Edwards on second row, Toseland 13th in Assen
A windy but dry qualifying session in Assen today ended with
Tech 3 Yamaha rider Colin Edwards claiming his ninth successive
top six grid position in 2008. On his first set of Michelin
qualifying tyres, the American posted a best time of 1.36.278
to move to the top of the timesheets as he went in search
a fifth front row start in nine races.
Edwards though, who has won three World Superbike races at
the historic Assen circuit, was thwarted in his attempts to
improve his lap time by minor front tyre issues with his last
two sets of qualifying tyres. He eventually had to settle
for sixth place, but is confident he can mount a podium challenge
in tomorrow's 26-lap race, despite a strong chance of rain.
Inclement weather conditions this morning gave Edwards the
chance to improve his rain setting after encountering some
problems a week ago at the British GP.
James Toseland will start from 13th on the grid as he continued
to try and adapt to a new set-up on his YZR that he first
tried yesterday. Only a small mistake on his last flying lap
cost him the chance of a third row start.
Colin Edwards 6th 1.36.278 - 23 laps
"The grip didn't seem to be quite as good as yesterday
and the times on race tyres weren't as good because of this
morning's rain. I put my first qualifier on and did a 36.2
and I thought 'awesome.' I told my team I could do a mid-35
because that first qualifier is always just getting used to
the extra traction, so I was really confident and I expected
to be on the front row. But on my next set of tyres and it
just never happened, most corners at this track are right-handers
and I had an issue with the right side of the front tyre.
It wasn't chatter and it is really strange. I'm not blaming
anybody but I can't remember the last time I had this problem.
But I couldn't go fast and I didn't have the same issue with
the first set and I didn't change the bike. I wasn't too worried
because I had another set and went out and it was the same
problem but even worse on the left side of the front tyre.
The right was perfect but I was struggling to get my knee
on the ground on the left and it was weird. We need to have
a look at the data and talk it over with the guys but it has
really thrown me because I'm not sure what caused it. But
I'm ready for tomorrow whether it's raining or not. I was
pleased it rained this morning because we got the bike set-up
good for the rain. I can't complain too much being on the
second row with some of the problems I had."
James Toseland 13th 1.36.978
"I wasn't on a bad lap on the last lap but I had a big
moment coming out of the last chicane and lost all my time.
I was only eight-tenths off the leader in the first three
splits so it was looking good for the third row. But that
mistake cost me and it is a bit unfortunate. The third row
would have been a good result. At the start I went out on
Colin's set-up with a couple of modifications and it wasn't
too bad. Then I went out on the other bike which also had
Colin's set-up, but with a few more tweaks to suit me and
it wasn't any better. We ran that with the qualifiers but
looking back we had a better base setting with the other bike
and we could have done a bit more with the softer tyres. I'm
hoping warm-up is going to be dry because at the moment we
seem to take a long time to get the set-up. We are still looking
to improve it again on the day of the race. The bike needs
to be sorted for the race after qualifying and we have got
to improve in that area. I'm still holding my breath at every
corner and that's not the way to be riding. I need to get
back into the comfort zone. I got into the 37s at the end
on race tyres and other than Casey I think race pace will
be high 36s and low 37s. I'm sure I've got mid-37s in me and
that is likely to be fighting for the top six. That's the
target tomorrow but I just want a good solid result at the
moment. I have got to finish and get a good race under my
belt and be back in the top ten."
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