We haven’t had a British rider take pole position in the Premier class since 2002. Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) changed that when he grabbed the top spot in qualifying for tomorrow’s TT at Assen. Also on the front row tomorrow will be Marc Marquez (Honda) and Stefan Bradl (Honda). Points leader Dani Pedrosa (Honda) slotted into the middle of the second row, just behind Valentino Rossi (Yamaha). We will post race results later this weekend.
|
Pos. |
Num. |
Rider |
Nation |
Team |
Bike |
Km/h |
Time |
Gap 1st/Prev. |
|
1 |
35 |
Cal CRUTCHLOW | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha |
302.0 |
1’34.398 |
|
|
2 |
93 |
Marc MARQUEZ | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda |
305.0 |
1’34.755 |
0.357 / 0.357 |
|
3 |
6 |
Stefan BRADL | GER | LCR Honda MotoGP | Honda |
302.9 |
1’34.878 |
0.480 / 0.123 |
|
4 |
46 |
Valentino ROSSI | ITA | Yamaha Factory Racing | Yamaha |
299.4 |
1’34.974 |
0.576 / 0.096 |
|
5 |
26 |
Dani PEDROSA | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda |
305.6 |
1’35.006 |
0.608 / 0.032 |
|
6 |
38 |
Bradley SMITH | GBR | Monster Yamaha Tech 3 | Yamaha |
301.2 |
1’35.454 |
1.056 / 0.448 |
|
7 |
41 |
Aleix ESPARGARO | SPA | Power Electronics Aspar | ART |
290.3 |
1’35.500 |
1.102 / 0.046 |
|
8 |
19 |
Alvaro BAUTISTA | SPA | GO&FUN Honda Gresini | Honda |
301.9 |
1’35.508 |
1.110 / 0.008 |
|
9 |
14 |
Randy DE PUNIET | FRA | Power Electronics Aspar | ART |
289.4 |
1’35.622 |
1.224 / 0.114 |
|
10 |
69 |
Nicky HAYDEN | USA | Ducati Team | Ducati |
302.2 |
1’35.908 |
1.510 / 0.286 |
Who was the last non-factory rider to qualify on pole? Simoncelli perhaps?
What a day for Yamaha. The Doctor kisses the top step, Cal takes another podium and points away from Dani and Lorenzo becomes an MotoGP Iron Man legend!
Espargaro in 7th on a CRT. closer all the time.
Cal is a beast! He deserves a full factory ride.
The only one available next season is Nicky’s ride at Ducati. If I’m Cal…no thanks, guys. I’ll just stay right where I am, on a clearly competitive bike. Of course Yamaha will have to pony up for that, but they will.
I still don’t know why on earth Davizioso left Honda to move to a bike that has zero chance of being a factor. Were the $$ THAT much better?
Re: “I still don’t know why on earth Davizioso left Honda”
I don’t believe Honda gave him a choice. Besides, he then went to the Tech 3 Yamaha. He’s done pretty well on the Ducati where he was probably given development promises and a pretty big paycheck.
True, my mistake, it was the Tech 3 Yamaha with Crutchlow as his teammate last year. Same thing, though. Why leave that highly competitive ride to go to a bike that has no chance?
He wanted a full factory ride, which Ducati offered him.
Why will Nickys ride be available?
Because he made sure to sign only a one-year deal this past offseason. Knowing how bad the bike was going to be this year (with Ducati’s management having let the entire team know right from the start that there would be no all-new redesign for 2013, which Hayden knew his bike sorely needed), he did not want to be locked into more than a single-year deal with that albatross. So, his ride is currently the only one that is not already signed for the 2014 season. That’s it. Unless Yamaha were to create a third factory team for him next year (not bloody likely when they’ve already got Lorenzo plus the biggest star in the moto-universe signed) that’s the only factory ride potentially available for Crutchlow, or for anyone else.
Without Ducati, Nicky is a spectator. No one else is going to give him a ride. Guess he’s retiring.
Does Cal’s chain look just a tad loose?
No, that’s actually space-time being warped by extreme velocity!
no worries, that’s exactly what you want. piano wires can lock out the suspension. “piano wires” are ESPECIALLY something to avoid on wet circuits. ‘renzo knows what ‘im talkin’ bout.
re: “Jorge is flying back to start tomorrow’s race from 12th on the grid if the weather and track doctors will cooperate.”
he was administered anesthesia less than 48hrs ago. from my understanding that supercedes everything… weather, doctors, and my mother.
But is your mother a Spaniard, and does she have any pull with Carmelo Ezpeleta?
not so much. but if you ask her, she’d prolly say “in a former life”. 🙂
Jorge begs to differ.
Maybe we can see a picture of Crutchlow smiling now.
He’s from Coventry. The only smile he’ll ever show you is a wry, sarcastic one.
That’s true, I have one with him in Qatar and he looks like he just told a dirty joke!
Great news on Cal, excellent rider and the guy to watch this season…
Go Cal! Meanwhile Jorge is flying back to start tomorrow’s race from 12th on the grid if the weather and track doctors will cooperate.
But hey, check out Moto2 for the real action. The top 20 qualifiers are within 1 second of each other. The top 30 within 1.5 second of pole. Now that’s close.
Oops, sorry that JUST the first 27 riders within 1.5 second of pole. Don’t want to spread any false info.
This is going to be a hectic weekend for watching racing with MotoGP at the Cathedral of Speed and SBK at Imola. Haga’s back!