Edwards still on course for fifth

Just seven points separate Colin Edwards and fifth-placed Andrea Dovizioso in the championship standings with two races of the season remaining, and the Texan knows he needs strong results in Sepang and Valencia to overtake his rival.

With the exception of his DNF in Misano, when a crash with Alex de Angelis ended his race prematurely, Edwards has finished in fifth place in his last three races.

The penultimate event of the 2009 calendar, the Shell Advance Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix this weekend, offers the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider the opportunity to shave further points off Dovizioso’s slender advantage.

“We need to get on the podium, we need to get a chunk of points over the next couple of races to get that fifth,” Edwards told motogp.com, after beating Dovizioso into sixth spot at Phillip Island.

Asked if he believed whether Sepang could provide the setting for such an achievement, Edwards responded, “Possibly. It would’ve been better if De Angelis hadn’t taken me out at Misano – obviously we’d still be ahead of Dovizioso. But that’s racing, and we move forward. I think at Malaysia, or Valencia, we’ve still got a good shot at getting on the podium.”