Toselands top ten return

Assen MotoGP
Race report
28 June 08

Britain’s James Toseland today hit back at critics who have questioned his commitment to racing with a return to a competitive on-track performance at Assen in Holland. The 27-year-old passed the chequered flag in ninth position in his first race since his torrid first home MotoGP at Donington Park just six days ago.

The dramatic 26-lap race in the Netherlands saw just 13 riders complete the distance from the 15-rider grid. Tech 3 Yamaha’s Toseland started from an unlucky 13th place but was able to make ground on his rivals on the opening lap. Factory Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi suffered a similar accident to the Isle of Man resident’s incident at the British GP – unavoidably taking out Randy De Puniet and holding up several other riders.

Toseland worked his way into eighth position and held it for a large part of the race. He was pushed back into ninth place by team-mate Colin Edwards, who went on to secure a well-deserved podium finish with third position. The British contender held on to his place to add further points to his championship tally and gain more experience in the premier league of motorcycle racing.

“We’re having a bit of a tough period at the moment,” said Toseland. “We tried something totally different with the bike here today and although it wasn’t quite right, we are starting to make headway. We were back in the top ten, which is important, but I’ve still got a lot of work to do.

“I apologise to the fans because I know it must be frustrating to watch but I am committed to working my hardest to continue to improve and get the bike to where we need to be. It hasn’t helped that we’ve had changeable weather at the last two events either because we have such a short space of time to get the bike right.

“We’ve got Sachsenring and Laguna Seca to look forward to over the next month and they are both tracks that I have raced at before. To an extent that helps with the feedback that I can provide the team but as I’m riding a totally different bike we still start with a clean slate, so we’ll continue to work hard and try our best. Overall, it’s been a great day for the team in Assen and I’d like to congratulate Colin on his podium finish.”

Keep up to date with all James Toseland news at www.jamestoseland.com

Race result
1. C. Stoner 42’12.337; 2. D. Pedrosa +11.310; 3. C. Edwards +17.125; 4. N. Hayden +20.477; 5. A. Dovizioso +27.346; 6. J. Lorenzo +28.606; 7. C. Vermeulen +32.330; 8. S. Nakano +34.892; 9. J. Toseland +38.566; 10. S. Guintoli +38.817

Championship standings (after round nine)
1. Pedrosa 171; 2. Rossi 167; 3. Stoner 142; 4. Lorenzo 114; 5. Edwards 98; 6. Dovizioso 79; 7. Hayden 70; 8. Toseland 60; 9. Vermeulen 57; 10. Nakano 57