Monster Yamaha's Cal Crutchlow tempered the celebrations of his second MotoGP fourth place in row by saying he believes he should have made a break earlier on to try and get ahead of Dani Pedrosa at Jerez today.

The Coventry man hassled and harried the Spanish works Honda rider as the pair closed in on leaders Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner as the laps clicked down but Pedroda's superior power-to-weight ratio made it almost impossible.

"It's nice to be up there, we did a good job and there is only so much you can do with our package. We are a couple of steps down from the factory guys but to be that close, I am happy enough. I did 20-odd laps under my qualifying time and set the fastest lap," said Crutchlow, speaking to bikesportnews.com at Jerez.

"I should have gone earlier, it was my own fault. In the conditions at the start, I had the pace to be at the front but I couldn't get past a few in certain areas. With Dani, it was just a big elastic band effect. I'd close in the corner and he would just pull a gap coming out.

"We know the Honda's drive is better than our bike but we also know Dani is 20 kilos lighter than me. It's not just me, it happens with every one so it was difficult but I learned a lot. Riding-wise we are stronger in some areas but his experience paid off. These guys don't make mistakes.

"We have proved we can mix it with a few of the factory guys and be close to the leaders at certain races but I really didn't believe at this track I would be that near. I thought I would finish a bit further back because I don't like it here. It doesn't suit my riding style, it's too stop-start for me."