"S**t happens, was Cal Crutchlow's neat summary of MotoGP qualifying at the Circuit of the Americas, during which he fell at turn eleven while contesting for a top three starting position.

The Englishman was sure he had the potential for a front row placing in Saturday afternoon's qualifying, but a crash caused by pushing the front tyre to its limits when braking from sixth to first gear means he will start the Texan encounter from ninth.

A third row start is hardly ideal, and Crutchlow believes he must choose between attempting to stick with the leaders in the early laps, or maintaining his cool, hoping a patient approach will pay off in the later laps.

Speaking to the press on Saturday evening, he was leaning toward the latter of those two. "F**k, it was easily there for the taking for me, began the 31-year old.



"What can I say? Honda problem! [We] Lose the front everywhere. Yes, you could say it was my fault but I didn't really do anything different to any other lap this week.

"I've had vibration into turn one, turn eleven, turn twelve, turn 15 the whole weekend, no matter front tyre, no matter what setting. We've had what feels like chatter but it's not.

"We honestly don't think it's the tyres. I think it's more our package. You've seen Marc crash twice. You've seen Dani crash once, which is not normally like him. Jack stayed with it, barely.

"I was half a second under my own time in one sector and I had three to go. I never made it. I was eight tenths under by the back straight, which is where I crashed. That would have put me third.

"It's disappointing but we have to take it on the chin and start strong tomorrow because I feel like I had a good pace. Marc and Maverick are above the rest. But after that it's a lottery. The problem is where we are starting from.

"Our bike is so slow that we might have to be patient tomorrow. We can be patient and try to play the long game but I think they will be up the road. Or we can try and go with them.

"But I'm really disappointed to be out-qualified by 'Gorgeous George [Jorge Lorenzo]. I'm only joking. We know we have a lot better pace than a lot of the others, especially with the tyres we're going to be racing tomorrow.

On who he feels will be involved in a possible scrap for third place, behind Marc Marquez and Maverick Viles, Crutchlow said, "[Dani] Pedrosa has a lot better pace than what most people thing to be honest.

"I don't think he's got the pace of Marc. He should easily be on the podium. He should easily be winning. He's the one that's not stressing the tyre at all. The limit is the tyre. He's not riding fast enough I don't think for him at this circuit. But he has a big potential to be on the podium.

"Valentino is a race-day man and he's managed to pull something out of the hat again today. He will be there and competitive. After that I don't know. The Ducatis are going to be a nightmare. We'll see.

"I think it'll be a good battle for anything after. Anything can happen in the first lap. If there's a gap of a second from fifth to sixth place, it's going to be really hard to come across that gap. It's really difficult.