Jerez: Crutchlow chasing 2018 feeling on 2019 Honda
Cal Crutchlow's main goal for Monday's Jerez MotoGP test will be to try and recreate the feeling and confidence he had with the 2018 Honda chassis, on the latest 201𝔉9 bike.
"My problem is that the bike feels absolu𒐪tely nothing like last year's bike," sa꧅id the LCR rider.
Crutchlow, who 🃏finished eighth in Sunday's Spanish MotoGP after gamꦐbling on the medium rather than hard rear-tyre, added:
"We've done four races so I know the feel🦩ing of this year's bike, but I think the chassis side of things from last year I felt a lot, lot better.

Cal Crutchlow's main goal for Mondꦆay's Jerez MotoGP test will be to try and recreate the feeling and confidence he had with the 2018 Honda chassis, on the latest 2019 bike.
"My problem is that the ꦰbike feels absolutel🌃y nothing like last year's bike," said the LCR rider.
Crutchlow, who finished eighth in Sunday's Spanish MotoGP after gambling on the medium rather than hard🌌 rear-tyre, added:
"We've done four races so I know the feelin🥀g of this year's bike, but I think the chassis side of things from last year I felt a lot, lot better.
"Don't forget, I rode the 18 bike this year [in testing]. So I've back-to-backed them and the feeling and confidence that I had with tha𓆉t bike is a lot more than I have with this one.
"Eve✅ryone will always say ‘Marc is winning on it’, but you have to accept that he's a different rider. It's not me. Maybe if he jumped on the ‘18 bike he'd not be as fast as he is on the '19.
"At the moment♋ that's the way I'm feeling and we need to work on it.
"But I'm still confident, I still feel fast and I feel motivated. I'm looking at eighth place today as a bad 🦋result, but it means that you're in the top eight of the world."
Test rider Stefan Bradl had a carbon fibre-reinforced chassis during his wild-card appearance at Jerez, proving frame development is currently a priority for HRC. The German finis💮hed in a creditable tenth place.
Crutchlow was one of only two riders to 🎶fit the medium rear tyre, but his chances of making a success of it were hampered with a poor start that dropped him from sixth to eighth.
"I shouldn't have🐷 chosen [the medium] but I didn't know how the race was going to pan out. I thought I would get a lot better start. Say I'd entered the first corner in fourth, which is usually the case because I usually make up positions, but instead I⛦ lost two positions.
"I didn't have a good fe🧜eling with the clutch ♋and I didn't get the biting point in the right place. You'll see I fall to the side because I'm prepared for the bike to go, but it didn't. So I had to go again and I'd already lost the drive."
Crutchlow c🤡onfirmed he has adjusted his start technique following the jump-start penalty in Argentina, where he was punished for the bike rolli📖ng forwards while the clutch was still engaged.
"I have to ram the rear brake on," he said.
"I had my best [practice] starts of the year this weekend, then in the race I had my worst start probably out of anything. But you have some good starts, you have some bad starts and this one was a bad one. I lost positions and at a circuit like this it’s really difficult to 🐭make it bꦯack up.
"I definitely didn't come he🧸re to finish eighth. But that's what we got and we have to accept it. I chose the wrong rear tyre and it's a simple as that. It was my choice. I didn't feel fast on the hard rear tyre all weekend. I felt fast on the 🎉medium at one point but we never knew the duration of it and it was really bad!
"The last 10 laps of the race I was sliding. Then the last 5 la🥂ps I had absolutely no grip at all. It was spinning on the straight and if it's spinning on the straight you're definitely not going to go round the corners very well!"
Repsol Honda's Jorge Lorenzo𒅌, the only other rider to 🦄select the medium rear, finished in twelfth place.
Crutchlow is now ninth in the world cha🐎mpionship standings.

Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki🧸 exit story and Marc Marqꦓuez’s injury issues.