LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow reckons a better result was possible in the Aragon Grand Prix had he not been stifled by ‘stupid battles’ in the opening stanza of the race.
Crutchlow eventually crossed the line sixth, pipping Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro by just 0.051 and only 5.5 seconds in arrears of second placed man Andrea Dovizioso.
The Brit admitted he lost ‘too much time’ while trying to battle his way through the pack after being held up in the aftermath of the incident between Alex Rins and Franco Morbidelli.
He displayed pace similar to the podium battle, but was unable to shake Espargaro once snatching sixth and ran out of time to catch fifth placed Fabio Quartararo.
Crutchlow also expressed his relief at having a solid race finish after the Misano event he felt was a ‘joke’, where he struggled for speed all weekend then crashed out in the race while running 12th.
“Today was a race we had to finish after last week’s disaster; I couldn’t wait to leave Misano so to come here to Aragon and get a strong result is good,” said Crutchlow.
“I just lost too much time, I got caught in some stupid battles on the first lap and lost a lot of time, and then in the middle of the race I ran off the track and lost another couple of seconds.
“I’m happy with my pace, I didn’t expect the race to be as fast as that but I held my pace throughout pretty well, I could make some passes and get a top six finish.
“We just have to take the positives from today because the last race was a joke, and we have to give congratulations to Marc as he had a fantastic weekend.”
The three-time premier class winner said he is optimistic of a good result in the next round of the championship at Buriram in Thailand, but thinks his Honda RC213-V machine could be tricky to get a handle on.
“I hope Thailand will be a good race, I think the problem is the turning of the bike so I think in a few corners there we’ll struggle to get the bike turned well, but in a couple it could be an advantage with the way we have to stop and ride the bike. “
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