CRUTCHLOW, A FANTASTIC SECOND PLACE IN AUSTRALIA

It has been two weeks of mixed fortunes for Cal Crutchlow on his LCR Honda: a fantastic second-place finish, followed by a fall that put him out of last Sunday's race.
Cal Crutchlow's fantastic second-place finish at the Australian GP, where he finished just behind the unassailable Marc Marquez, is certainly one to remember. The LCR Honda rider, in sixth position on the grid, got off to a sensational start – so much so that he closed out the first lap in second place. For a few laps, he was even in the lead, before losing ground to Viñales and Marquez. The two Spaniards were in a race all of their own before the final head-to-head, which finished with Viñales crashing on the penultimate corner, allowing Crutchlow to scoop second. It is his best result of the season.
Crutchlow was all too aware that it was right here at Phillip Island, Australia that last year he suffered a serious accident and fractured his ankle in multiple places. “The funny thing was I never had a crash that I have thought about. I usually get back on and I don’t care but this one has haunted me for a year.  I was scared and worried. So to have some podiums, and one back at this Grand Prix is very, very special. The last five laps, the rear tyre fell to pieces and I was just literally riding home. Then on the last lap it started raining and I said” ‘no, no!’ I’d like to thank the entire team for giving me a bike that let me keep up a great pace. We know we got lucky with second place today as Maverick deserved to be on the podium. The whole LCR Honda Castrol team deserve this podium today.”
But in Sepang, Malaysia at the penultimate 2019 MotoGP event of the year, things didn’t go so well. After a complicated race beset with problems, the Englishman ended up crashing his bike, failing to earn any points in the last Asian event of the season.
The final race of the series takes place on 17 November at the Spanish Grand Prix.