Edwards third after late Assen drama
 Tech
3 Yamaha rider Colin Edwards was involved in more late drama
at Assen today as a stunning surge from the back of the field
was rewarded with third place. For the second time in three
years, Edwards was involved in dramatic incident at the final
chicane with Nicky Hayden as he snatched third from his fellow
American just metres from the finish line.
Fourth at the start of the last lap, Edwards produced a brilliant
display of overtaking to come from dead last on the opening
lap as he narrowly avoiding an early tangle between Valentino
Rossi and Randy de Puniet.
Producing lap times close the formidable pace set by eventual
winner Casey Stoner, Edwards fought his way back into seventh
when he passed Jorge Lorenzo on lap 10. He then quickly closed
on an exciting battle for fourth that included Chris Vermeulen,
Andrea Dovizioso and Shinya Nakano.
Reeling off a succession of personal best laps, Edwards passed
Nakano at the start of lap 13 and a lap later claimed fourth
with brilliant moves on Vermeulen and Dovizioso. Trailing
Hayden by over seven seconds on lap 15, Edwards halved the
deficit by the last lap, but having settled for fourth, he
grabbed third with Hayden encountering machine problems exiting
the final corner. Today's result was Edwards' second podium
of 2008 and moved him to within 16-points of Lorenzo in fourth
place in the championship standings.
James Toseland made a welcome return to the top ten today
despite encountering some small front-end set-up issues during
the 26-lap encounter. His points though helped the Tech 3
Yamaha team consolidate fourth in the Team World Championship
standings.
Colin Edwards - Position: 3rd - 98 points
"Third is never a win, but this feels as good as one.
I remember how disappointed I was with third in Le Mans and
I feel much better with this after what happened. I thought
I had a good start and was fifth or sixth when Valentino got
tangled with Randy de Puniet and he crashed. I might have
gone left but I knew Valentino was on the ground and I didn't
want to run over him or his bike and I just stopped. The next
thing I know is I'm dead last and then Alex de Angelis went
down soon after and I lost a bit more ground. I just decided
to get my head and push. I thought I'd rather be in the gravel
than riding round for eighth or ninth. I started picking guys
off and before I knew it I was on the back of the group fighting
for fourth. I just kept pushing myself to go faster and the
next thing I'm fourth. I could see Nicky and Dani in the distance
and all I did was ride as hard as I could and my Tech 3 guys
gave me a great bike today. Michelin had some great tyres
so I started to hammer away at Nicky. I thought if I kept
applying pressure he might make a mistake and if I hadn't
kept pushing as hard as I did then I might not have been close
enough to pounce on Nicky. I'd settled for third but as I
came out of the chicane he was sat up, and I couldn't believe
it. I guess that's karma corner after 2006. This place owed
me something after I crashed a couple of years ago with my
first win in sight, and I'm really happy with third just because
in the way I achieved it. It's hard to get on the podium at
any time in MotoGP, so to do it from last is a great feeling."
James Toseland - Position: 9th - 60 points
"We tried a completely different setting on the front
and we had quite a few problems because riding was just not
that comfortable for me. It is nice to get a finish under
my belt and get a top ten to build on from here because there
is no doubt we have got some work to do and we need to find
a direction with the bike. The shorter bike seems to be a
lot more sensitive to changes but the mixed weather is really
killing us at the moment as we try and make some big progress.
With all the wet time we are not moving forward in the dry.
In the last six races there's been a wet day and to only have
one day to get the bike dialled in is difficult, even on tracks
that I know. It is frustrating to watch and frustrating for
me to be down in ninth position and I know I have got work
to do. We are quite a way off with the setting and it is up
to me to make it better. I'm not riding any worse than I was
before but we have hit a bit of a brick wall. Sachsenring
is another new track and I'll have a think about where we
are at over the next few days, watch some videos of the races
so far and try and work out where we can improve."
Herve Poncharal - Team Manager
"Colin was incredible today. I was really upset after
what happened on the first lap because he has always been
very fast this weekend and we were convinced with the pace
he had shown that he could have challenged for the podium.
This is racing but Colin was last and we thought it was over.
When we saw his pace we had even more regret, so we were just
thinking about what might have been. But he made an incredible
recovery and we can't believe this podium. When I saw him
come out of the chicane and pass Nicky it was an incredible
emotion. His lap times were very impressive and close to Casey's,
which was not easy to achieve this weekend, so I think he
deserved this. Nobody wants to see what happened to Nicky
but today it was Colin's turn to have the luck after what
happened in 2006. I am really happy for the team and I'm also
pleased for James because he has been riding at a competitive
pace and he was fast in all conditions. After the disappointment
of Donington it was important for him to get a solid result
and both have helped us stay close to Ducati in the team championship."
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