Estoril MotoGP: Cal Crutchlow battles to eighth

Cal Crutchlow looked like he was going to claim his best ever MotoGP result in Estoril yesterday, only to be denied by a determined Hiroshi Aoyama on the last lap.

Crutchlow and San Carlo Gresini Honda rider Aoyama had diced for almost the whole 28-lap encounter, with the British rider holding the advantage starting the final lap in seventh place.

Former 250GP world champion Aoyama made his decisive move though at the first corner and Crtuchlow was unable to mount another fightback, the 25-year-old settling for his second successive eighth position.

The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team rider said: “I’m happy enough with that because before the start of the weekend I’d have never thought it possible to finish in the top eight on a circuit I’d never even seen before.

“And considering I had problems with both my arms all weekend, it is a great feeling. My right arm, which I had the operation is fine, but my left arm is really sore because I’m been compensating with it. But the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team have been awesome all weekend.

“They have experience of helping rookie riders and they are doing a great job for me. And they’ve adjusted the bike to help me feel more comfortable with the arm problems.

“It is a shame I couldn’t quite beat Aoyama at the end. Earlier in the race I felt really comfortable and kept some really fast and experienced guys behind me

” It was a really good battle with Aoyama and while I don’t like to get beaten in a last lap fight, I gave him a good run for his money and it is great experience for me to be in a scrap like that.

“If I keep doing what I’m doing at the moment then there is no reason why on tracks that I know that I can’t be even further up.”

For more from Crutchlow. See Wednesday’s MCN for nine pages of coverage from Estoril.