Crutchlow fights hard for fourth in a hot second race at Misano

RACE REPORT 27/06/2010 Crutchlow fights hard for fourth in a hot second race at Misano There were no easy points to be had today for the Yamaha Sterilgarda team as a hot track surface and rapidly disappearing grip tested the skills of both riders. Despite being mobbed by riders in the first corner of race two, Cal Crutchlow fought back with an inspired push, coming from ninth all the way up to take third from Michel Fabrizio by lap 19. He held for a further three laps but was passed back with two laps to go, taking fourth at the line. Race one had seen Crutchlow lose the front early on as he pushed on to catch the leaders, forcing retirement from the race. Race two also saw Crutchlow make the new lap record as he worked his way through the pack, scoring an impressive 1'36.546. Team mate James Toseland also experienced a tough race day at the Misano circuit. Starting from a less than perfect 13th on the grid on the hard to overtake track, Toseland fought to pass several riders, taking tenth at the line. Race two saw him losing the front end going into a corner on the tenth lap and forcing early retirement. Crutchlow leaves Misano in tenth place in the championship standings on 120 points, just ten behind Leon Camier in ninth. Team mate Toseland sits in seventh on 138 points, just 23 points adrift of Checa in fifth as they head to Brno in two weeks time. Cal Crutchlow Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (DNF, 4th) "I had an ok start in race two, but got beaten up a bit in the first corner on the first lap and basically had to recover from then on. I was disappointed to lose out to Fabrizio at the end, I just lost a bit of drive out of the corner and he managed to get back under me. To come here and do the race pace we did at these grip levels was incredible, hopefully we can make some improvements at this week's Imola test and be even better. Race one was a stupid mistake, I had a full tank of fuel and just pushed the front a bit too hard trying to catch the front runners and lost the front, but I think I redeemed myself in race two." James Toseland James Toseland, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team, (10th, DNF) "What can you say, another tough weekend. I've got the pace when the tyre grip is good but just find it difficult when losing the grip on the bike to keep with the other bikes coming off the corners. We need to work hard on this area as it's so important. We'll meet about it tonight, if we can improve that it'll be a big help. The time I'm losing on the corners to the others means I have to keep catching up on the brakes which means pushing the front, which is why I crashed in the second. Brno is a little bit faster and flowing so if we can keep the revs high we shouldn't have too many problems." Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team Manager "After the test last week we were expecting better results. By Friday we realised this weekend was going to be tougher than we thought. Cal did a good job in the second race, although unfortunately he crashed in the first. He didn't have the best start in the second and he was pushing really hard to catch the front pack. Unfortunately this meant he destroyed his rear tyre which meant at the end the rear grip was suffering but he pushed to the line for fourth. James had a difficult weekend, for sure starting from the fourth row is always hard. He did what he could and unfortunately he didn't finish the second race due to a crash. Fortunately he is not hurt. Tuesday and Wednesday we will go to Imola to test and hopefully we can fix some of the issues we have." Circuit Length: 4060 Weather: Hot and Sunny Lap Record: 1'37.135 (Noriyuki Haga, 01/01/2009) Fastest Lap Ever: 1'35.001 (Troy Corser, 27/06/2010) Last Years Winner: Jonathan Rea 2010 WSB San Marino - Misano 27/06/2010 Race 1 - 24 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 38'59.319 2 Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 0'00.387 3 Troy Corser BMW AUS 0'00.822 4 Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 0'04.911 5 Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki FRA 0'05.916 6 Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 0'08.658 7 Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 0'11.872 8 Leon Haslam Suzuki GBR 0'11.907 9 Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 0'16.490 10 James Toseland Yamaha GBR 0'18.458 11 Luca Scassa Ducati ITA 0'18.646 12 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0'19.315 13 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 0'25.405 14 Max Neukirchner Honda GER 0'31.671 15 Tom Sykes Kawasaki GBR 0'39.658 Race 2 - 24 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 38'58.149 2 Leon Haslam Suzuki GBR 0'04.095 3 Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 0'04.631 4 Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 0'05.014 5 Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 0'06.256 6 Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki FRA 0'07.677 7 Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 0'10.144 8 Luca Scassa Ducati ITA 0'10.942 9 Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 0'13.640 10 Troy Corser BMW AUS 0'16.279 11 Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 0'17.799 12 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 0'22.793 13 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0'24.131 14 Max Neukirchner Honda GER 0'28.212 15 Chris Vermeulen Kawasaki AUS 0'36.551 Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 1'36.670 Rider Standings 27/06/2010 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 307 2. Leon Haslam Suzuki GBR 270 3. Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 172 4. Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 158 5. Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 151 6. Troy Corser BMW AUS 149 7. James Toseland Yamaha GBR 138 8. Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 131 9. Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 130 10. Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 120 11. Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki FRA 116 12. Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 97 13. Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 61 14. Luca Scassa Ducati ITA 53 15. Ruben Xaus BMW ESP 53 Manufacturer Standings 27/06/2010 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Aprilia 313 2. Suzuki 283 3. Ducati 250 4. Yamaha 177 5. Honda 169 6. BMW 152 7. Kawasaki 47 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