Cal Crutchlow: Marquez blameless in Pedrosa crash

British rider Cal Crutchlow jumped to the defence of MotoGP world championship leader Marc Marquez yesterday (Sunday) after the Spaniard’s aggressive riding was thrust under the microscope again at the Motorland Aragon.

Marquez was battling for second place with Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa when he ran into Turn 12 too hot on the brakes.

Picking up his factory RC213V to avoid running into the back of Pedrosa, Marquez gave the faintest of nudges to the back of his fellow Spaniard’s bike, breaking a rear wheel speed sensor cable in the process.

Seconds later Pedrosa spectacularly crashed out of second place because the damaged sensor had disabled his traction control system.

The fallout was more intense focus and debate on Marquez’s riding style, though the majority of paddock opinion was was the incident was not worthy of any penalty.

Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team rider Crutchlow, who finished sixth while complaining about an underpowered new YZR-M1 engine, said Marquez should not be condemned for the incident on lap six of 23.

The former World Supersport champion said: “I didn’t think anything of it. Marc wasn’t out of control. Yes he ran wide but he was going off the track and he still came back and won the race.

“He won the race and he won it fair and square and he could argue Dani braked too early. Loads of things could happen that I don’t believe should happen because he won the race fair and square and if that happened to him he wouldn’t even be bothered or say anything. He would say a sensor broke and he crashed and that’s the difference. He never knocked Dani off.

“People are trying to pass each other and make mistakes and people run wide. Does that mean Dani or any rider has never made a mistake? Marc was the fastest guy and he won the race. He didn’t do anything wrong.”

Marquez went onto win for the sixth time this season and the 20-year-old is edging closer to becoming the first rider to win the MotoGP title as a rookie since American legend Kenny Roberts in 1978.

He heads to the next race in Malaysia with a commanding 39-point over Lorenzo