Edwards says he's ready to win

The American rider took the first pole of his MotoGP career at Le Mans in 2007, only to tumble down the order when rain hit in the race.

He has yet to take a win in 88 starts in the championship, but has been a consistent front-runner since switching from the factory Yamaha team to satellite squad Tech 3 for 2008.

"It's been a long time and I'm ready to win one," Edwards said. "I should've won the race here last year. If it hadn't rained, we would have really had good pace here last year. We'll wait and see what the weather does and hope for the best."

Edwards held provisional pole for much of qualifying yesterday, before being usurped by Dani Pedrosa in the final moments. He said Le Mans was one of the strongest tracks for both him and the Tech 3 Yamaha package.

"The Yamaha works really well here, especially when you decide to turn your brain off," he said.

"It's been good. I don't know why I'm good here. The last few years it's always been a really good track for me.

"We took some stuff that we'd learned in China with bike settings and thought we'd see if it worked, and it looks good. We've been on the pace all weekend."

He also reiterated his belief that he would have held on to pole if he hadn't had to abandon his last flying lap after being delayed behind Marco Melandri - an incident that prompted the riders to exchange gesticulations on the track.

"I didn't really get a chance to get to the last section on my last lap because I ran into Marco and the lap was done," Edwards said.

"I guess he forgot I'm from Texas and I usually carry a gun around. If I'd have had one, I daresay I would've shot him...

"We're actually friends, I don't want to bag him too badly, but in the last two minutes of qualifying, you've got to pay attention."