Catalunya MotoGP: James Toseland deflated after dismal 13th

James Toseland cut a disconsolate figure in the Catalunya paddock today after he slumped to a bitterly disappointing 13th place in a red-hot Montmelo MotoGP race.

Starting from his best grid position of the year in ninth, the 28-year-old fluffed the start on his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1 and was left languishing down in 15th place on the opening lap.

It gave Toseland a mountain to climb and he eventually fought his way back through to 13th having passed Sete Gibernau’s Ducati GP9 on lap 16 and a fast fading Marco Melandri on the Hayate six laps later.

But there was no hiding Toseland’s frustration after he blew a golden chance to notch his best result of 2009. He said: “I’m really disappointed because I went into the race with high expectations after my best qualifying of the year.

“But I made a bad mistake off the line and gave myself a mountain to climb. The engine just bogged and I lost a load of time and had no chance of getting it back because everybody is doing similar times ahead of me.

“I also had a few set-up issues in the race and I’m not happy with that. I didn’t have a lot of rear grip and we’ve got to work on the setting to find some rear grip when the tyre is starting to wear.

“After about eight or ten laps I was having a few issues with rear grip, but the bad start was what really cost me and that was my fault.

“It’s frustrating because we’ve been going in the right direction and it had looked like we might have had a decent weekend. But I’ll pick myself up and be ready to give it my all again in Assen.”