Edwards aims for fifth spot

The Tech 3 Yamaha rider finished fifth today in the Portuguese Grand Prix and shortened the gap to Andrea Dovizioso to just eight points, after the factory Honda rider classified seventh.

With three rounds remaining this season, the Texan finished today's event at Estoril behind the two works Yamaha riders, with Jorge Lorenzo first and Valentino Rossi fourth, Ducati's Casey Stoner second and Honda's Dani Pedrosa third.

"I got a few more points back on Dovizioso for fifth in the championship and that is a good reward for the all effort my guys at Tech 3 Yamaha have put in," said Edwards.

"We've got three races to go and I'll be giving it my all as always because I really want that fifth spot in the championship."

"Like I said yesterday, if you're the next best rider behind the top four in the world then you've done a good job and I rode the strongest race I could today."

Edwards rued some set-up problems for not being able to run with Rossi, who struggled himself to keep up with the top three.

"I got a good start but we've been fighting some front-end movement all weekend and I knew early on I wasn't going to be able to go with Valentino (Rossi) in front of me," the former World Superbike champion explained.

"The tyres worked great but we were just missing something on the set-up that meant even though Valentino was struggling a little bit, I couldn't really put any pressure on him.

"As much as I couldn't comfortably stay with the four guys in front, it was pretty easy for me to run a pace that meant I could pull away from the group behind me.

"Once I'd got a comfortable gap it was just a case of staying consistent to make sure I didn't give anybody a chance of catching me."