Crutchlow takes hard fought podium in eventful WSB Brno weekend

Race one at the Brno circuit saw Yamaha Sterilgarda rider Cal Crutchlow made a strong start, taking race favourite Max Biaggi on the second lap for second place. He then set about chasing down race leader Johnny Rea, and was gradually closing in on him when his grip started to drop after several laps. Despite the difficulty Crutchlow kept his focus and managed to hold off the advances of Biaggi until just four laps from the end, initially rebuffing the Italian's attempts to pass before finally surrendering second. He crossed the line in third just four seconds from the lead, and took the fastest lap of the race award, scoring a 1'59.964 on his third lap. Team mate James Toseland fought hard from his tenth place grid start, working his way through to seventh to start chasing down Noriyuki Haga for sixth. Despite also suffering a lack of grip Toseland managed to bring the gap between him and Haga down to 0.1 seconds by the final lap but ran out of time for the pass. Race two and disaster struck for Crutchlow. A defective rear tyre saw the British rider gradually drop back to seventh before pulling in to avoid a crash. The tyre was changed and Crutchlow rejoined, delivering yet again the fastest lap of the race with an incredible 1'59.291, making up a couple of places to finish in 14th. Team mate Toseland had an electronic issue on the start line, relegating him to last at the first corner, 22 places from the front. The British rider then put in an astounding performance, making up 12 places in the next lap and going on to fight his way right through to fourth at the line, taking an amazing 18 places in his fight to regain position. Toseland leaves Brno after the mixed weekend having climbed up a place to sixth in the standings with 160 points. Team mate Crutchlow remains in tenth position on 138 points. The team now head to the riders home race at Silverstone in the UK at the beginning of August.