Edwards and Spies on third row in close Jerez qualifying

A thrilling qualifying session at a sun-drenched Jerez circuit ended with Colin Edwards and Ben Spies claiming hard fought places on the third row of the grid for tomorrow`s Spanish MotoGP race.

The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 pairing will start alongside each other on row three after Edwards qualified his YZR-M1 machine in seventh, with fellow Texan Spies just 0.019s further back in eighth.

Seventh spot was reward for Edwards` efforts in fine-tuning the set-up of his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine. The 36-year-old spent much of the session concentrating on improving the electronic set-up of his YZR-M1 while also making crucial front-end geometry changes to improve his corner entry confidence.

Fast learner Spies made a mockery of his inexperience at the 4.423km Andalucian circuit to finish just over 0.7s away from pole position and just over 0.4s adrift of the front row.

Spies was a superb sixth in free practice with his all-action style thrilling a large home crowd and the 25-year-old has been one of the most consistent on worn race tyres during the weekend, boosting hopes of another impressive display in tomorrow`s 27-lap race. The reigning World Superbike champion is confident he can at least emulate his brilliant top five finish in the season`s opening race in Qatar last month.

Today`s qualifying session was a closely contested affair with just 0.825s covering the top ten.

Colin Edwards 7th 1.39.970 – 26 laps

“It has been hard work so far this weekend and a bit of a struggle if I`m being honest, so to finish seventh is a pretty good outcome for me. I seem to have been struggling with the electronics all weekend and we just haven`t been able to get to a point where it feels all that predictable, and that has been a big strength of the Yamaha. We`ve been experimenting with that a lot but I feel we made some decent progress. I changed the geometry on the front of the bike to make it more like the set-up that Valentino likes with a bit more weight on the front. That helped me a lot with the bike feeling a lot more balanced and now I`ve got more feel from the front. Tomorrow is going to be a typical Jerez race. You`ve got to hope you can come out Turn One unscathed, see where you`re at and then just go for it. It`s going to be a tough race but I`ll be giving it my all for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team.

Ben Spies 8th – 1.39.989 – 28 laps

“I`m happy and it`s good to be in the middle of the third row because I can try and get a good start and see what`s going on in the first couple of laps and try and get up there. I was happier with my race set-up than what I had for the quick lap on the soft tyres. I didn`t mess anything up real big but I just couldn`t get into that qualifying mode and put that fast lap in. From not knowing where I was going yesterday, I`m happy to be in the top ten and hopefully I can get closer to the front and see what is going on up there. I`d like to think I can get in the battle for the top six but it`s going to be hard. Towards the end of the race is where I`ll be more comfortable because I`ll get in that rhythm and when the tyres go off I`ll feel a little better with the bike. I`ve got a pretty good feeling where I`m going on the track and I just need to change a few things for tomorrow and hopefully ride a little better. But I`m looking forward to my first race in Jerez."