A fantastic performance by British rider James Toseland saw him claim his fifth top six finish of the season at red-hot Misano this afternoon.
The Tech3 Yamaha rider was always in contention for his first top six finish since the Catalunya GP after a solid start from ninth on the grid. At one stage though he looked on course for his best ever MotoGP finish as he held a terrific fifth having got the better of a tough battle with Andrea Dovizoso and Shinya Nakano.
He slipped to sixth place on lap 22 but then produced a heroic display to hold off intense pressure from Loris Capirossi and Dovizioso in an enthralling finale to the 28-lap encounter, which was run in punishing 35-degree heat. Today’s result moved Toseland back into the top ten in the world championship standings.
American team-mate Colin Edwards had a difficult afternoon, as any hopes he had of mounting an assault on the top six were dashed in the early stages. He struggled with rear grip, but was able to run a consistent pace in the second half of the race to fight his way back into a hard fought tenth.
James Toseland 6th – 85 points“I got a decent start off the line and held my grid position in ninth, so I wasn’t too disappointed and got into the groove quite quickly. I was battling with Dovizioso and Nakano for the first half of the race. I passed Shinya and then started chasing Dovizioso but just as I caught him I started having some troubles. But he was too and I managed to pass him and make it stick. Then Chris Vermeulen came past and pulled away which was a bit frustrating because I was hoping for fifth to get my best result. Coming from where I’d been in the last few races and to produce a ride like that was brilliant. That is what I’m here for and I really enjoyed it. I was about ten feet wide on those last few laps and probably the widest Yamaha in history. I knew Loris and Dovizioso were behind me in those last few laps and they wanted my place in front of their home fans. Loris passed me on the penultimate lap but I’d blocked the line so he had to go really deep and he just went slightly wide and he left half a door open and I moved back through. I didn’t touch him so it was all fair and square. On the last lap I blocked into the last two corners and I knew I’d got sixth with it being a short drag to the line so it was a great feeling. Michelin has had a lot of stick recently but they have knuckled down and so have I. We have kept working hard and today we showed what we can achieve together with Tech 3 and Yamaha.”
Colin Edwards 10th – 108 points“It was a very tough race and not what I’d expected. I thought it was going to be tough, but not that tough and obviously I wanted to do better for my guys at Tech 3 who tried everything to solve some of our issues here. Unfortunately some of the issues we can’t control, and I was struggling for grip in the early stages. I just couldn’t get any temperature in the rear tyre and I didn’t have the confidence to push like I wanted to. Those first three laps just dictated my result because once I got into my pace my lap times were pretty decent and good enough to be fighting much further up. But I lost too much in the early part of the race. The problem is on a short track when everybody is doing pretty much the same lap time; it is impossible to make up a lot of time. I got through to tenth and I’ve got a chance to put things right on home soil in Indianapolis next time out.”
Herve Poncharal – Team Manager“It was a fantastic race from James and I am really pleased to see him back up there fighting as we know he can do. When he suffers the whole team suffers and it is not been an easy period for him, but he has never let his head drop and he always kept his motivation and given Tech 3, Yamaha and Michelin 100 per cent. This result will give him a big boost for the remainder of the season, and maybe a podium is not impossible before the end. He came under a lot of pressure but he kept concentrated and showed the James we saw at the start of the season. I am sorry for Colin. His lap times showed at the end of the race he had the speed, but for some reason in the early part of the race he was not able to run the pace we had hoped. But it was a strong weekend for Tech 3 and for Yamaha. I’d like to congratulate Valentino and Jorge and I think we saw that Michelin and Bridgestone are really close together. I’d like to thank Michelin for the way they have responded to the last few races.”
