Cal Crutchlow says he has “no idea why” controversial Avintia stand-in Christophe Ponsson blamed him for losing his Aragon ride to Jordi Torres, but is “willing to accept it”.
Ponsson was chosen by Avintia to replace the injured Tito Rabat at Misano, despite never having ridden a MotoGP bike before and boasting a lacklustre career CV at world level.
Many riders voiced their concerns about the safety of letting Ponsson make his MotoGP debut on a race weekend, though Crutchlow was one of the few to speak in his defence and offer him a chance to prove himself.
Ponsson claims the riders made a “mafia-like” move to terminate a claimed four-race contract with Avintia, with LCR's Crutchlow and Pramac's Jack Miller explicitly named by the Frenchman as being the main instigators in a statement released earlier this week.
Speaking at Aragon – where Ponsson will be replaced by Jordi Torres – Crutchlow was left baffled by the accusation.
“As you know, me and Jack Miller go blamed for him not riding,” he said.
“But I have no idea why or how or what. I was the first guy on Thursday to say let's give him a chance and let him ride, and we should have different guys to come into the championship when there is the opportunity.
“So how I got blamed I have no idea, but I'm willing to accept it.”
When asked what needs to be done to stop a situation like Ponsson's from happening again, Crutchlow says teams should not be “stupid enough” to field riders solely for financial reasons, while also suggesting Moto2 riders linked to a manufacturer should get the nod by a team if experienced replacements are thin on the ground.
“First of all I think the teams shouldn't be stupid enough to put people on the bikes who pay to ride for one weekend.
“You can take someone with some experience, or you can take a guy from Moto2 that is maybe gonna come up with that manufacturer or something like that.
“But, yes, I think we should look at the 107 percent rule or what they have previously done [in their career] to be able to come in and ride these bikes, because it's not about just coming to ride the bike because anybody can ride the bike if they are going to pay for a weekend.
“But they're hard to ride, it's not like maybe jumping on something easier to ride. MotoGP is a hard class, to learn the tyres, learn the bikes, the engines, the chassis.
“So I think there needs to be some sort of ruling."
