DOWN BUT NOT OUT
Brave Crutchlow goes from hospital to top ten after qualifying horror crash
Cal Crutchlow delivered a super-hero performance in Sunday’s French Grand Prix at Le Mans, bouncing back from a monster highside on Saturday to bring home his LCR Honda in eighth place only hours after he discharged himself from hospital. The British racer looked strong throughout the weekend, running comfortably inside the top three but became a victim of one of the many highsides that plagued all three classes during qualifying. Believed by Michelin to be caused in part by the ultra-grippy nature of the freshly resurfaced track leaving riders overconfident with their rear tyres, Crutchlow launched himself at turn eight, landing heavily on his hip and causing major bruising in the process. The fall was made even worse by the lack of an airbag in his leathers, after an early crash meant that he hadn’t had time to have the system recharged.
But despite being released from hospital at only 8am before Sunday’s race, just in time to dash back to the track and be declared fit, Cal was left wanting more after his heroic performance.
He said: “If I hadn’t crashed I could have been on the podium, because I was faster than Petrucci on Friday and he finished second to Marc! I’m disappointed with the result for that reason.
“I was scared to push at the start of the race too, which didn’t help. For the first 15 laps, I was just riding around trying to stay on, because if I had crashed again I would have been in trouble. I was able to push with ten laps to go and that let me pick a few off.” Crutchlow admitted that he had taken a real pounding in the violent fall. After ending up in a local hospital thanks to circuit medics’ fears of internal bleeding, he revealed that it was one of the hardest impacts of his career. He said: “It wasn’t fun lying at the side of the track unable to breathe. I winded myself, but I had blood on my lungs and I honestly thought that my pelvis was broken because of how much pain I had around my stomach. The bruising of my arse was bad enough that it sent my heart protein levels crazy, and that’s why they kept me in.” While Cal is a long way behind Marquez in the title fight, he is only 13 points from Viñales in second – and says he can bounce back in Mugello in two weeks. He said: “Mugello will be hard work because it’s a physical track. A lot of people can be on the podium there, but our aim is to do just that.”