Crutchlow delivers hard fought podium at Salt Lake City

RACE REPORT 31/05/2010 Crutchlow delivers hard fought podium at Salt Lake City Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike rider Cal Crutchlow put in a mature performance at Miller Motorsports Park today, maximising the top speed and power of his Yamaha YZF-R1 to take a hard fought podium with third in the second race. Having started from third and then initially dropping back to sixth he fought back up, chasing down a number of riders before closing in on BMW rider Troy Corser and passing him for the third spot which he held to the line. Race one proved unlucky for Crutchlow, After an initial drop off the line to seventh in race one, he put his head down and started to reel in sixth place rider Johnny Rea. As he put the pressure on, Rea crumbled, crashing out on lap three and forcing Crutchlow wide and off the track to avoid him. The Yamaha rider recovered and got back on track but had dropped to 13th, with a big gap to the riders in front. Despite the setback he put his head down, taking two positions to cross the line in 11th. Crutchlow's recovery was helped by the impressive top speed of the Yamaha YZF-R1, scoring the highest speed of any rider on the circuit with 311km/hr recorded. Crutchlow's performance has continued to improve over the season, the rider's impressive consistent fast pace and race craft only restricted from delivering better results so far by incidents out of his control. Rea's crash today, the stone from Biaggi's wheel in Monza and the issues with grip in Kyalami have prevented him from being further up the championship standings. Team mate James Toseland put in a solid performance today in the first of the two Miller WSB races despite being one of the few riders on the grid never to have ridden here before. Starting from a less than perfect 14th on the grid he worked his way through the pack to take a lonely seventh by lap four. The British rider was gradually closing in on sixth until a dramatic drop in tyre grip over the last few laps saw him drop to ninth at the chequered flag. Despite a strong start in the second race and again fighting from 14th up to sixth, it ended prematurely for him when he lost the front end with six laps to go after coming into a corner carrying too much speed. Following from Crutchlow's highest recorded speed in race one, Toseland took the honours in race two, delivering the highest top speed of the race, 308.4km/hr. Crutchlow leaves Salt Lake City with 107 points having moved up from tenth to ninth in the championship standings, just eight points behind Leon Camier in eighth. Team mate Toseland heads to the next round at the Misano circuit having dropped one place from fifth to sixth, currently standing on 132 points, nineteen points off Rea in third. Cal Crutchlow Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (11th, 3rd) "I think the first race should have been the same as the second one, unfortunately I got caught up in Johnny's crash and lost some valuable places. We've not had the pace of Carlos Checa and Max Biaggi this weekend, they did a fantastic job. I tried my hardest and I think we've done the best job we can. All credit to the Yamaha guys we've worked really hard for this result." James Toseland James Toseland, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (9th, DNF) "A frustrating weekend for me. We started really well here and I got down to some pretty decent times relatively quickly in the first practices so was feeling confident for the races. Superpole didn't go quite as planned so I had a less than perfect grid start position. I managed a good start in the first race and was making up places but unfortunately I ran out of grip several laps from the end which slowed me down. It took me a while to get into a good pace in race two, but as I was picking up I came out of one corner too fast and so was too hot into the next, resulting in losing the front end. The team have worked really hard all weekend and I'm sorry I couldn't deliver them a better result today." Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team Manager "I think Cal did two really good races. Unfortunately in the first he was in the wrong place at the wrong time when Rea crashed in front of him so he did well to stay on and stay in the points. He showed a really good pace. In the second race he did the best that was possible, to get a podium after a tough weekend is good for the team. I am sorry for James, his crash was unfortunate and he put in a good effort in the first race." Circuit Length: 4905 Temp: 20 Weather: Sunny Fastest Lap Ever: 1'47.081 (Carlos Checa, 31/05/2010) Last Years Winner: Ben Spies 2010 WSB United States - Salt Lake City 31/05/2010 Race 1 - 21 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 38'20.442 2 Leon Haslam Suzuki GBR 0'04.931 3 Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 0'06.432 4 Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 0'08.576 5 Troy Corser BMW AUS 0'11.150 6 Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 0'11.243 7 Luca Scassa Ducati ITA 0'12.432 8 Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki FRA 0'15.145 9 James Toseland Yamaha GBR 0'16.091 10 Ruben Xaus BMW ESP 0'16.502 11 Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 0'18.719 12 Max Neukirchner Honda GER 0'24.285 13 Tom Sykes Kawasaki GBR 0'36.479 14 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 0'39.700 15 Chris Vermeulen Kawasaki AUS 0'41.253 Race 2 - 21 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 38'17.842 2 Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 0'05.899 3 Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 0'07.363 4 Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 0'08.842 5 Troy Corser BMW AUS 0'09.473 6 Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki FRA 0'12.293 7 Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 0'12.483 8 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 0'15.959 9 Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 0'18.897 10 Luca Scassa Ducati ITA 0'20.372 11 Ruben Xaus BMW ESP 0'26.823 12 Max Neukirchner Honda GER 0'30.344 13 Chris Vermeulen Kawasaki AUS 0'33.337 14 Tom Sykes Kawasaki GBR 0'38.772 15 Broc Parkes Kawasaki AUS 0'44.994 Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 1'48.045 Rider Standings 31/05/2010 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 257 2. Leon Haslam Suzuki GBR 242 3. Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 151 4. Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 141 5. Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 135 6. James Toseland Yamaha GBR 132 7. Troy Corser BMW AUS 127 8. Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 115 9. Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 107 10. Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 102 11. Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki FRA 95 12. Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 81 13. Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 61 14. Ruben Xaus BMW ESP 53 15. Tom Sykes Kawasaki GBR 42 Manufacturer Standings 31/05/2010 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Aprilia 263 2. Suzuki 252 3. Ducati 214 4. Honda 162 5. Yamaha 158 6. BMW 130 7. Kawasaki 45 Yamaha Racing Communications Barentszplein 4B / 1013 NJ Amsterdam / The Netherlands T. +31 (0) 20 625 6539 E. office@yrc.nl W. www.yamaha-racing.com © Copyright Yamaha 2010 | Unsubscribe