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Cal Crutchlow ignored doctors' advice to skip MotoGP qualifying

Cal Crutchlow has revealed he ignored medical advice to skip MotoGP qualifying at Brno after being diagnosed with a suspected back injury following a crash in Saturday morning practice

The LCR Honda rider, along with Marc Marquez, was caught out by Alvaro Bautista's Aspar Ducati leaking oil on track and crashed at Turn 10 in FP3.

Crutchlow visited the circuit's hospital after the incident, where Dr Angel Charte, MotoGP's medical director, detected a possible back injury.

However, despite being advised he shouldn't take part in the rest of Saturday's running, Crutchlow decided to ride in FP4 and qualifying, much to the annoyance of the doctors.

"I respect Dr Charte and all the doctors in the clinic a lot, but the decision was mine and that's why they got angry," Crutchlow told Movistar TV after qualifying, in which he claimed fifth on the grid for Sunday's race.

"I am a racer and I want to race. Now I have to go back to the hospital because they saw there was something [wrong] with the vertebrae."

While Crutchlow did go for further examinations after qualifying, an LCR team spokesperson told Autosport that the hospital checks did not reveal any significant injury, meaning Crutchlow should be fit to race on Sunday.

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