MotoGP: 'It's humbling to be mentioned in the same sentence as Barry Sheene, but I'm not Barry', says Cal Crutchlow

After becoming Britain's first MotoGP race winner in 35 years, Cal Crutchlow tells Jack de Menezes he has a long way to go before he can be compared to the greats

Cal Crutchlow won the Czech Grand Prix to end Britain's 35-year drought without a MotoGP winner (BT Sport)

“It’s not every day I get a one-on-one interview request!” From his first words, you wouldn’t have known that Cal Crutchlow was in a state of disappointment. The first British rider to win a MotoGP race since Barry Sheene’s last triumph 35 years ago sits down after qualifying for the San Marino Grand Prix in Misano, unhappy with seventh place on the grid. In front of him will start two factory Yamahas, two factory Ducatis, a factory Honda and a factory Suzuki.

It’s testament to how far Crutchlow and the satellite LCR Honda team have come this season. A difficult start to the year was put in the shade when Crutchlow secured his maiden MotoGP victory at the Czech Grand Prix last month, and added to it with second-place finishes in Germany and Britain.

It has led to his name featuring in the same headlines as the great Sheene, a two-time 500cc world champion and to date the last British rider to win the premier class world championship. Crutchlow admits he finds this a touch “embarrassing”, but it’s obvious there’s a lot more attention around him this year after his purple patch through the summer.

“Half the time when people do things like that I feel embarrassed,” Crutchlow tells The Independent. “At the end of the day I'm not Barry Sheene. He won God knows how many championships and God knows how many races, I've only won one.

“It's humbling, really really humbling, to be even mentioned in the same sentence as Barry Sheene, but I'm not Barry and I'm not anywhere near as good as what he was, so it's difficult to hear in that context because I never ask for it - I'm not being disrespectful by saying that, I'm not being unappreciative, I'm being realistic - he won how many races?”

Yet there is something special about his victory in Brno that causes Coventry-born Crutchlow to pause for just a second. “It's so nice to be that British winner that got it. I don't look at statistics ever, I don't care, I just try to do the best job I can do, but I think it's quite ironic being 35 years with the No 35, it's quite a nice statistic I've got.”

Crutchlow became the first British MotoGP winner since Barry Sheene in 1981 (Getty)

It was the No 35 that flashed across the Brno finish line to end Britain’s wait for a MotoGP race winner, and it was the No 35 that delighted home fans at Silverstone two weeks’ later when Crutchlow battled all race long with Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez. He would come out on top to finish in second place, albeit with no answer to race winner Maverick Vinales, but it was still something special for the 30-year-old to delight in.

However, as we sit outside his motorhome in the Misano paddock, just a week after his Silverstone podium, Crutchlow admits riders these days get little time to saviour the success.


 Crutchlow says while it's humbling to be compared to Barry Sheene, it's also a bit embarrassing 
 (Getty)

“Unfortunately it's like that in MotoGP,” he explains. “You think 'it's done, I have to go to the next one' and you don't get time to embrace it enough because if you have a good result, the pressure is on you for the next one. So you don't appreciate it enough, I feel.

“But it doesn't take away the evening time that you think 'that was a good race', you know. I've had three great races in four, I felt Austria was disappointing because I had great pace but I jumped the start, but you have to take it as it comes, take it and say at the next race 'what will be will.”

Crutchlow took delight out of his second place at Silverstone despite being unable to match Maverick Vinales (Getty)

Crutchlow predicted a difficult race at Misano, although probably was not expecting it to be quite as difficult as it proved. An issue with his sweat pad inside his helmet resulted in the Isle of Man resident being temporarily blinded as the 30 degrees Celsius-plus temperature took its toll. The sweat dripping into his eyes meant he could not see his braking point at certain corners, and a post-race penalty – later rescinded when Crutchlow proved he had not gained any advantage from cutting the first corner chicane – added to his frustrations across the weekend. Despite setting himself a target of finishing in the top six, Crutchlow can still take heart from his eighth-place finish – all seven bikes in front of him hailed from factory teams and he admitted pre-season that Misano would not suit him.

Crutchlow took the first MotoGP win of his career at Brno (AP)

Targets, though, is something of an interesting aspect of Crutchlow’s career. When he sets them, he explains, he usually beats them. So will he be doing the same for this weekend’s grand prix at Aragon?

“I take it race by race. Honestly I should set myself a target more because normally when I set myself a target, I'm better in the race than what I am when I don't. At the moment I'm saying top six because I know there's more factory guys than top six so it means you're in with the factory guys. I said at Silverstone I wanted to finish top six and I finished second but here I was really disappointed not to qualify on the second row, I made a mistake and a couple of the guys were following other guys and then they managed to get a good lap time.”

Which brings us head-first into his current displeasure with qualifying – drafting. Crutchlow continues: “I hate that when people do that because it means you can't do it alone. To me that's like failing, it's like saying 'I need your help to get a lap time'. I hate that, but that's me being me.

Crutchlow backs making changes to qualifying to make it a fair session (AP)

With riders benefitting from following faster riders around the track, would he be in favour of a one-lap shootout, similar to other motorcycle categories? “Yeah, 100 per cent. I've done that loads of times in my career and it was the best way to do it, honestly.

A shootout may be to Crutchlow’s liking, but would it appeal to the fans that pay a lot of money to see the action on Saturday as well as ace days? “I think both,” he explains. “I think both because someone like Valentino has been 10th this year sometimes because other guys are following and on that day I bet the fans said 'they're always following', so ok, make it a one lap shootout. I think it's good as well, why not try it? I think we should try it.”

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