Cal Crutchlow: “I didn’t press the f****** devices!”

Cal Crutchlow revealed his bizarre start to the Japanese MotoGP - “no devices on, no launch control, no nothing!”
Cal Crutchlow, MotoGP race, Japanese MotoGP, 25 September
Cal Crutchlow, MotoGP race, Japanese MotoGP, 25 September

Crutchlow, who is replacing the retired Andrea Dovizioso for Yamaha for the final six races of the 2022 season, finished 15th in Motegi.

He remarkably explained: “I got to the starting grid and had some alarm out of the last corner that the front tyre wasn’t in the right range. So I panicked!

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“It’s so close from the last corner to the starting grid that I didn’t press the f****** devices!

“I had no devices on, no launch control, no nothing!

“I had a terrible start compared to what I should have. I actually had a good start without the devices.

“But I lost places and I was already at the back. It took me a long time to pass the other guys. But when I did? I was as fast as Jack Miller.

“My problem was that I had to come from so far back. What happens is - it takes you three laps to pass on a Yamaha. Then the next rider? Three laps to pass them.

Cal Crutchlow, MotoGP race, Japanese MotoGP, 25 September
Cal Crutchlow, MotoGP race, Japanese MotoGP, 25 September

“Everybody you pass is faster than the one you passed before.

“If I hadn’t have f****** with no devices, I would’ve been [in the top eight or nine].

“I got away with people who were slower than me, that was my problem.

“I’m not doing those massive divebombs.”

Crutchlow also revealed: “The other situation I had? I wasn’t allowed to use the 355 disc. And I’m one of the hardest brakers in MotoGP. It was Yamaha’s choice.

“I went to the grid with a brand new set of 340 discs which has never been done in the whole history of MotoGP.

“Normally you bed them in on Friday. I bedded them in on the warm-up lap.”

The Thailand MotoGP is September 30-October 2.

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