Ducati’s Cal Crutchlow believes that a top-six result had been possible in yesterday’s Motegi MotoGP round but an error on lap one saw him crash out of contention.

The British rider was too eager at the start and moved early, stopped and was then late when the lights finally went out. Trying to make up lost ground on the front men, Crutchlow went wide on a dirty part of the track and lost the front.

“I felt a lot more comfortable on the bike than in previous races and the qualifying position didn’t reflect our true pace. We could have potentially pushed for the top six so I am really disappointed,” said Crutchlow, speaking at Motegi.

“I jumped the start, realised, then released the clutch too late and lost three or four positions and I was too eager. I ran wide, nearly touched Bradley but I knew I needed to get with the front guys. I made a mistake, running on to the dirty part of the track with too much front brake and went down.”