Dovizioso frustrated to crash again

The Honda rider was holding fourth and running with the leaders when he fell just four laps into the United States Grand Prix at Laguna Seca.

He said he had been struggling to control the bike after bending his clutch lever on the kerbs when he took the wrong line at the first corner while trying to pass Valentino Rossi.

"The problem was that the clutch lever bent, after which I couldn't go down the gears and control the clutch anymore, because I could only go down the gears without controlling engine braking with the last gear, which needs to be done with four-stroke engines," Dovizioso told Italia1.

"I wanted to try to stay with them even though I didn't have 100 per cent control of the bike anymore. I did some good lap times, but then I lost grip at the front. I had already had a warning sign two corners before, but I wanted to stay with them and made a mistake."

Dovizioso said his annoyance was heightened because his team-mate Dani Pedrosa went on to win, and the Italian felt he was capable of a similar race pace.

"Besides the crash, I'm disappointed for having made a mistake I shouldn't have done," he said.

"We had the pace to have a fine race, Pedrosa improved a bit in the race, but yesterday we were level. So I'm very disappointed.

"We believe in ourselves because we're very close to the frontrunners, so we didn't need this."