Crutchlow fifth after spectacular last lap Sunday, 18 August 2013 Monster Yamaha Tech 3’s Cal Crutchlow ended an exciting Indianapolis race in fifth position, the British rider playing a leading role in one of the most intense battles of the 27-lap contest. Engaged in a frenetic fight for the majority of the race with Spaniard Alvaro Bautista, the tussle for fourth position became a three-way battle, with nine-times World Champion Valentino Rossi riding into contention with a brilliant late attack. Crutchlow had produced an outstanding final lap to keep Rossi and Bautista at bay and fourth position seemed to have been secured behind dominant Spanish trio of Marc Marquez, Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo. After a superb race there was still time for one final dramatic twist, with Rossi executing a last ditch overtake at the final corner to push Crutchlow back into fifth. “I’m really pleased to finish the race in the top five,” enthused the Tech 3 man. “It was a really good battle out there and I enjoyed it a lot. All of us were pushing at our absolute maximum and Alvaro rode fantastic. Credit to Valentino as well because he recovered quite a lot of time and it is not easy to do that towards the end of the race. I knew it was going to come down to the last lap and probably the last corner and I did my best to keep fourth.” The rider from Coventry went on to say, “I was strong all weekend, so that gives me a lot of confidence for the next races in Brno and Silverstone where I was very competitive at last season.” Bradley Smith secured his seventh top 10 finish of the season, the British rider’s race starting and finishing in exciting fashion. Smith got a stunning launch off the line and on the first lap he held fourth place before he slipped back into a fight with Andrea Dovizioso and Nicky Hayden for eighth. The 22-year-old exerted constant pressure on his more experienced counterparts and his determination and hard work was rewarded when Hayden and Dovizioso ran off track at the final corner. The Oxfordshire rider stated, “The race was very exciting and I got an amazing start but pretty much right from the first lap I felt we had an issue with the rear end of the bike. I was a bit lucky that the Ducatis ran wide in the last corner, so I could pass both on the final straight. Eighth is not a bad result but I’m a little bit disappointed because we did a really good job during the whole weekend.” motogp/en/news/2013/Crutchlow+fifth+after+spectacular+last+lap
Posted on: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 23:14:18 +0000
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