Britain’s favorite MotoGP pilot, Cal Crutchlow, pleased his fans Friday when he topped free practice at Silverstone ahead of this Sunday’s British Grand Prix.The LCR Honda RC213V rider, who finished second last season at Silverstone, took the top time with a 2:00.897 around the 3.67-mile circuit. To put this time into perspective, the Circuit Record Lap (set under race conditions) is a 2:01.941 set in 2013 by Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa.Honda’s Cal Crutchlow
“Obviously we are pleased with how today went, we tried every option of tire there was and in the last run I kept the used front, which was a little dangerous with a new soft rear,” Crutchlow says.“It was just to make sure we were in the top ten because you never know what can happen tomorrow morning – if there’s oil on the track and the times aren’t as fast for example. We are working very well as a team as always and trying our best – and at the moment that’s first place!“They’ve resurfaced a couple of corners here and they were a lot better, so how about we resurface the whole track?! It’d be a lot easier for all of us. The problem is that wherever we share a track with F1, the tracks are bumpy within a year, so I understand the concerns of the organizers. I felt ok either way, an hope for a good day tomorrow.”Joining Crutchlow on the provisional front row is the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP duo of Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales; Rossi trailed by 0.241 of a second, and Vinales by 0.271.Rossi and Vinales both share a single win in the premier class at Silverstone. Vinales win arrived last season while he was piloting the Team Ecstar Suzuki GSX-RR; Vinales awarded Suzuki its first MotoGP win since 2007 (Loris Capirossi, 2007, Le Mans).Honda’s Marc MarquezHeading up the second row is Aprilia Racing Team Gresini’s Aleix Espagaro. The Spaniard RS-GP pilot finished ahead of the current points leader, Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez, and Ducati Team’s Jorge Lorenzo, who has the most premier-class wins at Silverstone with two.Red Bull KTM’s Pol Espargaro finished seventh, ahead of the rookie Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech 3) and Austria MotoGP winner Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team).The fourth row was filled by the UK’s Scott Redding (Octo Pramac Racing) and Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Andrea Iannone and Alex Rins, respectively.As he chases his fourth MotoGP title, Marquez has 174 points, and leads Dovisiozo by 16 points, and Vinales by 24 points. Marquez has only one premier-class win at Silverstone (2014, Honda RC213V).
Hello everyone and welcome once again to Ultimate Motorcycling’s weekly Podcast—Motos and Friends.
My name is Arthur Coldwells.
This week’s Podcast is brought to you by Yamaha motorcycles. Discover how the YZF-R7 provides the perfect balance of rider comfort and true supersport performance by checking it out at YamahaMotorsports.com, or see it for yourself at your local dealer.
This week’s episode features Senior Editor Nic de Sena’s impressions of the beautiful new Harley-Davidson Low Rider ST that is loosely based around the original FXRT Sport Glide from the 1980s. Hailing from The Golden State, these cult-status performance machines became known as West Coast style, with sportier suspension, increased horsepower, and niceties including creature comforts such as a tidy fairing and sporty luggage.
In past episodes you might have heard us mention my best friend, Daniel Schoenewald, and in the second segment I chat with him about some of the really special machines in his 170 or so—and growing—motorcycle collection. He’s always said to me that he doesn’t consider himself the owner, merely the curator of the motorcycles for the next generation.
Yet Daniel is not just a collector, but I can attest a really skilled rider. His bikes are not trailer queens, they’re ridden, and they’re ridden pretty hard. Actually, we have had many, many memorable rides on pretty much all of the machines in the collection at one time or another.
From all of us here at Ultimate Motorcycling, we hope you enjoy this episode!
