British MotoGP: James Toseland ‘I’m riding for my job’

James Toseland has a double goal ahead of his crucial home race at Donington Park this weekend.

Determined to banish the painful memory of his disastrous British GP debut 13 months ago, the 28-year badly needs a top six result to help convince Yamaha and his Tech 3 team that he’s worthy of keeping his job for 2010.

Desperate to make amends for a nightmare ’08 Donington experience when he crashed at the first corner having confidently boasted pre-race that he was a podium contender, Toseland is adamant that Sunday’s 30-lap clash is not going to be his last taste of the British GP.

“I need a good result, regardless of how disappointing last year was, because I’m riding for my job,“ said the double World Superbike champion in an exclusive interview with MCN.

“I’m desperate to go back and make amends for last year, but I want also want to stay in MotoGP and I believe I deserve to be here.

“I haven’t shown my potential but I truly believe I deserve to be with the best of the best and that I can be competitive,“ added Toseland, who has scored a best result of sixth place in Assen this season and has five top ten finishes in ’09.

Reflecting on what has been a gruelling year so far, the Yorkshireman said: “It’s been a testing year but the potential has been there to do very, very well.

“I’ve had a consistency problem and that means people will be unsure of what I’m going to do at Donington because last year it was a bit easier because I’d been in the top six about four times before Donington.

“But I’m still going there confident. I had some major crashes in the winter time. I started on the back foot and it has been difficult. It’s not too hard to find yourself outside of the top ten and unfortunately that’s what happened.

“I had a good sixth place in Assen and I was tenth in Germany but the potential is there to still be competitive in MotoGP.”

Toseland reckons a top five is not out of the question, conceding that dominant quartet Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa are virtually untouchable at present.

He added: “That fifth place has been up for grabs for a lot of people. The top four have been dominant this year with Valentino, Jorge, Casey and Dani but fifth has been open for a lot of people and the package I’m on is capable of that.

“It’s a case of concentrating hard and trying to get it. It’s not going to take much to beat last year’s performance and if I can see Turn 2 I’d have.

“I’ve just got to keep my head down this weekend and get a good result.”

• Do you think you know what will happen in MotoGP? Have a free £25 bet with Betfair