Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) was in the front group fighting for the podium in first half of the race at Sepang, before a crash at Turn 2 saw his charge halted early. After a weekend of ups and downs that saw the Brit head through Q1, qualify on the second row despite a crash, and then crash again in the race, Crutchlow is sore and ruing the lost podium opportunity - but more disappointed for the team after the incredible feat of winning his second race at Phillip Island the week before.
Cal Crutchlow (DNF): “I’m a little bit sore after what was a big crash. It wasn’t fast, in fact it was quite slow but I highsided off throttle. Marc almost had the same the lap before but he managed to stay on – he had the luck of landing back on the bike. I thought ‘don’t do what Marc did’, but I nearly ended up on the moon! I landed completely on my face and was a bit disorientated, but then was OK. I have some pain in my big toe and my foot, and in my hand which is broken from the qualifying crash. It was impossible to ride the bike again.
“It was a shame because it was a definite podium opportunity, but I was struggling with the acceleration. We need how to improve the traction control works because we just weren’t competitive enough in this area, and myself and Marc had to brake ‘hot’ all the time to make up for this. I tried my best and it didn’t work this time, but I’m most disappointed for my team because to spend the week here and get any points is a real shame. We go away happy enough because of recent results but we had to try today, and we did.”