Report: Portrait of the Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow

Posted on by admin

Table of contents

Report: Portrait of the Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow
Wood

Report: Portrait of the Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow

Report: Portrait of the Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow

Report: Portrait of the Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow

Report: Portrait of the Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow

11 pictures

Report: Portrait of the Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow
Gold and Goose Photography

1/11
Someone like Cal Crutchlow spends the whole year flying around the world in business class, puts a seven-figure sum in his pocket, crouched and smirked on the motorcycle, souped-up promo girls flank him, celebrities bask in his fame, and then drives he’s still insanely mean motorcycles.

Report: Portrait of the Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow
2snap

2/11
“I like the role of the underdog and I’m always at my best when no one pays me.”

Report: Portrait of the Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow
2snap

3/11
Tech3 team boss Herve Poncharal and Crutchlow have grown closer in three years: “In Laguna Seca I threw Herve out of the mobile home, today we are friends.”

Report: Portrait of the Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow
2snap

4/11
Andrea Dovizioso still grinned friendly when he congratulated his future teammate on the Ducati deal. But Cal will give everything: “I’m not just driving around like Dovizioso.”

Report: Portrait of the Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow
Gold and Goose Photography

5/11
“I like the Multistrada, we’re touring and I’m not racing.”
Cal Crutchlow on a joyride in California.

Report: Portrait of the Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow
2snap

6/11
In his first year with Colin Edwards on the Tech3 Yamaha team, Crutchlow still had a lot to learn.

Report: Portrait of the Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow
2snap

7/11
41 falls in three years MotoGP are a huge number of impacts, but Cal has taken them surprisingly well.

Report: Portrait of the Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow
2snap

8/11
Four podiums in 2013, two poles – a very good record.

Report: Portrait of the Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow
2snap

9/11
The Briton became SSP world champion in 2009 with his favorite machine.

Report: Portrait of the Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow
Gold and Goose Photography

10/11
“I am not afraid of pain. It’s normal for us, even if it scares other people.”
Cal Crutchlow, Ducati MotoGP works rider

Report: Portrait of the Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow
2snap

11/11
But can Cal control the Ducati? Simple answer: no. Crutchlow realized this very quickly after the first test at the Desmosedici in November. “I didn’t expect anything, nothing bad and nothing good”, he tells. “I was just happy that I drove the same lap times as my team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, which shows that these are the lap times you can achieve with this bike. If you want more, you can’t go far.”

Sports & scene

Report: Portrait of the Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow

Portrait: Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow
Cal Crutchlow, the Mister Unterdog

Content of

Ducati’s new attacker, Cal Crutchlow, hibernates in California and is preparing there for his greatest challenge: taming the diabolical Desmosedici. PS employee Mat Oxley took the Briton for a day’s walk.

Mat Oxley

01/21/2014

That could be paradise. We have a brand new Hypermotard and a Multistrada and we want to drive inland from L.A. The sun bathes everything in bright silver. Let’s shoot through the hills – into Indian country! Like a man who constantly makes quick decisions, Cal Crutchlow grabs the Multistrada: “We tour, I don’t race.” The boy is a better road driver than most of the racers I’ve rolled around on public slopes with. Cal is fast, drives smoothly and looks ahead. If a gap opens up, he strikes, right, left, and if need be, sometimes through the middle. And at every traffic light he pulls away in a wheelie.

Buy complete article

Report: Portrait of the Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow

Portrait: Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow
Cal Crutchlow, the Mister Unterdog

6 pages) as PDF

€ 2.00

Buy now

So this is the life of a MotoGP factory rider. Such a person spends the whole year flying around the world in business class, puts a seven-figure sum in his pocket, crouching on the motorcycle and smirking flanked him by souped-up promo girls, celebrities basking in his fame, and then he drives still insanely mean motorcycles. When that is all over and the dreary winter settles in England, someone like that heads off to California to soak up the sun, train and ride a couple of motorcycles. Live the dream!

The only downer – it’s not that simple. Right under the thin layer of glamor of MotoGP it can be ugly, like thick, jet black blood under a clean crust. At the Sachsenring, Crutchlow drove the best MotoGP race of his career in 2013. For a moment it looked as if he could be the first Briton to win another premier class race after 32 years. After driving away Marc Marquez, he only missed victory by 1.5 seconds. A man seemed to be at the peak of his abilities – at least it looked like that from the sofa.

41 falls in three years


Report: Portrait of the Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow


2snap

Four podiums in 2013, two poles – a very good record.

In fact, Crutchlow was miserable that day. The former world supersport champion fell heavily in training and then tumbled spectacularly through the gravel. Both arms were badly torn. “I laugh about it now, but I was really scared back then,” says Cal. “I was fucking hurt and never swallowed so much pain medication. I told the team I really want to drive. That’s why they gave me painkillers at Clinica Mobile and bandaged my arms. In my mobile home I fell into delirium, peed and then laid the whole place in ruins. Lucy screamed like crazy. ”Ms. Crutchlow, a PE teacher who married Cal a few weeks ago, was beside herself. “I was panicking. Cal freaked out and peed on me. “

The Brit is one of the toughest guys in MotoGP. The whole paddock is amazed at its elasticity, its ability to withstand even the wildest departures, jump on a scooter back to the pit and then immediately be on the road even faster with the replacement motorcycle – no matter how much his body cries to finally stop . For the statisticians: Crutchlow had 41 falls in the past three years.

“Cal is such a little boxer guy – get in the ring and go for it,” says Ian Newton, who runs the Aprilia Superteen series in England, which Crutchlow won in 2001 at the age of 16. “Absolute determination has always been his thing. He practically threw himself to his death, but that didn’t seem to impress him at all. Very few are so knitted. “

The streak of luck is put to the test


Report: Portrait of the Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow


2snap

41 falls in three years MotoGP are a huge number of impacts, but Cal has taken them surprisingly well.

After half an hour on the California freeways, the road narrows and winds here and there past washed-out hills that look like a western backdrop. Crutchlow has the road fully under control, with perfect timing for blind corners, he overtakes the cars whenever possible. We’re making very good progress. The street sign says something about the Pala Reserve. The Cupan Indians have lived here since they were expelled from their homeland in 1903. Somehow I hope to see smoke signals in the sky, a couple of teepees and warriors wielding their tomahawks. Instead, we pass a gigantic casino hotel like in Las Vegas.

The native Americans have sovereignty in their reservation, which is why US laws cannot prevent them from operating very profitable gambling dens – like unintentional compensation for the dire misconduct of past centuries.

Crutchlow is a gamer too. In 2011 he broke a lucrative deal with Yamaha in the Superbike World Championship in order to put everything on MotoGP. Now he is doing his greatest effort by switching from the career-promoting Yamaha M1 to Ducati’s career-destroying Desmosedici. The bike that hunted down Valentino Rossi and others.

Rossi’s fall rate tripled after joining in 2011 Ducati had hired. So Crutchlow’s lucky streak could be put to a very tough test in the next two years. But the angry little boxer is not alarmed. “I’m not afraid of pain,” says the 28-year-old. “Even now I have a shoulder injury. But you think: Fuck it, if that’s all I have to deal with about something that I love so much. The shoulder hurts but what can I do? It’s my way of life, you don’t think about it too much. It’s like with Jorge Lorenzo when he drove the race in Assen 34 hours after breaking his collarbone. This is normal for us racing drivers, even if it scares others. “

“I like the role of the underdog”


Report: Portrait of the Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow


2snap

Andrea Dovizioso still grinned friendly when he congratulated his future teammate on the Ducati deal. But Cal will give everything: “I’m not just driving around like Dovizioso.”

For normal people it just makes sense to expect something like this from your body if you get a lot of money for it so you can spend the rest of your life without worries about money. But what happens when you earn a few million, have a nice house and a pretty wife at that? You have to think about enjoying the good life and not risking anything anymore, right??

Crutchlow is now a highly respected and well-paid factory driver – and deservedly. Rumors speak of over seven million euros that Ducati will pay him – enough for him and Lucy until the end of their days. Crutchlow, however, vehemently contradicts any suspicion that he could therefore relax and risk less. “I’m not at all worried about going soft. I drive as long as I can enjoy it, because you never forget this feeling when you succeed in something or when you get a good result. No matter what people say, I didn’t go to Ducati for the money. I’m there to prove it to people. There can be nothing better than achieving something there. On a Yamaha, people expect you to be at the front, but at Ducati? I like the role of the underdog and I am always at my best when no one pays me. There is no giving up for me anyway. But don’t get me wrong: If it doesn’t work at all, it also affects my mind. “

Exactly that has already happened to him. When he switched from the Yamaha factory team in the Superbike World Championship to Herve Poncharal’s Tech3 satellite team. “I wanted to be the best, and the best are in MotoGP. There are Superbike riders who say they didn’t want to go there, but they do – believe me. Either they never get the chance or they don’t want to take the risk. In 2011 I put everything on one card. But after four MotoGP races I asked if I could go back. I couldn’t ride the bike, everything was kind of wrong. I wasn’t at all used to a situation where I didn’t know what to do. Until then, I always had everything under control. In MotoGP there were riders who I thought were absolute bottles. I remember trying to stick with them then. After three rounds they were gone. They were guys at the back of the field, not heroes. “

To give up? Pah!


Report: Portrait of the Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow


2snap

Tech3 team boss Herve Poncharal and Crutchlow have grown closer in three years: “In Laguna Seca I threw Herve out of the mobile home, today we are friends.”

After a series of morally shattering results and painful departures, everything seemed to collapse. The matter was getting more and more precarious. “In Laguna, Herve and I had a huge argument. I told him to hire someone else and even threw him out of my RV. That was funny, he was no longer wearing any shoes. Today I see him as a real friend. “

From then on his races got better. “We drivers always think we know everything better. You have to make mistakes to figure out how to do it. Jorge was over the handlebars ten times in his first season before he got it. I finally listened to Yamaha, from then on it worked. ”Crutchlow’s first two podium places in 2012 were followed by four more in the 2013 season, including two pole positions, which is why Ducati finally knocked on him.

So now he’s a multimillionaire. But you don’t notice that in him. Star behavior and arrogance are alien to him. Crutchlow is a British Troy Bayliss: fast, fun and with both feet firmly on the ground. And, like Bayliss, he’s obsessed with cycling. Cal unwinds 100 kilometers a day, six times a week. Not just to keep fit. He just loves it and, like so many racers, has a masochistic streak. “I am stubborn and I love to suffer. I torture myself to the point of vomiting and like the thought of having made it. When I ride with professional cyclists from time to time, they don’t suffer as much as I do, of course, but if I can take them on, it’s worth it to me. That underdog thing comes through again. To give up? Pah! When it’s 50 degrees and there’s a huge mountain in front of me, I’ll cycle up there – done. “

“My R6 was the best bike”


Report: Portrait of the Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow


2snap

The Briton became SSP world champion in 2009 with his favorite machine.

Mountains are no problem on a motorcycle, and Crutchlow enjoys the Multistrada Pikes Peak. Soon he will also have one in his vacation home in Tuscany, next to a Panigale and a Diavel. It’s an irony of life: the more money you earn, the more you get for free. And it’s not just motorcycles. The fact that Ducati belongs to Audi gives him free cars – Cal has an RS7 and Lucy a Q7. In fact, Cal had owned a Ducati before. “In 2008 I bought a Hypermotard for fun, for wheelies and all that. Then I almost threw Lucy in the back and had to sell the Duc. “

His favorite motorcycle, however, is neither a Ducati nor a MotoGP bike. “My R6 was the best bike. I don’t like GP bikes, it’s not fun to ride. I’m not saying they can’t be enjoyed too, but they are so much harder to drive. The R6 was fun. There you had time to think – you drive down the straight in Phillip Island and enjoy a hole. You toil on the GP bike so that it doesn’t wheezy in sixth gear. “

The next time you get jealous of Crutchlow and Co. the next time you watch MotoGP, think again – it’s not an easy ride, either on or off the motorcycle!

resume


Report: Portrait of the Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow


Gold and Goose Photography

“I am not afraid of pain. It’s normal for us, even if it scares other people.” Cal Crutchlow, Ducati MotoGP works rider

Born: October 29, 1985, Coventry, GB, married to Lucy since 2013, no children. 

2013: 5th MotoGP World Championship, Tech3-Yamaha  
2012: 7th MotoGP World Championship, Tech3-Yamaha 
2011: 12th MotoGP World Championship, top rookie, Tech3 Yamaha 
2010: 5th Superbike World Championship, Yamaha R1
2009: Supersport world champion, Yamaha R6 
2008: 3rd British Superbike Championship 
2007: 9th British Superbike Championship 
2006: British super sports champion
2005: 3rd British Supersport Championship 
2004: 10th British Supersport Championship 
2003: Runner-up Virgin Mobile Yamaha R6 Cup 
2002: 4th Junior Superstock Championship 
2001: Champion of the Aprilia RS 125 Challenge 
2000: 5th Aprilia RS 125 Challenge 
1999: UK Junior Challenge Champion

Can Cal tame the Ducati?


Report: Portrait of the Ducati works driver Cal Crutchlow


2snap

But Cal can tame the Ducati?

Simple answer: no. Crutchlow realized this very quickly after the first test at the Desmosedici in November. “I wasn’t expecting anything, nothing bad and nothing good,” he says. “I was just happy that I drove the same lap times as my team-mate Andrea Dovizioso, which shows that these are the lap times that you can achieve with this motorcycle. If you want more, you won’t get a lap. “

And Crutchlow knows what he’s talking about. He tried. “I wanted to ride the Ducati the way I rode my Yamaha. That went well for eight corners, then the front wheel slipped away and I fell. “No, the Ducati doesn’t have to be tamed, it has to be completely rebuilt. This is happening right now. Gigi Dall’Igna – mastermind of Aprilia’s success in the Superbike World Championship and the MotoGP CRT class – is currently working hard on Ducati’s GP14. The fact that his RSV4-powered CRT bike could constantly annoy the factory Ducatis, despite almost 30 hp less, suggests that the Italian has mastered the abracadabra with which one makes the Bridgestone standard tires work. Which is not going to be easy.

“There’s not just something wrong with the Ducati,” says Cal. “They have to take care of a lot of things. The bike spins too much at the rear, it wheezes all the time, it doesn’t turn smartly. They have to look at the whole package, but Gigi is very good at it. You can’t do that overnight. Look at Honda! It took them years to know how to brake while Yamaha kept pounding the Hondas on the brakes. Now it’s the other way around. “

On February 4th, Crutchlow is back in the saddle of the Desmosedici in Sepang. Even if the bike is still not better, he wants to give his best. “I’m not like Dovi and just drive around there.” But self-confidence alone won’t be enough.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *