Estoril MotoGP: Cal Crutchlow baffled by arm issue

Cal Crutchlow told MCN he is struggling to understand why he was struck by a chronic arm pump issue during his first appearance at the Estoril circuit in Portugal today.

Crutchlow underwent surgery to solve a numbness issue with his right hand during the recent long break but encountered a different problem in today’s two 45-minute practice sessions.

The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team rider suffered with an arm pump issue throughout as he ended 13th fastest on combined times with a best time of 1.38.760.

That was 1.4s faster than his best pace set this morning and in an impressive first outing at the tight and technical Estoril track, Crutchlow finished just over a second away from Marco Simoncelli’s best pace.

He was able to lap faster this afternoon after he changed the position of his YZR-M1 handlebars to ease the stress on his right arm as Crutchlow was seen running off track at the first corner several times as he struggled to cope with the extreme braking forces.

The 2009 World Supersport champion, who needed to have big pockets of fluid drained from his right arm after both sessions, said: “I’m not really sure why I’ve had this problem. I had the operation to solve the numbness issue I had in Qatar and Jerez but today I had arm pump. It was better this afternoon but after this morning I thought I’d blown a lot of money on the op.”

Despite the obvious handicap of riding with the arm pump problem, Crutchlow was satisfied with his performance.

He was as high as seventh in the closing stages of this afternoon’s session and he added: “I’m really happy because to be only a second off the pace on a track I’ve never seen before gives me a lot of confidence. I honestly feel I should have kept seventh place because I made a late change to the bike and everybody went quicker.”

“I could have gone quicker but I encountered a lot of traffic and it was like a 125 session! I got held up and that cost me at least a couple of tenths, which would have easily put me in the top ten. This track is much harder to learn than Jerez.”

“It is quite bumpy and you have to be so precise with your lines that it has been quite difficult. But I’m only 0.5s behind Colin and he has a good record at this track. After this morning I didn’t think that would be possible because I was really struggling with my arm.”

“There was a massive build-up of fluid that I had to get drained and I’m not sure why it has happened. But the brake pressure on a MotoGP bike is incredible. We moved the handlebars for this afternoon and it was definitely better and I felt more confident on the brakes, but at the end I’ve got another big fluid bump on my forearm.”