MotoGP: Cal Crutchlow says it was stupid to crash twice

Cal Crutchlow described his 180mph crash in practice for the British Grand Prix as "just another Silverstone Saturday" but admitted he could struggle during Sunday's race.

Crutchlow, 27, recovered from two big crashes in practice to qualify in third for his home race behind Spaniards Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo.

"To crash twice in one session is stupid and they were my own mistakes. Tomorrow will be difficult but we'll try," he said. "I'll see how my physical condition is in the morning."

The Briton, who said he had "some abrasions on my arm" but avoided any broken bones, has a history of picking up injuries at the Northamptonshire circuit.

"Well that was just a normal Saturday for me at Silverstone!" he joked afterwards.

The Tech 3 Yamaha rider broke his ankle in qualifying last year, was told to take 10 weeks off, but made a miraculous recovery to finish sixth less than 24 hours later.

And on his home MotoGP debut in 2011 Crutchlow crashed out of qualifying and broke his collarbone, forcing him to miss the race altogether.

And it appeared his bad luck had struck again on Saturday morning when he crashed at Maggots corner, rolling his bike and destroying it.

And before the end of the 45-minute session Crutchlow crashed again at Vale corner, heavily damaging his second bike and ensuring a busy day for his team of mechanics.

He said: "I completely trashed the first bike but that's racing. I was on my first flying lap and never made the second corner.

"I crashed at 293 km/h (182 mph). As soon as I shut off the gas the front locked and I didn't see much after that apart from grass, tarmac, kerb, grass, tarmac.

"The second one was completely my fault. I locked up and went over the handlebars. For sure it has not been an ideal day but normally I ride better after a crash anyway!

"I have confidence in abundance. Don't get me wrong, I was annoyed and angry with myself for making stupid mistakes but it's what we do."

Crutchlow finished second at Le Mans in May despite riding with a fractured leg, while reigning world champion Lorenzo was able to finish fifth at the Dutch GP at Assen in June just two days after breaking his collarbone.

"Look at what Jorge did at Assen," Crutchlow said.

"It seems motorcycle racers are able to defy odds like that but I don't see it as anything special. I've done it before and I'm sure I will have to do it again."

Lorenzo has not won a race since that Assen injury, with rookie Marquez taking advantage to open up a 26-point lead in the standings by winning the last four in a row.

But Lorenzo looked back to his best at Silverstone, describing his lap-record breaking time of 2:00.819 seconds as one of the finest of his career.

It was not enough, however, as Marquez pipped him to take pole position and leave Lorenzo looking deflated as he answered the final question of the post-race news conference - how do you stop Marc Marquez?

"If I knew that, honestly, I would tell you," Lorenzo said with a shrug.

"But all I can do is try."