Colin Edwards is confident he will be in a much better position to race his fellow CRT competitors this season after a satisfactory testing programme. The Forward Racing rider was only 24th in the combined classification at Jerez but is sure the team have a stronger than they did going into their debut year.
“All done with pre-season testing and overall feeling happy. As far as the bike is concerned the bike, the chassis is fantastic. We have done a lot of work in a short amount of time to figure out a good balance. What worked in Malaysia we had to change a little bit here, Jerez always seems to be a bit particular on bike setting. In terms of the engine, we’ve come off from our first test, got a better unit and the exhaust as well, so we have added a little power. We have been mainly playing with electronics, really trying to figure out traction control and yesterday we ultimately found something that we can always improves but right now it’s comfortable, its consistent and comfortable and that’s what we have been lacking a little bit of. I’m happy, I’m ready to go to the first race.”
Teammate Claudio Corti is similarly optimistic and admits he was expecting the other CRT runners to further ahead than they were.
“Today our lap times have improved even if the track conditions were not ideal, we still have a lot of work ahead of us and this is just the beginning. We have improved considerably since the Sepang test but we need to continue working on the development and we have several ideas in mind, we are working on the right direction. We still have to figure out a few things like the electronics and tires, which I haven’t been able to take to test to the limit. The FTR- Kawasaki package is strong even if we do lose a bit of time exiting the curves, but we have to keep in mind that we are not a factory team, we are a private team. We have to work and not let our guard down. The Aprilias are not as far ahead of us as we thought they would. Our job now is to keep our heads down and open gas.”
