PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
VALENCIA, SPAIN, NOV. 9 – Today at the MotoGP season finale in Valencia, Spain Cal Crutchlow ended his brief one-year tenure on the Factory Ducati. And he was able to do so on a reasonably high note, finishing fifth in the tough conditions of on and off again light rain.
“It was a tough race because I was always conscious of finishing,” Crutchlow said. “I wanted to finish the last race at Ducati with a strong result and it was really nice to do that because we haven’t finished the three races [Motegi, Phillip Island and Sepang] before that.”
It was a rough season for Crutchlow that started badly with a nasty crash at the Circuit of Americas that resulted in a broken hand and more importantly a badly shaken confidence. That confidence in the bike was finally restored at Aragon – five rounds from the finish – where Crutchlow finished on the podium in the wet. Still, it was a season plagued with injuries and DNFs, but even a mostly bad experience can teach you something.
“I learned the physical recovery of the body is good and that you have to be a bit more mentally strong because there was a pocket in the season where I was quite weak,” Crutchlow said. “Mentally, physically, emotionally I was not in the best place. But then I managed to turn it around. And I always said that one good session, one good lap, one good qualifying would be able to bring the confidence with the bike back. Because I had confidence in the first round at Qatar I just never had it after because I crashed so big in Texas.
“But I was pleased with the way the team worked with me. As I said they never gave up on me. And every race, spending hours and hours looking through data and working hard. But yeah I learned a lot. And I learned that people shouldn’t write me off.”
If he was a teacher, what grade would he give himself this season on a scale of one to 10 and what comments would he offer?
“Four,” Crutchlow answered. “The comment on the bottom would be: stop the naughty behavior a little and improve in every area. But not the press, obviously that’s my best area.”
And again as difficult as the season was, Crutchlow really turned it around and started showing flashes of his former competitive self. That combined with the Ducati also showing the promise of being competitive as well, maybe Crutchlow would rethink his decision to go to LCR Honda?
“I would still take the same decision because it’s my career and Ducati took a different decision to what I proposed to them as well,” Crutchlow said. “They took the two guys [Andrea Dovizioso and Andrea Iannone] for another two years and such, and I believe that for my career that was the best option at the time. They have two fantastic riders.”
Crutchlow went on to explain that he and Ducati Corse’s General Manager GiGi Dall’Igna did not see eye-to-eye for part of the season.
“There was a point in the year where me and GiGi [Dall’Igna] were not working in the best way, but in the last five races I really began to understand him and how he works and I think this is the best for Ducati as well,” Crutchlow said. “Probably at the time I didn’t agree with it, but now, yeah I agree with it. He’s obviously doing a good job and you could see that from the results of previous seasons and also from the results earlier on in the year with Andrea, and me and Andrea towards the end of the year and also Iannone.”
Crutchlow did have one last parting request for Ducati’s technical guru…
“As I said to him earlier, personally, at the end of the race, I would really appreciate if he concentrated a lot more on World Superbike next year,” Crutchlow said tongue-in-cheek. “So that he’s not developing too much for Ducati next year because sure they are going to be back to the front and winning soon.”
