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MotoGP Qatar: Crutchlow still concerned with weak front end

Britain's Cal Crutchlow has expressed concern over the loss of feeling with the 2019 LCR RC213V on which he will roll down the Qatar MotoGP pitlane in just a couple of hours.

Crutchlow is mystified at the loss of feel with the front of the new bike but is sure that is why he struggled in recent testing at the desert track.

"I'll be totally honest, I don’t really know why I have no front feeling. I think that that's where we are struggling a little bit. I think the other riders also a little bit. Not that I can speak for them," said Crutchlow, speaking at the track.

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"I don't think I have the front feeling that I had last year. We know the Honda has a good front end. We crash all the time with the front, but as I've said many times it's not that we have a bad front end, it's that we have such a good front end that we take advantage of it too much and that was our weapon.

"If somebody has a lot of rear grip they use that as their weapon, but at the end of the race they are struggling more because they've worn out the tyre etc. We were the opposite.

"We were pushing the front a lot and it caused a lot of crashes over the years but we were able to fight in that area. We were always good in the braking zone and I feel that we've lost that at the moment."

On the flipside, Crutchlow is pleased with the increase in top-end the revised airbox arrangement has brought to the bike.

"On the other hand, what we have gained is speed. The engine is very, very good. HRC have done an amazing job with regards to that.

"But we need to figure out and understand why me, personally, I've lost the front-end feeling. I'm not able to turn the bike like I was before.

"But at the tests we didn't really put it all together as a package, for how we think we will be racing this year. So now I'm looking forward to being able to ride the race bike, as such, for the year and start to work on that."

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