Cal Crutchlow praised the performances of Ben Spies – MotoGP news
Cal Crutchlow of Monster Yamaha paid a tribute to the steady progressive performances of Ben Spies in a recent two year span.
Ben Spies claimed the title of World Superbike in his rookie 2009 season, first ever win for Yamaha in class. Spies won two podiums, one pole position out of six races in the Championship with Monster Yamaha Tech3.
Colin Edward being more experienced still stood on 11th place, whereas Spies was instantaneously chosen to ride with Factory Yamaha Racing team for 2011 MotoGP season after the departure of Valentino Rossi to Ducati.
Cal Crutchlow is been following the footprints of Spies in past two years. Crutchlow is now riding the second M1 in Tech3.
Jorge Lorenzo was the rider to score six podiums in his rookie season before Spies. Lorenzo was directly moved to Factory Yamaha team, no longer valid criteria except Suzuki team.
“If you put everything into perspective and look at Ben he is superior to really everyone else who has come into MotoGP in recent years,” said Crutchlow.
“People will always compare me to Ben, because I moved into the Yamaha World Superbike team and then Tech 3, like he did.”
“But he’s been phenomenal over the last two years in World Superbike and grand prix. It was good for Ben to come in and do what he did, but I haven’t really seen anybody else do that.”
“That shows he’s a one-off and it obviously takes other people more time,” added Crutchlow, who was the only Yamaha rider to win races in WSBK, in 2010.
Lin Jarvis, Yamaha Moto Racing managing director advised Crutchlow ‘not to rush’.
“The important thing for Cal is not to rush himself,” Jarvis said. “I don’t know what Cal’s future potential is, but it’s very important that he gives himself enough time. He needs to not put pressure on himself, enjoy the experience, learn, get up to speed
and then he can make it into the top ten.”
Crutchlow mentioned, “I think Lin’s right. In all honestly I hope to be better than top ten by the end of the year, but then there are two more factory Hondas [one for Stoner, one for Simoncelli] that weren’t here last year. If you count Simoncelli, there
are nine factory riders this year.”
“The competition is unbelievable in MotoGP and if you are a little bit off you can easily look slow. But I still aspire to do well this season. I got my confidence back [on the last day at Sepang] and I can go away from here quite happy.”
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