Monster Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow has responded angrily to a jibe by team-mate Andrea Dovizioso that he still rides his YZR-M1 like a Superbike even though the British racer has comprehensively outpaced the Italian so far this season.
Crutchlow was third fastest in yesterday's mostly-dry second session while ex-Honda man Dovizioso finished in tenth place and the best part of a second down. The Italian said at Jerez that Crutchlow benefits on the 1000cc Yamaha because of his Superbike riding style - something the Briton is a bit annoyed about.
"He turns round and says I ride it like a Superbike, maybe he needs to change his style to ride it like a Yamaha. Maybe he needs to change his style and not me. If you look at the data, I ride now more like Lorenzo than any of the other riders," responded Crutchlow at Estoril.
"I have spent a year looking at data, learning how to ride, whether it was Colin's, whether it was Ben's, whether it was Jorge's, whoever. To learn to ride a MotoGP bike is difficult. I am more like a GP rider than I ever have been or else I wouldn't have been fourth last weekend. I ride Grand Prix bikes, not Superbikes."
