Brno WSS: Crutchlow’s domination starts early

World Supersport championship leader, Cal Crutchlow destroyed the opposition in the opening free practice session today with a lap time that would have seen him qualify 22nd on the WSB grid onboard his Yamaha R6.

The 23 year old Brit who leads the standings by 28 points from Eugene Laverty benefitted from a test at the track two weeks earlier, and put the experience to good use.
Despite lapping 1.4 seconds faster than his closest rival and team-mate Fabien Foret, Crutchlow told MCN that his session did not go to plan.

He said:
“Before we arrived we made a plan not to show our pace early on because at previous rounds we’ve set the bench mark early and that’s given all of our rivals the chance to catch up by race day. But the plan went out the window in the first session because we had some things to test and to do that properly you have to go at race pace.

“Now it’s a case of keeping the pressure on the rest of the guys and for sure I’ve still got something in reserve. I did all my laps on the same rear tyre and only changed my front right at the end. The lap time is good and to be among the Superbike guys is good because this track is very hilly and we’re probably giving away nearly 70bhp.”

Despite increased pressure as the championship reaches its climax, Crutchlow remains adamant he wants to continue his winning on Sunday and for the remainder of the year.

He said: “I’m here to do a job and that job is to win. My plan is to carry on the form I’ve shown for the rest of the year. Saying that it won’t be easy. Eugene will be there, Sofuoglu and I’m still convinced that Pitt will bounce back.”

Crutchlow’s closest title rival, Eugene Laverty secured the fourth fastest time after surviving an early crash, but knows that he needs to take a step to match the pace of Crutchlow come Sunday’s 18-lap race.

He said: “Brno is a different track to Imola and our starting position with the bike following the Imola test has proved not to suit. I really didn’t expect it to be so far away. It means we are a session down on the riders that tested here but I worked and pushed hard and we now know exactly the direction we want to go in. I had a similar crash to what happened at Donington on my third lap out. The rear slid out on me – basically the shock is not using its entire stroke and is quite rigid, so we have fixed that. I am fine; I picked my Parkalgar Honda up and only lost about 20-seconds of track time. My target remains the win and if we have two dry sessions tomorrow then we will catch Cal up.”

1 35 C. CRUTCHLOW GBR Yamaha World Supersport Team Yamaha YZF R6 2’02.334
2 99 F. FORET FRA Yamaha World Supersport Team Yamaha YZF R6 2’03.777
3 54 K. SOFUOGLU TUR HANNspree Ten Kate Honda Honda CBR600RR 2’03.997
4 50 E. LAVERTY IRL Parkalgar Honda Honda CBR600RR 2’04.089
5 21 K. FUJIWARA JPN Kawasaki Motocard.com Kawasaki ZX-6R 2’04.256
6 13 A. WEST AUS Stiggy Racing Honda Honda CBR600RR 2’04.332
7 26 J. LASCORZ ESP Kawasaki Motocard.com Kawasaki ZX-6R 2’04.359
8 24 G. MCCOY AUS ParkinGO Triumph BE1 Triumph Daytona 675 2’04.394
9 105 G. VIZZIELLO ITA Stiggy Racing Honda Honda CBR600RR 2’04.646
10 117 M. PRAIA POR Parkalgar Honda Honda CBR600RR 2’04.785
11 8 M.AITCHISON AUS Honda Althea Racing Honda CBR600RR 2’05.159
12 132 S. MORAIS RSA YZF Yamaha Yamaha YZF R6 2’05.188
13 77 B. VENEMAN NED George White Ten Kate R. Honda CBR600RR 2’05.234
14 69 G. NANNELLI ITA ParkinGO Triumph BE1 Triumph Daytona 675 2’05.324
15 51 M. PIRRO ITA Yamaha Lorenzini by Leoni Yamaha YZF R6 2’05.407
16 55 M.ROCCOLI ITA Intermoto Czech Honda CBR600RR 2’05.496
17 1 A. PITT AUS HANNspree Ten Kate Honda Honda CBR600RR 2’05.634
18 30 J. GÜNTHER GER RES Software Veidec Racing Honda CBR600RR 2’05.655
19 28 A. VOS NED Veidec Racing RES Software Honda CBR600RR 2’05.717
20 7 P. VOSTÁREK CZE Intermoto Czech Honda CBR600RR 2’06.053
21 127 R. HARMS DEN Veidec Racing RES Software Honda CBR600RR 2’06.415
22 15 J. O’HALLORAN AUS Honda Althea Racing Honda CBR600RR 2’06.416
23 25 M. LAVERTY GBR Echo CRS Grand Prix Honda CBR600RR 2’06.472
24 9 D. DELL’OMO ITA Kuja Racing Honda CBR600RR 2’07.252
25 96 M. SMRZ CZE MS Racing Triumph Daytona 675 2’07.532
26 22 R. MURESAN ROU MS Romania Racing Triumph Daytona 675 2’07.845
27 16 S. LOWES GBR Echo CRS Grand Prix Honda CBR600RR 2’08.021
28 66 J. BROZ CZE Intermoto Czech Honda CBR600RR 2’08.882
29 88 Y. GUERRA ESP Holiday Gym Racing Yamaha YZF R6 2’09.877