Cal Crutchlow satisfied with 16th in Sepang

Cal Crutchlow made a steady rather than spectacular start to the 2011 winter testing campaign in Malaysia earlier today, the British rider ending the opening day with the 16th best time.

Today’s test gave the former World Supersport champion his first opportunity to gauge strength in the left shoulder he only had major surgery on seven weeks ago.

Crutchlow suffered the same injury as Valentino Rossi in a testing crash at Portimao at the end of 2009 but his recovery appears to have gone better than the Italian’s, with Rossi struggling down in 12th position today.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Crutchlow needed to wearing a heavy brace on his left shoulder when not out on track learning the long and technical Sepang track.

But the Coventry rider finished the day with a best time of 2.04.009 to beat reigning Moto2 world champion Toni Elias and fellow rookie Karel Abraham.

Crutchlow was less than a second away from the top ten and he told MCN: “I’m happy enough with that having never seen this circuit and having three months off a bike. I’ve not even ridden a scooter and to come and not do too badly, I’m happy enough. My shoulder is pretty sore now. People underestimate how physical these bikes are too ride with the brake pressure and the fast changes of direction. There are a couple of first gear left-hand hairpins and that’s been tough for me. You are hard braking into both and pushing on the handlebar a lot and that has been difficult. But that’s what I expected, though I stopped at lunchtime and it was throbbing like you wouldn’t believe. I could feel my pulse through it but hopefully by the time the season starts it will be repaired. Doing six or eight laps at a time is difficult but I’ve not been able to train anywhere near as much as I would normally do. Hopefully it will be fine tomorrow but it has stiffened up a bit.”

One area that Crutchlow found difficult to master again was upping his pace on new tyres. Adapting to Bridgestone is one of the toughest elements for a new MotoGP rider and Crutchlow said: “It was exactly the same as Valencia. Whenever I put in a new tyre I couldn’t really improve my pace. Normally I can go immediately quicker with a new tyre on a superbike but that is difficult. I can stay super consistent at the same lap time all day but I can’t get the benefit of the grip from a new tyre. They are so different to what I am used to that it is going to take time to adjust.”