Starting seventh and 13th on the grid, Monster Yamaha Tech 3 riders Colin Edwards and Cal Crutchlow moved in opposite directions during Sunday's San Marino MotoGP.
Edwards, on form all weekend, battled with factory Yamaha rider Ben Spies for the first eight laps. But the Texan later experienced a severe arm pump issue and dropped all the way back to 13th.
“I've got no excuses, today's result was nothing to do with anything else but me," Edwards said. "I've no idea but for whatever reason, I just always ride so tense at this track. I kept telling myself that I needed to relax and calm down and then on the grid there's a few rain drops in the air, so that immediately means you can't help but be tense because you've no idea how hard it is coming down on other parts of the track.
"I pushed as hard as I could for the first ten laps and was pretty close to Ben and then it hit me like a pile of bricks. I got such bad arm pump I couldn't feel the front brake or the handlebars and by the end I was just moving my arms in the direction I thought they needed to go.
"I've never had arm pump that bad and to be honest I didn't realise you could get it that bad. It got to a point where almost pulled in. But I gritted my teeth and thought I could probably get a couple of points, which we did. But it was a complete nightmare and all I can do is put today behind and try and bounce at the Motorland Aragon in a couple of weeks."
By contrast, Crutchlow was pleased with his performance, which marked his fist top ten finish since Catalunya in early June.
The British rider put immense pressure on Alvaro Bautista for the opening 16-laps before taking ninth from Edwards on lap 21.
The closing stages saw a close battle for ninth between Crutchlow and Hector Barbera, who clinched the position by just over 0.2sec.
"I am really pleased with the race and it is my first top 10 for a long time, so that is a good boost for my confidence," said Crutchlow. "Finishing 10th was three places better than my qualifying position, so it was a positive outcome.
"It could have been a slightly better result but I just got pipped by Barbera right at the end. I did everything I could to get by him but I had a little issue with the rear tyre. Corner entry was really difficult at the end, so I didn't feel like I could really push and have a go to overtake him with any confidence. His bike had a little more speed than me, so I just couldn't get close enough to have a go.
"My race pace was good enough for fifth in last year's race but this year it was good enough for 10th. It just shows how far the pace has moved on and how tough it is in MotoGP. It was an unbelievably hard race for the body too.
"The humidity was incredible and I'm glad I do so many training miles on my bicycle because it was a real case of survival of the fittest out there. It was good that we gained a lot more experience and got another decent finish and now I can look forward to building on this result at the Motorland Aragon.”
source: Crash.net
