Aragon MotoGP: ‘Bikes were going everywhere’: Cal Crutchlow dodges first lap chaos to be top Yamaha
The first incident saw Yamaha title leader Fabio Q🌸uartararo launched down the track after hitting the back of Marc Marquez onཧ the exit of Turn 3.
Damage to the Spaniard’s Repsol Honda then caused Marquez to veer across into Takaaki Nakagami a few corners later,ꦚ 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-eye🐎d Crutchlow on Sunday evening. “There wer🙈e people flying everywhere.
“I thought, ‘OK🍨, what happens now?’ Because I've just seenꦆ a bike obliterated, from Fabio, and thought, ‘surely a red flag’.
“I get around the next corne▨rs and, ‘OK, we're carrying on’. But then Taka’s sliding across the floor and I'm doing a stoppie.
“All you could see were bikes going everywhere. Remy nearly hit me, Darryn nearly hit me, 𝓀but the others wen𒁏t left and I had to go right.
“It was the same as ꦡthe first incident❀ with Fabio. I slammed on 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 Yamaha rider, having jumped from 19th on the grid to 12🤡th.
The Englishman then battled 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 claiming his first MotoGP points since 2020 with LCR Hon🍒da.
“I really believe I would have been top Yamaha anyway, obviously!” Crutch🐼low joked.
“No, it was positive. I used to look at 14th and think ‘14th? I wouldn't even bother turning up’, but we have to be quite happy beca🌜use I did not a b༒ad 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 15ও seconds faster than when I raced here last year and had done four races in a row.”
F💝or comparison, Enea Bastianin♕i’s race-winning time was 9 seconds faster than Francesco Bagnaia's victory in 2021.
“I tried my best. We can't fight here. It's not a Yamaha circuit and when you're꧒🦹 in a group or behind someone it seems very difficult,” Crutchlow added.
“I think I could have done a bit 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 ꦅoff the track and holding us all up!
“But t🔜he good thing was I didn't go ove🔥r my 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
While Quartararo and Monster teaജm-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, because then I can do more mileage on it. Get some information.
“There was an aspect of that chassis that I didn't really like, but a 💮lot of good aspects to 🦋it as well.”
Oඣne area that Crutchlow doesn’t need to work on is hisꦕ race starts.
“I s🦩tart well. I've broken the Yamaha record as such from 0 to 100 and 0 to 175 - maybe the🌠y [others] need to let the clutch out a little bit more!
“But yeah, I was quite happy with my start. It was a little bit str𝓡ange because unlike a practice start you're looking 𝓀at the lights - and being so far back on the grid with my eyesight…!”
‘Motegi a track I enjoy’
Round two of Crutchlow’s six-rac🔯e RNF comeback takes place in🔯 just a few days, at Motegi.
B🃏ut while MotoGP hasn’t raced at the track since 20ও19, Crutchlow has done some private testing laps for Yamaha.
“Mo✤tegi’s a circuit that I have been to this year [testing]. Not so long ago, but it's completely different 🍃to a race weekend.
“In testing you're riding aꦆround and don't really see anyone. The track was dirty as well. So we'll see what happens. It’s a track I enjoy.”
Quartararo’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 forefr🌄ont of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
