Monster Yamaha Tech3 rookie Cal Crutchlow fighting to make his mark in 2011 MotoGP season
Monster Yamaha Tech3 rider Cal Crutchlow is aiming to give a notable performance through his rookie MotoGP season in 2011.
The British rider has stepped up from World Superbike Championship into the premier class motorcycle racing.
The Tech3 British rider is 15th in the MotoGP world championship point standings with 39 points. While starting his 2011 MotoGP season he first rode the Tech3 machine at Valencia test session. During the first day of the session, he was 14th and on second day, he improved his timings by a second and was placed 13th in the final time sheet.
Before the start of the 2011 season, preseason tests were held at Sepang and Qatar. The first test session was held at the Sepang International Circuit. In the first visit, Crutchlow made a gradual start to his session. On the first day he was 16th and on the following next two days he stood 15th with improved lap times each day.
The second winter test was held at SIC in which the British rider started his work where he left at earlier test session. Crutchlow tried to improve his lap times ahead from 2:02 seconds. By the last day of the test session, he was able to lap 2:02.034 seconds as his best time and came 14th in the final time sheet.
Coming to the final preseason test at Losail, Qatar, Crutchlow has gained a lot of confidence aboard a MotoGP bike. The Brit was able to shed off fraction of a second from his lap time and came 16th in the final time sheet for the session.
The season hit its first round at Losail circuit, Qatar. Crutchlow made his start in the race from eighth position on the grid and finished the race in 11th position.
The second race of the season was held at Jerez, Spain. In the Spanish GP, he made little improvement to his race tactics. He qualified for ninth position in the race but finished a position above at eighth place.
The third round of the season was the Portuguese GP held at Estoril. The rookie at Tech3 came up with better pace and qualified with an eighth position on the grid. After a hard race, he managed to finish eighth across the finish line.
Coming at the Le Mans circuit, he was more confident with his satellite Yamaha M1. He also improved his qualifying pace and came sixth on the grid, it being his first, second row start in the season. However, he was fast but unfortunately he crashed after six laps in the race and collected his first DNF of the season.
Then the Catalan GP in Barcelona was held, where he improved upon his mistake from the last round. Although he qualified for sixth position but completed the race at seventh place.
The next round was his most awaited event of the season the British Grand Prix, his home event. He was strong during the practice sessions but unluckily he crashed in the qualifiers. During the fall, he suffered a fractured right collarbone which sidelined him from his home event.
His comeback was at Netherlands where restarted his season with new hope. During the qualifying round, he came close to the mid pack of the riders to secure the sixth position on the grid. While in the race, he was hampered by his injury and pain, which dropped him to 14th position across the finish line.
The Mugello event was held in the same way where he was able to start the race seventh but this he ended up crashing due to a front-end problem.
The German GP was a below par performance by him. He secured 12th seat on the grid and finished at an even worse at 14th place. It happened due to lack of confidence in his M1 setup.
Laguna Seca again saw him tumbling down and retiring from the race with much disappointment. After the short summer break, he came to Brno, Czech Republic. While starting the race from 11th position he ended up again with a DNF.
Let’s see how he fares in the remainder of the 2011 MotoGP season.
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