91Èȱ¬

Britain's Cal Crutchlow has described Friday practice for the British MotoGP at Silverstone "a disaster which was not worth getting out of bed for".

Crutchlow, 26, finished seventh in the wet and eighth in the dry.

"We had one wet session and one dry; both were useless for us," he said.

"I really don't know what has gone wrong. We struggled with the braking, turning in, accelerating - basically every area. I feel like rubbish, too. I've got a cold."

Crutchlow, who lies fifth in the championship, arrived at round six of the world championship in fine form having finished in the top five in four of the season's five races, with a worst finish of only eighth.

But the Tech 3 Yamaha rider failed to get his bike hooked up around the high-speed turns of Silverstone.

"The wind seemed to affect us," he added. "I could go round faster on a road bike than on our bike.

"At one point, I nearly had a big crash. I was following [Jorge] Lorenzo closely at the last chicane and a gust of wind came from the side.

"I don't know how I didn't crash and collect his bike. But that's what you get for building a circuit on an airfield."

Following his strong start to the season, expectations were high with many suggesting Crutchlow could get his maiden MotoGP podium on home soil.

But as one of only two British riders on the grid - and the one most likely to score a big result - the 26-year-old from Coventry has been in demand, conducting more than 50 interviews in the last two and a half days.

Crutchlow, who looked strained during his post-practice interviews, said it took him one hour and 15 minutes to reach his motorhome after completing his day's work at the track on Thursday because of attention from both fans and the media.

"I just want to get on with my job but I'm a rider who never says no to an autograph - and I appreciate the support," he said.

"Being the only Brit on the grid makes it worse and having only one British round makes it even worse.

"At least the Italians have more than one race, like the Spanish, and they both have more riders. They don't care who wins but the British really want a British winner."

But despite the disappointing day, Crutchlow remained determined to fight on ahead of qualifying on Saturday.

"I've had bad days before and I've come back," he added.

"I was eighth in practice with loads of problems and Lorenzo, who is leading the championship, was only one place ahead of me.

"Today has not gone the best. We need to look at the data and come back with a better plan for tomorrow."

Leading practice times:

1. Casey Stoner (AUS/Honda) 2min 04.791sec

2. Ben Spies (USA/Yamaha) at 0.034sec

3. Alvaro Bautista (ESP/Honda) 0.204

4. Nicky Hayden (USA/Ducati) 0.562

5. Stefan Bradl (GER/Honda) 0.600

6. Andrea Dovizioso (ITA/Yamaha) 0.657

7. Jorge Lorenzo (ESP/Yamaha) 0.697

8. Cal Crutchlow (GBR/Yamaha) 0.783

9. Dani Pedrosa (SPA/Honda) 1.095

10. Hector Barbera (ESP/Ducati) 1.293

11. Valentino Rossi (ITA/Ducati) 2.334

12. Randy de Puniet (FRA/Aprilia) 3.102

Saturday, 16 June (all times in BST)

1255 -1605 - Red Button and Online: MotoGP Silverstone Qualifying

Sunday, 17 June

1105-1230 - Red Button and Online: Silverstone Moto2

1230-1430 - 91Èȱ¬ Two + HD and Online: MotoGP: Silverstone. Also commentary on warm-ups and Moto2 from 0845-1255 on 5 live sports extra. Race commentary from 1300-1400 on 91Èȱ¬ Radio 5 live.

1430-1530 - Red Button and Online: Silverstone Moto 3