Clutch issues leave Rossi in the gravel

Valentino Rossi has blamed clutch problems for his crash out of Sunday’s third round of the 2016 MotoGP championship at Texas’ Circuit of the Americas.

Struggling with clutch problems for the past two rounds on the Movistar Yamaha, the problems came to a head in Austin – and a bad start combined with a lack of feeling form the front tyre meant that the nine-time world champion was caught out, ending an impressive 25-race points scoring run.

“It’s a shame because at the start unfortunately I burnt the clutch. I was third but the clutch slipped a lot, so I had to go slow to try and recover the clutch and I lost some positions. At the same time I was not so far, I felt good with the bike, we worked well during the weekend and I felt fast.

“I had the feeling the clutch was coming back already but I entered turn two, I didn‘t feel from the bike I was too fast but looking at the result maybe I was… It’s a shame because we lost some points in the championship and also because we could make a good race. The positive side is that we are strong and very fast, so we will be ready for Jerez.”