Colin Edwards had the 'pace to match anybody' during practice at Assen on Thursday, but fears he may need to work on a wet set-up before the Dutch TT weekend is out.
Riding at the scene of his 2006 final-turn victory showdown with
Nicky Hayden, which saw Edwards fall within sight of the flag, the yet-to-win Tech 3 Yamaha rider progressed from fourth to third during the two practice sessions.
The Texan's best lap made him the top Michelin rider and was just 0.112secs behind second fastest
Valentino Rossi. However, flying world champion
Casey Stoner was nearly 0.9secs ahead.
"I'm pretty pleased with that because if you take Casey out of the equation I've got the pace to match anybody," declared Colin. "We made a small change to the bike after this morning because here you carry so much load you have to play with the spring rate to get the right feeling.
"How my bike was set-up from
Donington, it was just a bit too lazy and slow to react around this track. My team had some good ideas to try and help the bike steer a bit better but it didn't feel great. There was a bit too much weight on the front. I was pushing but I didn't want to push any harder because the feel just wasn't there.
"We made another little change and I was straight into the low 37s and I was on it. We then changed the front setting again and I got a lot more confidence in the front and it felt awesome. I was never outside the top three so it is looking good. The grip feels really good and all my tyres seem pretty good so thanks to Michelin for that. You need endurance round this track and nothing too crazy grip wise in the beginning that might drop off," he added.
Friday's final practice and qualifying sessions are again expected to be run in dry conditions, but rain has been forecast for the race.
