Cool but dry conditions for the majority of today's opening two practice sessions at Phillip Island enabled Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team riders Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso to complete a positive and productive start to the AirAsia Australian Grand Prix weekend.

British rider Crutchlow was satisfied with his work today after he finished as leading non-factory rider in fourth position. Crutchlow's performance was particularly impressive considering he was struck down by a high fever and bout of bronchitis after arriving in Melbourne earlier this week. Teammate Andrea Dovizioso also made significant progress after he logged a best time of 1.31.968s this morning to finish fifth.

Cal Crutchlow

“It was a good start to the weekend and I'm happy considering how ill I've felt before today. I had a really high temperature yesterday but the bigger issue is the bronchitis because I am finding it quite hard to breathe. I felt better today and concentration is not a problem but this track is so physical and fast that you don't get a break. And with the wind you are constantly fighting the bike, so that isn't making it any easier for me. I will go and see the Clinica Mobile staff again tonight and hopefully I'll feel better again tomorrow. I'm still not anywhere near 100% and my target is to leave this weekend picking up some decent points."

Andrea Dovizioso

“As always when we come to this great track at this time of year, the conditions were normal for Phillip Island. It was quite cool and windy but the positive thing is that apart from a few minutes of rain this morning we were able to ride on a dry track to concentrate on improving the set-up of the bike. We gained a lot of data today but it is clear we have to recover a bit of time to get closer to the top three. My feeling with the bike though is quite good but I would like to gain a bit more feeling from the front. This is the main point in this track because there are a lot of fast and long corners with some very fast changes of direction, so you have to prepare the bike on the exit to have the right line. If you can do this quickly the lap time comes quite easy.”

.