Crutchlow on WSB pace despite injury

Cal Crutchlow stunned his rivals in second free practice this morning by setting a blistering 1m 31.938 despite riding with a cracked bone in his left ankle.

The 23 year old sustained the injury exiting the final corner on his out lap in free practice on Friday.

In a crash he described as the biggest of his life, Crutchlow was spat high into the air sustaining badly bruised wrists, arms, left leg and cracked bone in his ankle.

Riding with his injuries makes his lap time set on a Yamaha R6 even more impressive.

His sub 1m 32s lap is well into WSB territory and his lap would have been good enough for 14th in first qualifying just behind Max Biaggi and ahead of John Hopkins and Jonathan Rea.

Speaking to MCN after setting the fastest time of the session. He said:

“It’s really hard to come back on the gears. It’s really hit and miss and I’m struggling to get a lower gear at the Old Hairpin and at Macleans. No one seems to have caught the crash on camera but I’ve seen it on the circuit CCTV and it’s massive.

“The team said they could see me upside down with my legs in the air from the garage and the data from the crash just shows the rear spin up so quickly even though I was nearly upright.

“The pain is bad but one of the biggest problems is that I hardly slept last night. I was up and down, putting ice on it and trying to keep my leg up and I ended up sleeping on the couch.

“I think I’m going to have some pain killers for qualifying this afternoon and I’ve got a sleeping tablet for tonight.”

Title rival Eugene Laverty claimed second spot 0.909s behind Crutchlow. Qualifying gets underway at 13.00.