Edwards: It's been a while!

After a nightmare start to the 2006 season, Colin Edwards was relieved to stand on the Shanghai podium, following a hard fought third in Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix.

Having finished just 11th, 9th and 9th in the opening three rounds - as Camel Yamaha's battled their much publicised handling problems - the Texan claimed an unexpected front row start in Shanghai, while team-mate Valentino Rossi struggled.

Edwards then went on to produce one of his strongest MotoGP performances to date, leading the first nine laps - despite continued chatter - then holding off Suzuki's John Hopkins for third, after Honda riders Dani Pedrosa and Nicky Hayden "came through like a freight train".

"It's been a while!" smiled Colin after the podium. "It's no secret that we've had our problems this year. Yesterday, even though we were on the front row, we knew that we still had the same problems. Yamaha and are working very hard back at the factory to get it cleaned up.

"We basically worked backwards; we found a good rain set-up and once it dried we said 'ok, we normally go this step from dry to wet, so lets go that step from wet to dry'. We came out yesterday morning and it was good.

"As far as the race, the first corner was a bit scary. John came up underneath me and I thought 'alright keep going, because I'm coming under here'! I got into the lead and just thought 'I'm going to go as fast as I possibly can'. I decided I'd rather crash out of the lead than miss my chance of finishing on the podium, which meant I just couldn't back off.

"With the chatter, we have somewhat of a limitation - you can only go at a certain speed, that's the bummer about it - so I just kept the pace going," said Edwards, who only set the eighth fastest race lap. "Nicky and Dani came through like a freight train! I was just trying to get a whiff of the draft from them or something! But it was hopeless - I couldn't keep that pace.

"Anyway, I can't thank my team, Yamaha and Michelin enough for the way they worked to put me in a competitive position. I think I scored my first podium in round four last season too, so hopefully this can be a sign to kick on from here."

"My congratulations to Colin and all his crew - they have kept going after a difficult start to the season and today they got their reward," added team director Davide Brivio. "Third place is good and I hope it can be the start of much better things from him for the rest of the season."