MotoGP: Crutchlow lucky to escape high speed oil leak

Cal Crutchlow says he’s lucky to have walked away from a high speed incident last night during the opening MotoGP free practice of 2017, when a loose plug caused oil to flow out of his LCR Honda on his opening laps of the night.

He was lucky to stay onboard when the oil came into contact with his rear tyre going into turn one – and says that the care affected his performance for the remaining of the night’s session.

“I realised there was a problem when I nearly highsided going into turn one at 330kph! And honestly, for the rest of the night I rode like shit, because I didn’t know why it had happened. If you crash and you know why, then you say ‘ok, I know why, I can go faster’ – but when it’s not in your control you shit yourself.

“I was riding badly, but it turned out ok, because the lap time wasn’t too bad. I was on a bike that we’d never ridden before – it was only going to be doing two laps to check out and it went the whole session in the end.”

However, he was able to laugh off the incident after a comedy of errors left him struggling to get back to the pits on a photographer’s stolen scooter!

“The fucking thing wouldn’t start! I was wondering whey it wouldn’t start even though the key was on, but I had to kick start it in the end! But them my boot was covered in oil too, so it kept slipping! But it was the best ride I had all night!”