We never panicked, says Burgess

Valentino Rossi dominated today's race, with teammate Colin Edwards finishing a competitive third.

But in Saturday morning's final practice session, Rossi had only been 18th quickest, and he had voiced concerns about tyre wear several times during the weekend.

Burgess, however, insisted that the entire weekend had gone according to plan and that the fluctuations in form had been purely a consequence of this year's new tyre restrictions.

"The set-up hasn't changed," he told BBC television. "We had a good set-up when we came here for the test four weeks ago, we knew that.

"With the tyre rule as it is this year, you're not always going to have the right tyres when you want them. You have to conserve them for the period of the day when you're going to use that type of tyre.

"We understood exactly what was happening, we were not in any panic, and irrespective of what people saw, we knew exactly why things were happening. We worked in the afternoons when we knew we had to have the bike right for the race, and I think the result vindicated that."

But in the post-race press conference, Edwards suggested that he had been worried about his race prospects after practice.

"Honestly the contrast from Friday..." he said. "I've got to say a big thanks to Michelin. They obviously knew which tyres were going to work and we had one up our sleeve that we had to hold onto.

"On Friday it was looking like a bit of a daunting task, but then it all came good.

"Thanks to the team. We turned the bike upside down coming from Friday afternoon. I think we flip-flopped everything, maybe came back to where we were a little bit."