Cal Crutchlow to assess arm recovery after Le Mans

Cal Crutchlow will wait until the short break after this weekend’s French MotoGP clash in Le Mans to assess the recovery of his right arm after recent surgery.

The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider had surgery on his right arm last month to try and solve a numbness issue in his right forearm and hand that struck during the opening two races of his rookie campaign in Qatar and Jerez.

But during the recent Estoril round in Portugal, Crutchlow started to encounter a severe fluid build-up on his right arm that needed to be drained each day.

The 2009 World Supersport champion, who has claimed brilliant eighth place finishes in the last two MotoGP races in Jerez and Estoril, also suffered a problem with his left arm in Portugal.

The 25-year-old believes that fresh issue arose because he was over compensating with his left arm to counter the weakness of the recovering right arm.

Crutchlow doesn’t doubt that the surgery to cure the numbness issue on his right arm wasn’t a success and has ruled out additional surgery on his left arm.

He told MCN: “I’ll have to stop the fluid on my right arm carrying on. I rode motocross before Estoril and never had any problem. But each time I rode in Estoril I had fluid come onto the arm.”

“Now the problem is the other arm. Now it is my left arm but that’s only because I was compensating with the other arm. I’m going to wait and see how Le Mans is. I finished in Estoril so hopefully it will be a bit better. But I’ll assess it after Le Mans. I can’t go straight for more surgery on the other arm. There’s no point.”

Crutchlow said a major contributing factor to his arm issues is the extra physical strength required to muscle an 800cc Yamaha YZR-M1 machine round the track.
Crutchlow, who finished in a brilliant fourth place during a recent one-day test session in Estoril, added: “I can’t explain to people that don’t know what these bikes are like to ride. I always thought coming in with a bike that is much lighter than a World Superbike it was going to be a piece of piss to ride. But they are twice as hard to ride as a superbike.”

“Physically with the braking and the G-forces it is unbelievable. You open the throttle and when they move, they really move. A superbike moves and it recovers not too bad. But when these things move you have to hold on for dear life. And when they go out of control you’ve got to get off them or else.”