Cal Crutchlow says that a worn rear tyre as a result of pushing too hard early on prevented him from challenging for his second successive MotoGP rostrum at Brno.
The LCR Honda rider had started the Czech contest from 11th on the grid after struggling in the mixed conditions that graced the Q2 pole shootout session, the Brit lapping a huge 4.3s slower than pole-man and fellow Honda pilot Marc Marquez.
He made up ground in the race though, working his way through the likes of Danilo Petrucci’s Ducati and Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi to eventually take the chequered flag fifth, just his third top-five result of the season so far.
He scored a pair of third places at the season-opening race in Qatar and last time out at the Sachsenring in Germany, but said that pushing too hard to make up from his lowly qualifying position meant he ran out of tyre to catch Suzuki’s Alex Rins and eventual podium finisher Jack Miller by the end.
“I made a good start and had a good race, but I just wore that rear tyre out coming across the gap to the front guys. I was four seconds down and got it back to two at one point, but that put a lot of stress on the rear tyre on a day when the track condition was really, really bad,” said Crutchlow.
“At the end of the first lap, or the first two or three anyway, I was already 3.8 seconds down or something like that, so I lost a lot of time in the first few laps as I was not able to get through.
“Maybe I wasted one lap too many behind Petrucci (Danilo) and Valentino (Rossi), but I tried my best, had a good pace and we’re happy with the result considering where we came from on the grid.
“Overall, we’re happy, the team did a good job, Honda did a good job and we should be pleased to come away with a top-five result after not a good qualifying and not having a great feeling with the bike this weekend.”
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