‘ABSOLUTELY gutted’ – the words of Cal Crutchlow after he crashed out of the Australian MotoGP on the final lap while he was set to finish second.
The Coventry-born rider produced his best races of the year so far on Sunday at the Phillip Island circuit and he was desperately unlucky not to reach the chequered flag and take runners-up position.
The 28-year-old was holding on to a safe second place behind Valentino Rossi but he lost the front of his Desmosedici GP14 at turn four of the final lap and had to retire.
After a bad start, Crutchlow was ninth at the end of lap one, but had moved up to fourth by lap six.
He gained another place after Marquez crashed on lap 18 and then took Lorenzo on lap 23, but the final lap crash denied the British rider of a well-deserved podium.
“I’m absolutely gutted with Sunday’s result.” said Crutchlow. “We didn’t deserve that.
“The first time I slowed throughout the whole race was on the last lap and the front tyre obviously cooled down.
“It was just a shame that the only mistake I made was slowing down a bit and not carrying on pushing for the rest of the lap.
“It’s a disappointment to my team, because I believe they deserved it and I’m really sorry for that.”
Ducati corse general manager, Luigi Dall’Igna, added: “Cal did a really extraordinary race after his excellent qualifying run yesterday, showing that he has finally reached a good feeling with the GP14, and he would have thoroughly deserved the second place. Unfortunately that’s racing.”
