Sachsenring MotoGP: Colin Edwards third despite crash

Colin Edwards declared himself satisfied with third place at the end of the opening day of free practice in Germany today, despite a crash at the final corner this afternoon.

The American ended the opening day third and one of only three riders to lap within a second of a rampant Casey Stoner as he clocked a best time of 1.22.463 on his Tech 3 Yamaha.

Initially struggling for front-end grip, the double World Superbike champion bounced back to finish behind Alex de Angelis and Stoner.

Edwards, who is looking for a sixth successive top five finish in Sunday’s race, said: “That was an eventful day. This morning I went out and I didn’t have a lot of feeling from the front. I thought it was a small issue with grip so we played around with the bike and it didn’t really get any better.

“The feeling I’m always looking for just wasn’t there and I’m a front-end guy. I just couldn’t get the front to gel with me. I tried a different front tyre this afternoon – a harder one – and that felt better but it is something that we never use.

This place is so hard on front tyres and what we normally use race after race wouldn’t have the durability so Michelin have had to improvise a little bit and it was just a feeling that I’m not used to. I went out there and got going and did a couple of good laps and the next thing I crashed.

“I braked for the last corner and that was it. You know when you do something wrong because when you get in they’re too hot and your eyes bulge out, you know you are not going to make it. But I didn’t even do that. I just cruised into the corner like normal and I was down.

“I had zero warning. Michelin and the team came up with some ideas to try and create some more front feel and I went out on the spare bike and at the end I wasn’t even really pushing and I did a 22 and it seemed easy because I had some feel. Honestly though this is the best package I’ve ever rolled out of the truck on a Friday at this circuit.

“I normally come here and it is a nightmare for me to get the bike working. But today it worked like a charm apart and Michelin have done a great job with the rear tyres. They are awesome, so with more feel now from the front I’m really confident.”