Colin Edwards 6:a
“I spun off the line on the dirty part of the track and so my start wasn’t great, which was annoying. I had a bit of a feeling just before we went out that we would be slower in the first few laps as the tyre was going to take time to heat up and unfortunately that was the case; I just couldn’t push hard enough in those vital first few laps. Anyway after that I was holding pace okay and thought I could stay with the top group but then I had a near crash on lap seven or eight coming into turn seven, to the extent when I was holding the bike up on my knee and elbow! I somehow figured out how to get it back up after 30 metres but we lost quite a bit of time. From then on my rhythm was okay and honestly the race as a whole wasn’t so bad, but the tyre felt a bit greasy and I was lacking some front grip, which was strange after it had been perfect all weekend. We definitely need more power - that was obvious today, so that’s priority number one for Yamaha I guess! Anyway, we’ve learnt a lot this weekend so let’s go forward from here.”
Olivier Jacque: 12:a
"Considering how hard the practice sessions were, I was not expecting to finish like this. Twelfth position is not where I want to be, but the rhythm and the fight have been satisfying. Following my team's advice, I took it easy at the beginning looking for my pace. I felt good and had a nice fight with Elias and Roberts. On the last lap I was behind Elias and he surprised me, making me go wide. Roberts overtook me but at the last turn I braked later than them and exited the corner faster, allowing me to finish in front. It was great to come back to racing and understand the bike better."
Randy de Puniet: DNF
"I'm really disappointed to end the first race this way. It is always hard to crash, but it is even worse doing it in the first race of the season while fighting with the current World Champion and being sure that you can beat him. Hayden's bike was faster than mine, but I managed to close on him. If I had had a little bit more top speed I think I would have been able to overtake him. I made a mistake trying to pass him and I lost two positions. I was riding at the limit and suddenly the front tucked under; maybe I kept the brake on too much, but the result was that I crashed. I feel bad now as I felt very good on the bike."