MotoGP LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow has had an unfortunate run-in with fellow MotoGP rider Jorge Lorenzo during FP1 at Motegi.
Always the brash one out on track, Cal Crutchlow has developed a reputation for being one of the most up-front and in-your-race personalities in MotoGP. Unfortunately for him, he lived up to that reputation out on track during the first Free Practice session.
Crutchlow slammed in to the rear side of Ducati rider Jorge Lorenzo, sending them both plummeting into the gravel and out of the practice session. Although both riders walked away from the incident without any injuries, both were stripped of valuable time they could have utilized to acclimate to the track.
While Crutchlow did show signs of attempting to stop as he realized that Lorenzo was maintain a much slower speed than him, the Briton carried far too much momentum into the corner, and ultimately put his machine into a skid aimed directly at Lorenzo’s rear side.
Directly after the incident, fevered gesticulations could be seen from both men. According to Lorenzo, the first thing Crutchlow did wasn’t apologize – but rather demand why the Spaniard was going so slow:
“This is Cal. But he was good, after two hours he came to my office and he said sorry, he understood it was his fault.
I was slow and he could see me in front I think he could understand it was the best line for not making any stupid thing in the first free practice.
He braked so aggressively, too much, and he lost control of the bike. Anyway, he feels sorry and it’s okay.” – Jorge Lorenzo
Meanwhile, Crutchlow maintains that Lorenzo was going far too slow on the racing line:
“I’m sorry for him because I hit him, and it looks like I’m completely the villain. But he was going really slow on the racing line.” – Cal Crutchlow
After he’d gotten his jab in, Cal conceded that the incident leaned “60/40” in favor to Lorenzo. Cal admitting that he was wrong? We thought we’d never see the day.
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