US MotoGP: Cal Crutchlow stuck in 13th

Cal Crutchlow finished 13th fastest in both MotoGP practice sessions at the Laguna Seca track in California yesterday.

The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team rider, experimenting with a radically revised weight distribution set-up to try and improve front-end feel, clocked a best time of 1.23.707 to finish just over 1.6s away from the best pace in California.

Crutchlow was faster than Karel Abraham and Hiroshi Aoyama, who were also getting their first taste of the Laguna Seca track, but he wasn’t entirely satisfied with his debut on the shortest track on the calendar.

The 25-year-old said: “There’s plenty of work to be done that’s for sure. The track is great fun but it is harder to enjoy it when you’re finding it difficult. It wasn’t a bad day at all although obviously I want to be much higher up than 13th. At the moment it is quite difficult to do the lap time. I know going fast never comes easy but it feels like I’m quite close to the limit and I’m still over 1.6s behind. I’m the best of the rookies and that’s a good start but it seems we’ve taken a step sideways and everybody else has taken a step forward.

“The bike feels better than Germany last weekend but we can still make it better. We’re not far away and we’ve got some ideas to work on tonight but it also a lack of track knowledge. Trying to learn the track and go fast at the same time is not easy, but I’m making progress.”

The two 45-minute practice sessions gave the 2009 World Supersport champion chance to acquaint himself with the world famous Corkscrew section.

Inevitably the fast left to right change of direction and sudden descent down a steep slope caused track newcomer Crutchlow some issues.

He ran off on the brakes once in each session and he said: “The Corkscrew is pretty amazing although I’ve run off there twice! But it is a pretty amazing corner and it feels like you’re dropping off the end of the earth.”