Toseland devastated by crashes

The Tech 3 Yamaha rider fell at the exit of the last hairpin as he prepared for his final flying lap, and although he managed to rejoin and continue, he then had another accident further around the lap.

"Basically I made a mess of it," Toseland admitted. "It was difficult conditions and the potential was there for a top six. Everything was going in the right direction but unfortunately I tried a few things that didn't work.

"I tried to change some things but we never really went in a positive direction. We were running out of time and put ourselves under pressure to get a lap in right at the end and I got on the throttle too early out of the last corner and high-sided myself.

"I got back on but it damaged the rear brake. I was going through Schwantz Curve and I think it engaged the rear brake and decided to chuck me off again. I think somebody was telling me they didn't want me to do the lap."

Although Toseland, who had also been off the road in practice, escaped significant injury in the accidents, he said he had some pain in his knees.

"Both my knees are a bit sore," he said. "In the crash this morning a handlebar hit me in the right knee and the second one this afternoon was in a fast place and it bashed me up a bit.

"It is going to be tough but my fans can rest assured that I will still be giving it everything tomorrow."

While Toseland struggled, his teammate Colin Edwards took fifth place, and is aiming to finish on the podium having led much of this race in 2007.

"My team did an awesome job today and I just keep getting more and more impressed with them," Edwards said.

"We all did about 10 days of work in two hours to get to where we were this afternoon because this morning it just wasn't right. It was a disaster to be honest and it felt like I was sitting on the rear tyre with no front contact.

"Once I got the right feeling I was dropping a second a lap this morning and we didn't really touch the bike much this afternoon. The front tyre I used this morning is the same front tyre I used all afternoon, so I did about 50 laps on a front tyre.

"I'm confident I can run at the front if it is full wet. Michelin has been doing a lot of work with the performance of the rain tyres on a drying track, so if it does get half and half I should be at the front.

"Rain or shine we are looking good and I want to get on the podium. This is my most successful track in MotoGP and I'm definitely looking to continue that good record."