MotoGP Qatar FP1: Colin Edwards sets good pace as Cat Crutchlow crashes – MotoGP news
The Monster Yamaha Tech3 duo is satisfied after the Free Practice One session of the upcoming Qatar Grand Prix.
The desert winds were again a factor to hinder Colin Edwards and Cal Crutchlow, and many other riders to run at the session.
At the last preseason test the winds blew hours before the session started, leaving a layer of sand on the tarmac, after which the riders had to start with a slow pace. But on Thursday’s FP1 the winds hit the track during the practice session, making
it difficult for the riders.
Edwards made significant improvements in his YZR-M1 setup to clock the 10th place on the time sheet with a best lap time of 1:56.879 seconds on the floodlit Losail circuit.
The Texan was confident and growing after he chose to use the hard compound Bridgestone tyres on the rear of his M1. He also has to concentrate on the cornering efficiency of his M1, to obtain speed in the fast turn of the track. His lap time was a
half a second slower than the top-three riders.
“I'm missing those crucial two or three tenths but I'm confident I can find it. I got with (Andrea) Dovizioso on the Honda and behind Valentino (Rossi) and our package is pretty strong, but the times tonight prove how competitive it is going to be
this season,” he said.
Despite on his obnoxious injury, Cal Crutchlow performed to state his courage and passion to compete and ended in 14th place with a lap time of 1:57.429 seconds. He stood 0.5 seconds off his teammate Edwards. Crutchlow faced a severe accident while
entering a corner and lost his front end, he trapped his left arm underneath the handle bar and lost his little finger-tip on the second night of the Qatar test earlier this week. He had run in practice session with discomfort and severe pain in his hand.
The Brit was using a modified clutch lever to comfort his hand and reduce the stress during the ride, and completed 17 laps. Crutchlow also concentrated on his M1’s setup improvement and enhance the compatibility with the hard compound Bridgestone
tyres.
But by the near end of the practice he had front changed on his M1 which resulted in shedding off 0.5 seconds from his test session lap times. On the next FP, Crutchlow will work further on the front end setup to drop more time from his lap times.
“That was not easy at all and being honest, the pain from the finger is really bad and it was tough to ride. The crash was only three days ago and when I took the bandage off tonight, I learned there's some nerve damage where the fingernail was. The
pain when the bandage came off was something I can't describe, so considering how uncomfortable it is,” he said.
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