Monster Yamaha's Bradley Smith is at something of a loss to explain his problems so far at this weekend's Misano MotoGP round and says that even after finding more than a second today, his YZR-M1 still behaves like a truck.
Smith and team-mate Cal Crutchlow were both forced into the first qualifying session today and Smith didn't make it into Q2 after crashing on his last fast lap. He starts from 13th tomorrow.
"Our garage is struggling because both me and Cal ended up going to Q1. I'm not sure what he was able to find for Q2 and maybe that can help us. I knew the Ducatis were going be strong but we should be able to fight with them tomorrow as we closed the gap dramatically compared to yesterday," said Smith, speaking at Misano.
"If we make that same step to tomorrow in warm-up then we are on for a race in which we can fight. There have been two crashes on the front, so we do have a problem because that's not normal for me.
"We've made progress because I found 1.2s. All we can do is look at data and find a cure for tomorrow as 28 laps like that will be rough. It's the bike in general, it stops like a truck and turns like a truck, which is not the Yamaha way. My rear is constantly off the ground and when I put it in, it turns like a articulated lorry, it won't go around corners. We are a bit lost as to why. It's frustrating."
