Monster Yamaha Tech 3 competitor Colin Edwards’ year has been exciting to date, he is close to claiming his second best championship place as the last event of the year nears at Valencia.

Battling for fifth place with Andrea Dovizioso, Edwards could equal his 2004 result on November 8th.

This season’s project is filled with consistency with six top five places on his satellite YZR-M1 making the move for a similar end in the overall rankings.

“I’d say the 2009 season has gone on a pretty even keel for me,” states Edwards. “We’ve made a couple of mistakes, I think in Japan we had an electrical issue going on. The rain that happened at Donington was kind of a spike. Everything else I think has been pretty even; I seem to have qualified fifth and finished the race in fifth lots! The four guys out front at the moment are on another planet. But we’re still working and are trying to keep up with them.”

He adds, “Donington was actually one of those races you wish you don’t ever have to race, because it was raining basically the whole time and we were on dry tyres. We changed tyres right on the grid for a soft front and soft rear that I hadn’t used all weekend. We also made changes to the suspension of the bike on the grid, but it’s a bike we hadn’t run all weekend, so it was kind of a case of throw the dice and see what happens. Anyway, I got a good feel for the bike and it was close. Dovizioso was just a little bit out there in front of me and a couple more laps and I might have had it.”

Edwards comments that he wished for more podiums this season rather than the single one he so far achieved at Donington, but is positive that introducing Bridgestone as his sole wheel manufacturer has aided the increase in competition between racers.

“The one time on the podium this year is not enough,” he says. “Everything has been a little bit more evened out I think than in years past. With two tyre manufacturers one tyre had an advantage at one track, and another tyre had an advantage at another track. Now everybody’s on an equal footing and it’s pretty much been proven. You’ve got the four guys out front that seem to dominate, and it’s hard, but it’s definitely evened out the playing field a little bit.”

Focussing on next year, where Edwards has signed an extra season agreement with Tech 3, the American explains his choice and his excitement at pairing up with Ben Spies.

“With Herve Poncharal (Team Manager) and the team, and Guy Coulon (Chief Mechanic) especially, we match,” he says. “I think that’s an important thing. If you don’t match then there’s no point being together. It’s an easy team, they’re great and are very organised and Yamaha work very closely with them giving them as much as they can. So it all works out well and I’m more than happy to stay with them.”

“I think Ben Spies is going to be good – he’s obviously got a lot of talent. You come over and you’re hot. You’ve got a guy that’s accustomed to winning and fighting for the win all the time, then you’re going to make him go on a bike that under normal circumstances is not going to be as fast as the factory bikes. But next year it might be different with the engine rules, maybe all the engines will be the same, I have no idea. But he’ll be fast, he’ll be good and I’m excited at the prospect of working with him.”

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