Monster Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow managed to overheat his front brakes on the first lap of today's Motegi MotoGP encounter and had sit behind team-mate Bradley Smith in order for them to cool down.

Crutchlow was using the larger 340mm discs available this weekend, but they stopped working effectively on the opening circuit and the Isle of Man resident could do nothing but watch as Jorge Lorenzo led the Hondas away into the distance.

"We got not sure a bad start but in the first laps we smoked our brake discs so we had a problem with the brake, it overheated so only half the disc was working so I had to stay behind Bradley for quite some laps to let it cool down," said Crutchlow, speaking at Motegi.

"It was a little bit dangerous in the braking zone, I didn't want to cause a big crash. They overheated on the first lap because I braked hard. Me, Vale and Aleix Espargaro, the heaviest men on the grid nearly, all had problems.

Crutchlow also opted to take the harder option rear tyre, which proved to be a mistake for the Yamaha as it didn't offer the edge grip the M1 badly needed.

"We chose the wrong rear tyre as well. Bradley and Jorge got it right with the soft, me and Vale didn't. The hard is a lot more suited to the Honda, we needed the side grip and didn't get it. I've secured fifth in the championship, can't go any higher or lower, which is great for the team."