A consistent time for Colin Edwards at Estoril where the experienced Texan did a fantastic job to qualify and end in fifth place, this allowed him to cut the gap on Andrea Dovizioso for fifth position in the rankings, with both competitors determined to arrive on top for the final three events.

Edwards looked comfortable through the event, though it was a nice ride for the 35 year-old who ended nine seconds after former colleague Valentino Rossi and three seconds ahead of sixth placed Toni Elías.

Commenting on the weekend Edwards says, “From qualifying we thought we had found a good setting and then we kind of went round in a circle, coming back to what we started with. There was a bit of front end movement which I wasn’t really happy with and once the tyre started moving a little bit it got very difficult, as I couldn’t get any load on the rear. At the end of the day though we ran fifth all weekend and we finished the race fifth so it looked like that was the best we could do this weekend. If you're the next best rider behind the top four in the world then you've done a good job.”

Only eight points off fifth in the rankings, Edwards adds, “I got a few more points back on Andrea Dovizioso in the championship and that is a good reward for the all effort my guys at Monster Yamaha Tech 3 have put in. We've got three races to go and I’ll be giving it my all as always because I really want that fifth spot.”

Having been beaten to sixth spot by a minimal margin of a second by Elías, Dovizioso states, “I can’t be too happy with that, because from the beginning this weekend we were not fast and when the grip reduced it was difficult to manage the bike. We need to work hard with Öhlins to see if we can improve the situation with the suspension.”

“It was a really close finish on the line and I just missed out on sixth place - which isn’t the result we wanted, obviously. I started from the third row and was ninth in the early laps before getting past three riders which took me up to sixth. I was able to hold the gap to Elias behind me but then I lost time on one lap and he came past. I closed again and it was really close on the last lap, I thought I had a chance of taking the place out of the last corner but it didn’t happen.”