Edwards: I'll get teeth into new chassis.

Colin Edwards has seen his Italian Grand Prix hopes boosted by the delivery of a new chassis for his YZR-M1, as used by team-mate Valentino Rossi with positive results at the last round in Le Mans.

"My bike has been the same since Turkey and whilst I have got comfortable with it now I think we have reached the limit in some areas," said the Texan. "I did thirty laps with the new chassis at the Le Mans test and I could clearly see the extra potential. Now I'll have one from the start at Mugello and so that's something for us to get our teeth into from the first session and see how far we can go."

"The new chassis has improved the performance of the front end of the bike, particularly in terms of turning and stability on corner entry," revealed Daniele Romagnoli, Edwards' chief mechanic. "It has also improved the chatter problems that we have experienced and this will be crucial at Mugello because there are some very fast corners and a lot of lateral load on the bike."

Edwards also has another reason to look forward to Mugello: During a gruelling run of races visiting all corners of the globe over the last two months the Texan has not had much chance to see his young son Hayes, but the baby, who was born in December, will be making his first visit to Europe this week and staying on the road with the whole family during the upcoming run of races on the continent.

"Hayes will be coming over with my daughter Gracie and my wife Alyssia so obviously I'm really looking forward to that," confirmed Edwards. "I love being with the family and living out of the motorhome instead of travelling all over the place staying in hotels. I find it helps me to focus on my performance on the track and hopefully it can give me an extra edge this weekend. That is the most important thing and at this stage of the season, with the way things have gone recently, we need every advantage we can get."