Thursday, March 5, 2009

Toseland says he's getting over crash

James Toseland says his confidence is returning after his massive Sepang testing crash, even though he remained in the midfield throughout this week's Qatar sessions.

The Tech 3 Yamaha rider suffered a 125mph high-side in Malaysia last month, and although he escaped without any broken bones, he subsequently admitted that he had probably received concussion, having struggled to concentrate on the rest of the test.

He was near the foot of the times again at Losail, taking 15th place on the final night, but insisted he was getting back up to speed.

"It has not been an easy test but on the last night I felt like we were finding a good direction and I was certainly feeling a lot more comfortable on the bike," Toseland said.

"The crash in Sepang hit my confidence and it took me a while to find my rhythm, but I feel I can go much faster now. There is still plenty of work to do but I was 1.5 seconds faster on the last night, and I just need time on the bike."

While Toseland has struggled since his accident, his teammate Colin Edwards has been consistently fast, taking third place on Monday night before falling to ninth yesterday.

"I am really happy with this test," Edwards said. "It didn't start well with the rain on the first night and the wind blew a lot of sand and dust onto the track on the second night, so the lap times were still way off normal pace.

"But I was still one of the quickest and I've got to say the Yamaha and Bridgestone combination is very impressive. I couldn't believe my race simulation. The grip from Bridgestone is really incredible and I'm seriously impressed.

"The grip just gets better the more distance you run on it and I did my best lap in the race simulation on the last lap. That's just not something I'm used to at all.

"We've got one more test in Jerez to work on a few more things but I'm ready to race. I feel stronger and more motivated than ever."

Toseland said Edwards's performance proved that he too would be on the pace once he had fully recovered from his crash.

"I can still improve and I learned about the bike and the tyres at this test, and at the end I'm only just over a second behind Colin and he has been consistently fast," he said.



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