Edwards delighted with third spot

The American lost the front end of his Tech 3 Yamaha at turn one and dropped the bike, but he somehow managed to get it upright before it ran off the road, and he saluted the crowd as he exited the corner unscathed.

He went on to set the third quickest time, behind Spaniards Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa.

"My bike is working fabulously and so are the tyres - you can tell how well the front tyre is working because I pushed it too hard and it let me get away with it," he said.

"It took me a little by surprise, I just lost the front but saved it luckily. That's my race bike so I didn't really want to crash it."

Edwards was also impressed by the pace of Jorge Lorenzo, who did the fastest ever two-wheeled lap of Jerez on his way to pole position.

"Congratulations to Jorge. A 1:38.1 second lap, wow, that's pretty quick."