Struggling Edwards expects tough race

After recovering from the neck pain he had yesterday, the Tech 3 Yamaha rider struggled to find the right set-up to absorb the California circuit's bumps and ended up recording his worst qualifying position of the year.

"It wasn't great to be honest given how well I've qualified all year, but considering I thought I was going to be on the plane home last night, I can't complain too much," he said.

"My neck was really bad yesterday but today it was unbelievable. I had some injections and also a couple of sessions of massage at the Clinica Mobile and I feel great.

"But it has been a tough weekend so far and I'm expecting a tough race tomorrow. I don't remember the track being this bumpy but on the qualifiers when you need to go so much faster, I could barely see where I was going. My head was bouncing around all over the place on the bumps.

"We have been working hard to change the bike to try and find some more grip but everything just feels really rigid. I'm just hanging on in some places and in the last two sections I'm terrible.

"It is not through a lack of trying because my guys have been working incredibly hard as usual. But we've taken weight off the front, put more weight on the front and put weight on the rear, but nothing has really improved the situation.

"Hopefully I can get a good start to try get away with the leading bunch, because I really want to get a good result for my home fans. I will be giving it everything I've got that's for sure."