Edwards fit and ready with engine upgrade

Colin Edwards reckons a painful right knee injury won’t be a severe hindrance in this weekend’s Shanghai GP.

This is as he prepares to run the upgraded Yamaha YZR-M1 engine Valentino Rossi used last month in Turkey.

Edwards was limping slightly in the Shanghai paddock today with fluid on his right knee still hampering him after Frenchman Olivier Jacque took him out on the first lap in Turkey last month.

“It’s been fine. I haven’t been doing much obviously. I played a little golf and it didn’t seem to affect that.

“Actually my golf game has been shit for about six months now. It should be no problem on the bike.

“I haven’t put leathers on yet but the fluid is right underneath the skin so I just need to keep an eye on the wound and make sure it doesn’t get infected.

“The swelling was huge straight after Turkey but its gone down quite a bit. The fluid is draining naturally so I won’t get it drained here,” said Edwards, who confirmed Yamaha had given him the new engine spec Rossi used in Turkey.

Edwards though hinted Rossi will run a further upgraded spec motor when free practice gets underway tomorrow (Friday), though the Italian denied he had received further upgrades to boost top speed.

The engine Rossi used in Istanbul was worth another 2-3kgs on the straight, with Yamaha rolling out the revised in-line four-cylinder motor to bridge the huge top speed advantage enjoyed by Italian rivals Ducati.

Double World Superbike champion Edwards said: “What can I say? I got something different. I don’t think it’s the same stuff, I think I got what he (Rossi) had in Turkey.

“I’m getting his hand me downs. Anything that helps is good. We still don’t know if it’s enough against Ducati but I guess we’ll find out tomorrow and see what the speed trap says. But anything is better than nothing.”

Suggesting that his China upgrade still didn’t bring him on a par with Rossi’s Fiat-backed M1, he refused to confirm that Yamaha had further updated Rossi’s motor for the Shanghai clash.

The 33-year-old added: “I don’t know, maybe, I didn’t say anything.”