Hard front still too soft for Crutchlow

Britain’s Cal Crutchlow came away from today’s Silverstone MotoGP with a fourth place and said he had to turn his RC213V with the rear as the hard front Michelin again proved too soft to challenge over a race distance.

The Castrol LCR rider was right at the sharp end all race long and crossed the line 1.6s behind winner and former team-mate Andrea Dovizioso but just didn’t have enough to put a pass on either Valentino Rossi or Maverick Vinales for a podium spot.

“It’s frustrating as I came here to win. You try to win every weekend, but this weekend was a special one, I felt good last year and I felt good again all weekend here, but I just didn’t have enough in the end. The other guys were quicker than me today, the front tyre was too soft for me as always and this was the reason I was struggling with the rear tyre in the end as I was having to spin a lot to turn the bike,” said Crutchlow.

“But I did the best job I could and today that was fourth. A home podium would have been good so yes, I’m disappointed, but all credit to the three guys in front – Dovi (Andrea Dovizioso) rode fantastically. I didn’t think all weekend he was the guy to beat, I thought it would be Marc (Marquez). But we have to go to Misano with our head held high and try again there.”

report from BSN