Colin Edwards completed his first test of the 800cc era with another good morning's work at Sepang on Friday, in which he continued development of Yamaha's new prototype machine and set the third fastest time in the process.

Edwards, the only factory Yamaha rider at the test, once again spent his time working on general set-up, especially chassis and suspension, as well as testing some new tyres for Michelin.

Suzuki rider John Hopkins was fastest of all at the Sepang test with a best lap of 2mins 1.64secs, followed by his team-mate Chris Vermeulen, with Edwards third after a best time of 2mins 2.43secs.

"Today was another really good day," declared the Texan after his 32 Friday laps. "I was quicker again and it felt really good to be able to consistently run fast times comfortably. We got a lot of great work done on a variety of things, even though we only tested in the morning. We did a fair bit for Michelin, they've got some good stuff and it seems pretty clear what the right direction is for us to go in with regards to tyres. We've played about with the chassis and the suspension, as well as a few other things, and when we came to add everything together you could see we were making some good progress. As far as getting input for the final bike they're going to roll out for us next year, I think we've done a pretty good job during these three days. I'm really happy with my first test on the 800, we seem to get on okay and now I am looking forward to the next test in Jerez, where I am sure Valentino and I together can make even more progress."

"This has been an encouraging first test for our team and for Colin with Yamaha's new 800cc bike," added Edwards' crew chief Daniele Romagnoli. "We've changed quite a bit with the overall set-up and we've definitely made some big improvements from the bike we first tried on Wednesday. We've also worked quite a lot on tyres with Michelin and found some options that seem to be working well for us. The most important thing is that Colin already seems to be getting on very well with the bike, he can ride it well and he's been fast all week. We're very satisfied with this first test and it seems like we're in good shape for this stage of development."

Edwards will next be on track with the Yamaha 800 during testing at Jerez from November 28-30, when he will be joined by team-mate Valentino Rossi. Five-times MotoGP world champion Rossi missed the Sepang test due to his participation in this weekend's rally of New Zealand.