Yesterday’s Isle of Man TT second Monster Energy Supersport race Supersport race was red flagged after rain hit the iconic Mountain Course while Michael Dunlop was leading.

But earlier in the day fans were treated to the Arai parade lap that saw former five time 500cc World Champion Mick Doohan, MotoGP’s Nicky Hayden and Cal Crutchlow and BSB rider Josh Brooks along with 2010 five time king of the IOMTT Ian Hutchinson, who was forced to sit out this year IOMTT due to a lingering leg injury sustained during his horrific 2010 crash at Silverstone, but that didn’t hold him back from doing the parade lap and pop a wheelie (check out the video after the jump).

Talking about the experience Mick Doohan later said that it one of his greatest experiences on a motorcycle, while Nicky Hayden riding a Ducati 1198 SP tweeted “Isle man TT is a bunch of softies…. JJ that place was wild I enjoyed my lap & seeing another form of racing those boys are hard as nails” and Cal Crutchlow who recently stated that he’d like to race in the TT when he retires from GP racing, went into a little more detail regarding his parade lap: “For people who want to know, end of mountain mile I had 189mph on clock of standard r1 which really means about 180 …! Pretty cool on roads…”

Continue reading: Arai Parade Lap with Mick Doohan, Nicky Hayden and Cal Crutchlow

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Shoulder surgery to repair ligaments and tendons in December 2010, lost his the tip of his little finger during practice session in Qatar, and now Cal Crutchlow has undergone surgery to solve the most common bane of most professional motorcycle racers, arm pump.

The British rider underwent surgery at the Policlinico di Modena to move the muscles in his right arm that were trapping nerves and causing numbness in his hand and arm. The Yamaha Tech3 rider will be followed by the Clinica Mobile staff and Dr. Costa and have his stitches removed in 12 days, just in time for the Estoril GP that starts April 29th.

“Since the start of the year I’ve had a problem with my arm muscles and nerves and my hand went numb when I was riding,” said Crutchlow. “It started in Sepang in testing and it occurs each time I ride the bike. Therefore we decided to do this operation to solve the issue, so I can be in 100 per cent physical condition for the rest of the season. With this break we have now, it was the perfect time to have the surgery and be assured that I can be back in peak condition for the next race in Portugal. At the moment I can’t feel two of my fingers, but the doctor said that is completely normal and that the feeling will come back very soon. They had to move the muscles from the nerves as the muscle was trapping the nerves and that’s why I was losing feeling in my hand and arm. The doctors said that in 12 days the stitches will come off and I will be able to ride in Portugal, so I’m really looking forward to riding the bike without the problem with my arm.”

Arm pump is so common amongst GP riders, that Toni Elias has had the same surgery something like three times so far, while Nicky Hayden underwent surgery for the same problem just two months ago.

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Cal Crutchlow lost the tip of left little finger during the final evening of pre-season testing after his hand got trapped under the handlebars of his M1.

The English rider is fortunately able to joke about on Twitter “Going to dinner with team! Visited shopping center for a while, not done much all day. Saw a manerkin & tried to get finger off but couldn’t…” but with just a couple of days between the test and the official practice that starts tonight, Crutchlow had to get Spidi do a rush job to create a special glove to accomodate his injured finger.

Spidi came up with this solution after the Yamaha Tech3 rider sent them photos of what’s left of his finger and the bandages wrapping the injury.

Source | bikernews.it

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Cal Crutchlow’s learning curve on the Yamaha M1, took a step backwards during the final night of testing at the Losail race circuit.

The Tech3 rider was one of the numerous riders who crashed and the only one who picked up a painful injury that could hamper his rookie MotoGP debut. Following a heavy crash at turn 10, his left hand got trapped under the handlebar of his M1 and the incident cost him the tip of his little finger, but fortunately he won’t be needing surgery.

“The test certainly didn’t end how I wanted and it is a real shame because we had made some changes to the balance of the bike that really helped my confidence with the front-end tonight. But I made a silly little mistake at Turn 10,” said Crutchlow. “I lost the rear and closed the throttle but then lost the front and I couldn’t get my left hand out from underneath the handlebar. I’ve basically taken the tip off my left little finger and it is really sore now. I don’t need surgery but it is obviously going to be uncomfortable this weekend for the race now. It is a shame because I was only 0.5s away from the top ten last night. I adapted to riding under the floodlights really quickly once I realised the shadows weren’t somebody trying to overtake me! I was confident of taking another step tonight and I’m sure I could have done without the crash.”

“It cost me nearly three hours of track time, which I can’t really afford to lose at this stage, but I’m still looking forward to my MotoGP debut. It will be an honour to line-up against this field on Sunday night and as always I’ll be giving it my best.”

Photo source | calcrutchlowforum

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Valentino Rossi is not taking part in today’s MotoGP testing at Sepang. The Italian champion woke up with a raging fever during the night and after visiting the Clinica Mobile for treatment, has decided to return to his hotel (confirmed by Alex Briggs) to see if he can recuperate enough to take part in the afternoon session.

A wise decision by the Ducatista, considering the searing temperatures and high humidity at the Malaysian track, who will have to wait a little longer before trying to figure out how to lower his lap times.

Cal Crutchlow is also sick, the Tech3 rider is suffering from the affects of food poisoning picked up on the flight over to Malaysia, and in his weakened state binned his M1 twice yesterday, finishing 15th overall.

Source | mcn.com and crash.net

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Shoulder injuries are almost always worse than anyone expects as both Valentino Rossi and Cal Crutchlow have recently found out.

Yamaha Tech3’s new rookie who underwent surgery last week in Manchester, revealed through his Twitter page, that the tendon and ligament damage to his shoulder was much worse than expected and that they also found arthritis (Crutchlow is just 25).

“Back home now after my shoulder operation with Professor Len Funk ! Alot worse than expected, fixed tendon back on but found i have arthritis in it but that shouldnt effect until some years we hope! Same recovery and hope to test Sepang Feb1 . . . !”

Crutchlow first damaged the shoulder during his World Superbike R1 debut at Portimao, but expects to help shorten his expected 90 day recovery phase by undergoing hyperbaric therapy, which has become the latest medical rage lately for all injured racers, from Rossi to Randy De Puniet, to Jonathan Rea and James Toseland.

Source | twitter@calcrutchlow

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More surgery for MotoGP riders, after Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden, Moto2 World Champion and MotoGP returnee Toni Elias also went under the knife Tuesday evening. The Spanish rider went in to remove the screws from his left hand and right ankle, which were inserted back in March after fracturing his ankle during the Jerez Moto2 test.

The surgery was carried out at the Teknon Clinic in Barcelona by Dr. Joaquím Casañas and Elias will now undergo the usual rehabilitation procedure. “I had a peaceful night and I have to say it is a lot less painful than I expected.This was a good time to have this operation, because now I have plenty of time to recover ahead of the test in February. After 15 days I’ll start a full rehabilitation.” said Elias.

Yamaha Tech3 rookie Cal Crutchlow also underwent surgery on his left shoulder. The British rider damaged his ligaments and tendons last season on his debut on the Yamaha R1 Superbike at Portimao.

Continue reading: MotoGP riders Toni Elias and Cal Crutchlow undergo surgery

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As previously anticpated, Cal Crutchlow was at Yamaha’s Fukuori track in Japan to get his first taste of the M1 in a private two day test session ahead of next month’s official end of season testing in Valencia.

Crutchlow will be replacing Ben Spies in the Yamaha Tech3 outfit next season, was clearly impressed by the electronics and the carbon brakes of the M1.

“The M1 felt a lot smaller than my Yamaha R1 superbike,” he said. “I actually found the positioning more comfortable than the WSB machine. There is a lot of power but it feels very useable, it felt very different to a production based machine in terms of its delivery. In the wet we used the normal steel brakes but when it started to dry I had a chance to try the carbon ones which were cool, I managed to get quite comfortable with them. I found the chassis very stiff, it was really easy to change direction and the electronics were really different, even more advanced than the high level I’m used to in Superbike! It was a shame the weather wasn’t great so I wasn’t able to push to the bike’s full potential, I’m really looking forward to the Valencia test so I can get back on it and give it a proper work out!”

The video is Cal Crutchlow’s personal review of his year in World Superbikes.

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This great video from the guys at BikeChannel shows us the action from the WSBK Magny Cours Race 1. Max Biaggi won in Race 2 on the weekend, confirming his world superbike champion status in the best way. In this first race, Biaggi came in fourth, just missing out on a podium finish but bringing home the manufacturers’ title for Aprilia. The guys have got their usual behind-the-scenes action from the boxes, so check out the video above. After the jump is a video of the first press conference where we discover just how many fans Leon Haslam and Cal Crutchlow have…!

Continue reading: WSBK Magny Cours video action Race 1 and press conference

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Aprilia conquered the WSBK manufacturers title in race 1 with Max Biaggi’s 4th place, but wanted to end the 2010 season on another high note and World Champion Max Biaggi didn’t disappoint his team, taking his tenth win of the season in race 2 at Magny-Cours keeping race 1 winner Cal Crutchlow at bay in the last half of the race.

Completing the podium was Michel Fabrizio in the last race for the Ducati factory team, in a last lap thriller fended off a very in form Sylvain Guintoli (who was fined €1000 for not observing the black flag in race 1).

Fifth went to Noriyuki Haga followed by Jakub Smrz who made a mistake at the end of lap 1 and had to play catch up again, Luca Scassa was seventh followed by the Ducati Althea due but with Shane Byrne finishing ahead of his team mate Carlos Checa.

Tenth place went to Leon Haslam, who had a bad start and then got caught up in James Toseland’s crash, the Yamaha Stgerilgarda’s second of the day in a season to forget. Troy Corser had to retire for the second time with technical problems as did e Fabrizio Lai while Lorenzo Lanzi crashed out.

Ruben Xaus and Jonathan Rea did not take part in race 2 both riders battling injuries.

Continue reading: WSBK Magny-Cours: Max Biaggi takes final race of the 2010 season

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Cal Crutchlow took it home for Yamaha Sterligarda in a dominating manner in race 1 at the French circuit of Magny-Cours. The British rider took off from the pole position but it was Max Biaggi who got the better line and almost immediately started to pull away. It took the Brit 8 laps to catch the Italian and pass him, but from there on Crutchlow began easing away and opened a big gap to take the win with an almost 4 second lead.

However it was the battle for the remaining two spots on the podium that was highly entertaining, with four riders, Fabrizio, Guintoli, Checa and Haslam all wanting to overtake Biaggi and his Aprilia, who was running in second. With Fabrizio starting to fade, Checa and Haslam who started in tenth on the grid, were all over Biaggi’s tail, and all three riders exhanging the second spot.

On the penultimate lap Haslam was in fourth, he overtook Checa at the Adelaide turn and concentrated his attentions on Biaggi and on the final turn of the last lap barged passed the Italian, forcing him on the kerb which opened a space for Carlos Checa to slip by. At the chequered flag it was Haslam second, Checa third, Max Biaggi fourth.

Sylvain Guintoli’s race ended on lap 14 when he cut the chicane that didn’t give him any advantage, but the race direction was of an another opionion and gave the French rider a ride through which he didn’t heed. Guintoli was then given a black flag and refused to pit continuing his race to the finish line in fifth, his stubborness could be even more costly than being disqualified, it could cost him the race 2 start.

Continue reading: WSBK Magny-Cours: Cal Crutchlow takes it home for Yamaha in race 1

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Cal Crutchlow took his sixth Superpole of the season ahead of tomorrow’s World Superbike races at Magny-Cours and also set the fastest lap of the French circuit breaking Ben Spies’ last year record with his best lap of 1′37.699.

The Yamaha Sterilgarda rider, who will be in MotoGP next season, was followed by an amazing soon to be unemployed Sylvain Guintoli who has found form in front of his home audience and he was just 0.069s from a superpole expert like Crutchlow. Jakub Smrz on the privateer Aprilia was also very close to the Brit’s pole time just 0.085s off taking the third spot ahead of factory Aprilia World Champion Max Biaggi who could not break the 1.38 barrier having wasted both his qualifying tires in SP2.

The second row will see Michel Fabrizio, another rider who has still to find a new team and injured Jonathan Rea who is desperately looking to keep his third place in the standings from Carlos Checa, who qualified behind the Ten Kate Honda rider.

Noriyuki Haga, who crashed both his Ducati’s in the second free practice session, giving his team a lot of work to do before the Superpole finished in eighth. Ninth went to Troy Corser who finished ahead of his future BMW team mate Leon Haslam.

Continue reading: WSBK Magny-Cours: Cal Crutchlow grabs last Superpole of the season

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