Honda RC213V men Cal Crutchlow and Dani Pedrosa both struggled with chatter on new tyres during today’s Assen MotoGP qualifying session which pushed them down to third and second-row starts for tomorrow’s race.

Crutchlow said both he and the Spaniard had to knock the edge of the new Bridgestones before they could use at full pace but it shouldn’t be so much of a problem at the start of the race as the laptimes will be slower than qualifying and a full tank of fuel will also damp down the problem.

“I had massive chatter with both my new tyres. We had to take the edge off them. Me and Dani seemed not to be able to go fast on the first lap, so had to do it on the second lap. Basically, If I hadn’t had the chatter in the third sector, I only gained a tenth over my free practice four time on an old tyre and that shouldn’t be happening because they are long corners,” said Crutchlow, speaking at Assen.

“I am quite pleased. We have the pace to run in the top five. We don’t push as much at the start of the race as in qualifying, we will be four-tenths slower and with a full fuel load that will help.

“There are a few of us at the front with the same pace and we will look tonight in a few areas. We need to improve change of direction but in other areas the bike is working really well.”

Pedrosa, who was reluctant to discuss the problem, added: “It is mostly with new tyres. I can’t say why.”

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