The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team suffered another cruel injury blow today after it was confirmed Cal Crutchlow will miss his all-important home MotoGP round at Silverstone with a broken left collarbone.
The home crowd favourite was just starting his third lap of this afternoon’s qualifying session when he lost control of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team YZR-M1 machine on the entry to the second corner.
He landed heavily on his left shoulder and was immediately assessed by trackside medical staff before he was transferred to the Silverstone Medical Centre. He was diagnosed with a broken left collarbone and concussion. The crash will unfortunately prevent the 25-year-old from starting tomorrow’s 20-lap British Grand Prix and he will now commence a period of rest and recuperation to regain fitness ahead of the next round of the 2011 MotoGP World Championship in Assen, Holland.
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Crutchlow’s injury comes just eight days after team-mate Colin Edwards broke his right collarbone in a practice crash for the Catalunya race in Spain. The American was passed fit to ride in Silverstone and he produced a heroic performance this afternoon to secure a brilliant eighth position on the grid.
Brave Edwards shrugged off the persistent pain from a rib injury he also suffered in the Catalunya crash to set a best time of 2.04.508 to finish ahead of several riders in much better physical shape than the popular 37-year-old.
He modified the settings of his YZR-M1 machine to help him get more comfortable in the hard braking zone and is confident he can fight for a top ten finish tomorrow.
Colin Edwards - Position 8th Time 2.04.508 Laps 14
“My shoulder feels pretty much perfect but my ribs are killing me and that’s the biggest issue at the moment. I feel worse physically than I did yesterday but when I crashed at Catalunya I pulled some of the muscle away from my ribs and I’m finding it hard to do anything. If I breathe, cough, sneeze or do anything it hurts. So on the bike I just don’t have the strength I need to flick the bike in the fast changes of direction. I’ve got to take my time and be nice and smooth, but to get on the third row is a great result considering this time last week I was lying in a hospital in Barcelona with my right collarbone smashed to pieces. I’m feeling confident for the race but I know it is going to be a big effort. But I’ll grit my teeth and do my best as always and show there’s plenty of fight in this old dog. I was determined to ride this weekend for the Team. My guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 are awesome and they’ve been an unbelievable support to me in the past few years. So I want to race and get a good result for them more than anything. I’m gutted too for Cal. I know what he’s going through unfortunately and I’m really sorry that he’s going to miss his home race. I wish him a speedy recovery and hope to see him back giving me a hard time on track in Assen.”
Herve Poncharal - Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team Manager
“Cal’s injury is a very big disappointment and I feel really sorry for him because he was desperate to do well in his home race here at Silverstone. He’s been fast all weekend, so we had high hopes that he could get a good place on the grid and be challenging for the top six in the race. But track conditions were quite cold and it was obvious from looking at the TV pictures that the tyre wasn’t up to temperature. He is in pain right now but I think he is more upset than anything else because he wanted to put on a good show for the British fans. A lot of people have come to support him and he didn’t want to let anybody down. Our luck seems to have completely deserted us at the moment when you think it was only eight days ago that Colin broke his right collarbone. I suppose the only small consolation for Cal is that Colin was back on the bike less than a week later, so we are optimistic that Cal will be back for the next race at Assen. Colin has produced a super human effort to qualify on the third row and his courage and determination has been an inspiration to everybody in the whole Team. At one stage it looked like he might even finish in the top six, which would have been a great reward for him and his Team.”
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