Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike rider Cal Crutchlow kept his cool in the Utah sunshine today to score a front row start on the grid for tomorrow’s two World Superbike races at the Miller Motorsports circuit in Salt Lake City. Crutchlow switched to a qualifier tyre for the second heat, securing a place in the third by finishing sixth. The second qualifying tyre was used to good effect in the third heat, taking him under the 1’48 second mark to secure third on the grid with a 1’47.648.
Team mate James Toseland passed comfortably through the first Superpole heat however was unable to pass through the second. The British rider had been using a set up which had worked perfectly for a slower speed whilst learning the circuit but needed to be modified to cope with the higher speed and extra grip offered by the qualifier tyres in Superpole. He starts tomorrow’s races from 14th on the grid.
Cal Crutchlow, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (3rd, 1’47.648)
“Today hasn’t been too bad, the pace is so fast out there for everybody. Carlos Checa and Max Biaggi have been fast all weekend, all credit to Carlos what a fantastic Superpole lap, not even I could get near it and I’ve been pretty good in Superpole this year! I’m looking forward to the races tomorrow, I think we’ve got a good chance of being top five and we’ve got good race pace.”
James Toseland, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team (14th, 1’48.640)
“We went out on the standard bike set up at the beginning of the weekend at a slower pace learning the track, going from 1’51 second laps then down into the 1’50’s. We then switched to a new set up which seemed to work at those speeds, but as we got down into the 1’48’s it made it a lot harsher over the bumps on the track, unfortunately it was too late to change this before Superpole. So tomorrow morning we’ll go back to a set up we know works well, it’s just a shame as it’s cost us a good grid position. Hopefully tomorrow morning we’ll be able to get back down to some good lap times and get more comfortable again. In the race I’m going to need a good start and then I’m just going to get stuck in.”
Massimo Meregalli, Yamaha Sterilgarda World Superbike Team Manager
“The first row for Cal is great and a good starting point for the races. It’s a little bit different on James’s side having to start from the fourth row, for sure the race will be tougher for him. We will work tonight to make sure we understand what isn’t right in the set up, I’m confident we will have a good solution tomorrow morning to give him the set up he needs to fight in the races.”
Circuit Length: 4905
Weather: Sunny
