Crutchlow takes hard fought podium in eventful WSB Brno weekend

RACE REPORT 11/07/2010 Crutchlow takes hard fought podium in eventful WSB Brno weekend Race one at the Brno circuit saw Yamaha Sterilgarda rider Cal Crutchlow made a strong start, taking race favourite Max Biaggi on the second lap for second place. He then set about chasing down race leader Johnny Rea, and was gradually closing in on him when his grip started to drop after several laps. Despite the difficulty Crutchlow kept his focus and managed to hold off the advances of Biaggi until just four laps from the end, initially rebuffing the Italian's attempts to pass before finally surrendering second. He crossed the line in third just four seconds from the lead, and took the fastest lap of the race award, scoring a 1'59.964 on his third lap. Team mate James Toseland fought hard from his tenth place grid start, working his way through to seventh to start chasing down Noriyuki Haga for sixth. Despite also suffering a lack of grip Toseland managed to bring the gap between him and Haga down to 0.1 seconds by the final lap but ran out of time for the pass. Race two and disaster struck for Crutchlow. A defective rear tyre saw the British rider gradually drop back to seventh before pulling in to avoid a crash. The tyre was changed and Crutchlow rejoined, delivering yet again the fastest lap of the race with an incredible 1'59.291, making up a couple of places to finish in 14th. Team mate Toseland had an electronic issue on the start line, relegating him to last at the first corner, 22 places from the front. The British rider then put in an astounding performance, making up 12 places in the next lap and going on to fight his way right through to fourth at the line, taking an amazing 18 places in his fight to regain position. Toseland leaves Brno after the mixed weekend having climbed up a place to sixth in the standings with 160 points. Team mate Crutchlow remains in tenth position on 138 points. The team now head to the riders home race at Silverstone in the UK at the beginning of August. Cal Crutchlow Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (3rd, 14th) "I'm disappointed to be honest, I knew we had the pace this weekend to win. The first race didn't go too much to plan, we had a bit of a problem with rear grip so we made a change for the second race which I thought was going to be really good. I did 12 laps on the rear tyre and to be honest I was just about to crash so I had to pull into change it. The tyre looked brand new after 12 laps where it should have looked worn. We did the last eight laps on a brand new tyre, I did the fastest lap of the race and the tyre looked perfect. I'm disappointed I couldn't take it to the front guys but that's racing, we'll go to Silverstone now and make up for it." James Toseland James Toseland, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (7th, 4th) "Race one I had a problem with the electronics which weren't working as they should do so I couldn't get the exit speed I needed. I was surprised to finish seventh. It was the same system we ran the day before so we couldn't put our finger on why it changed so much. Race two my launch control didn't engage, so I bogged on the line to start and I was last going into turn one. I thought I wasn't prepared to have next week off feeling miserable so I rode hard and the bike worked really well. I dug deep and went for it and managed to get past 12 guys in the next lap and then keep on pushing towards the front." Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team Manager "We had an up and down weekend, it's been frustrating again that we've had the speed and pace to achieve great results but issues outside of our control have prevented us. Today during race one Cal didn't have the confidence to find the same speed as yesterday but still a podium was still good. Race two was a very different situation where James after a really bad start did a really great job, going from last position to fourth at the end. Cal had a problem with a defective rear tyre and he had to stop to change the tyre. He then proved that he was probably the fastest man there." Circuit Length: 5403 Temp: 31 Weather: Very Hot Lap Record: 1'59.291 (Cal Crutchlow, 01/01/2010) Fastest Lap Ever: 1'58.018 (Cal Crutchlow, 11/07/2010) Last Years Winner: Ben Spies 2010 WSB Czech Republic - Brno 11/07/2010 Race 1 - 20 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 40'16.037 2 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 0'02.518 3 Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 0'04.071 4 Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki FRA 0'07.160 5 Ruben Xaus BMW ESP 0'08.602 6 Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 0'11.379 7 James Toseland Yamaha GBR 0'11.513 8 Leon Haslam Suzuki GBR 0'16.487 9 Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 0'20.829 10 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0'25.164 11 Tom Sykes Kawasaki GBR 0'32.602 12 Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 0'36.748 13 Broc Parkes Kawasaki AUS 0'39.183 14 Roger Lee Hayden Kawasaki USA 0'59.889 15 Matteo Baiocco Kawasaki ITA 1'05.329 Race 2 - 20 Laps Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time 1 Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 40'12.236 2 Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 0'04.627 3 Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 0'13.600 4 James Toseland Yamaha GBR 0'16.372 5 Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 0'17.530 6 Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 0'21.704 7 Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki FRA 0'23.769 8 Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 0'25.875 9 Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 0'30.374 10 Leon Haslam Suzuki GBR 0'34.002 11 Lorenzo Lanzi Ducati ITA 0'34.691 12 Broc Parkes Kawasaki AUS 0'49.270 13 Roger Lee Hayden Kawasaki USA 1'03.258 14 Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 1'08.324 15 Matteo Baiocco Kawasaki ITA 1'14.256 Best Lap Rider Manu. Nat. Total Time Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 1'59.964 Rider Standings 11/07/2010 Pos. Rider Manu. Nat. Points 1. Max Biaggi Aprilia ITA 352 2. Leon Haslam Suzuki GBR 284 3. Jonathan Rea Honda GBR 203 4. Carlos Checa Ducati ESP 189 5. Noriyuki Haga Ducati JPN 172 6. James Toseland Yamaha GBR 160 7. Troy Corser BMW AUS 149 8. Michel Fabrizio Ducati ITA 147 9. Cal Crutchlow Yamaha GBR 138 10. Sylvain Guintoli Suzuki FRA 138 11. Leon Camier Aprilia GBR 138 12. Shane Byrne Ducati GBR 108 13. Ruben Xaus BMW ESP 64 14. Jakub Smrz Ducati CZE 61 15. Luca Scassa Ducati ITA 53 Manufacturer Standings 11/07/2010 Pos. Manufacturer Points 1. Aprilia 358 2. Suzuki 305 3. Ducati 276 4. Honda 214 5. Yamaha 206 6. BMW 163 7. Kawasaki 56 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