Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso was left annoyed to have crashed out of the British Grand Prix, having been involved in a battle with teammate Nicky Hayden and Monster Yamaha Tech3’s Bradley Smith. The crash signalled the first time the usually consistent Italian had failed to finish a race since joining Ducati Team at the start of the 2013 season. Andrea Dovizioso “It’s really a shame about the crash because I had a good strategy and Nicky and I had tried hard to stay with Smith for the whole race. We managed it until near the end. I was trying to put a small gap on them before the last corner, but I lost the front end at Turn twelve, a spot where I really wasn’t expecting it. “I was quite fast there and I felt safe. I don’t think I made a big mistake; maybe I was just going a bit faster than normal, but as we’re always riding at the limit the front closed and I went down. I’m really disappointed because I could’ve had eighth place, which we knew was the maximum that we could do this weekend. I lost some points in the championship and I’m very sorry for the team.” The corner in question, Farm curve, had also been the scene of a crash for Hayden during the Sunday morning Warm-Up session. Nicky Hayden “I was going fast in the Warm-Up but I had a high-speed crash that really beat up the bike. I had to use the other bike in the race, but even though it had an older engine it worked fine and I had a good battle with Bradley and Dovi. I had hoped before the race that we could really do something better than that, but I think eighth place was about the maximum that was possible today. The team is really working hard and they improved the bike a bit; we’ll keep rolling and try to make a step forward.” Dovizioso’s non-finish sees him drop a position in the Riders’ Championship, falling to eighth overall behind Alvaro Bautista. from MotoGP.com
