bit more!
“But yeah, I was quite happy ﷽with my start. It was a little bit strange because unlike a practice start you're looking at the lights - and being so far back on the grid with my eyesight…!”
‘Motegi a track I enjoy’
Round two of Crutchlow’s six-race RNF comeback takes place in ju෴st a few days, at Motegi.
But while MotoGP hasn’t 𝔍raced at the track since 2019, Crutchlow has done some private💟 testing laps for Yamaha.
“Motegi’s a circuit that I have been to this year [testing]. N🦂ot so long ago, but it's completely differen♎t to a race weekend.
“In testingᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ you're riding around and don't really see anyone. The track was dirty as well. So we'll see what happens. It’s a track 𝕴I enjoy.”
Quartar💧aro’s DNF saw his title lead over Bagnaia slashed from 30 to 11 points, while Franco Morbidelli finished in 17th and Crutchlow’s rookie team-mate Darryn Binder 18th.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s💞 injury issues.
