“Just the nature of the corner”: Cal Crutchlow weighs in on MotoGP start collision

Cal Crutchlow thinks the huge turn one crash that took out several riders at the Hungary MotoGP was a “racing incident”.

Crutchlow was one of the riders caught behind the crash, instigated by Jorge Martin losing control of his bike in braking for the first turn on lap one, but picked his way through the carnage and went on to finish the race, his second MotoGP outing in place of the injured Johann Zarco.

Martin was penalised for the crash and will serve a double long lap penalty at the next race in Czechia.

Crutchlow did not explicitly disagree with the penalisation, but in his opinion the crash was a racing incident in as much as it was not the result of a deliberate action intended to cause the crash.

“First of all, nobody tries to take each other out, so it’s nobody’s fault – it’s a racing incident,” said Cal Crutchlow after the race.

“Unfortunately, it happened, and that’s the way it is. 

“Nobody as a rider wants to end on the floor and nobody wants to take another rider out. That’s just the nature of this first corner, as we know, and we know the starts are one of the most important things in the race.”

He added: “I could’ve been in it because I could’ve gone around the outside,” he said, “but the problem is on the outside it was already really slippery. 

“It looks like water out there, it’s complete glass.”

Crutchlow also said that he was unaware of who had crashed until a moment later in the race.

“When I saw everyone flying through the air, I didn’t even know who it was – at the time, I had absolutely no idea who’d crashed,” the LCR Honda rider said.

“Then Di Giannantonio caught me after some laps and I thought ‘Obviously he’s been in the melee’, or I was doing a really good job that he was behind me! 

“But, from the way he accelerated away, I presumed he was in the crash!”