Today in Brno, Cal Crutchlow ended two droughts. The first was his own as he took his first win for six years and the second was Britain’s as Crutchlow became the first man riding under the Union Flag to win a blue riband grand prix since Barry Sheene 35 years ago.
The LCR Honda man took a whopping gamble on the grid as he opted to use the hard-compound Michelin wets front and back as all about him went for soft/soft or soft front/hard rear but it paid off.
Crutchlow’s team had to completely re-build his LCR Honda as he wrote it off in a free practice four crash but the work was well worth it as Crutchlow crossed the line today with a 7.3s margin over good friend Valentino Rossi in the ‘best day’ of his racing career.
“It was 35 years since Barry Sheene won a Grand Prix and to be mentioned in the same sentence as him is some really nice and it’s perfect timing for the crowds for Silverstone,” said Crutchlow, speaking at the track.
“The first thing people say to me is, ‘What’s your emotion after winning?’. I last won six years ago and the emotion then was different to how it is now. I feel that the biggest emotion I had was three weeks ago when Willow was born, so I don’t think it compares in that sense but that being said, it’s the best day of my racing career and the best emotion of my racing career. Hopefully it can happen again.”
Crutchlow registered his last victory on a factory Sterilgarda Yamaha R1 in race one at Magny-Cours in 2010.
