Cal Crutchlow eager to assess Yamaha’s new 1000cc bike

Cal Crutchlow says he can’t wait to make his debut on Yamaha’s new 1000cc MotoGP bike in Valencia tomorrow (Tuesday) after witnessing the new machine dive under lap record pace in Misano recently.

The British rider watched Jorge Lorenzo beat his 800cc record by over 0.2s on the new YZR-M1, which has been impressively quick in initial testing in Brno and Misano.

Crutchlow will make his debut on the 1000cc bike at a two-day test in Valencia and he said he was thrilled with the potential already shown by Lorenzo and Spies.

He told MCN: “To go as fast as what they went first time out at Brno showed the potential of the bike straight away and in Misano it was the same. It shows the potential of what they are coming out with and Jorge seems to like it.”

Crutchlow though denied his recent World Superbike background would give him any advantage in adapting to the new 1000s and he added: “Ben thinks WSB riders will suit it a little bit better, but saying that Lorenzo is only losing a couple of kilometres an hour in corner speed. You’ll be able to spin the bike and make it turn and make the corner a point instead of an arc and that should suit me better.”

The 26-year-old avoided a first corner pile-up and survived treacherous conditions to claim his best ever MotoGP result that secured him the Rookie of the Year title in Valencia yesterday.

The 30-lap race started with light rain falling on the Ricardo Toro track but Crutchlow battled for fifth for the majority of the race after Valentino Rossi, Nicky Hayden, Randy de Puniet and Alvaro Bautista all crashed at the first corner.

Just one-point split Crutchlow and Czech Republic rider Karel Abraham going into the race and they were barely a second apart for the entire encounter. They exchanged fifth place several times but the battle became even more nail biting when rain started to fall heavily five laps from the end.

Mastering the tricky conditions brilliantly, the 2009 World Supersport champion took fourth place from Spaniard Dani Pedrosa with a clinical overtake on the final lap. Abraham though was refusing to lie down but as their fight intensified, he made a mistake in the braking zone at Turn 11 and crashed out.

The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 team rider said: “That was a pretty dramatic way to finish the season and I am obviously thrilled to win the Rookie of the Year title. But I’m equally happy to have finished in fourth place because that was an incredibly difficult race. I’m not sure what happened at the first corner but I came out of it in sixth place and just pushed as hard as I could. It was a really intense battle with Karel right to the end and both of us were giving it everything we had. The track was so greasy it felt like you could crash so easily and when the rain started getting heavier I just got my head down again and pushed as hard as I could. I started to catch Dani really fast and I wasn’t sure if he had a problem or whether I was pushing too hard. I slowed down because of that and Karel caught me back up, so it came down to the last lap and he obviously made a small mistake. He hit me from behind but I managed to stay on and to finish the season with my best ever result is a great way to start planning for 2012.”

For more thoughts from Crutchlow, see the November 9 copy of Motor Cycle News.