The Silverstone race has a special meaning for James Toseland. For a start he will be racing in front of his home crowd and his own fans.

_{source: worldsbk.com}

On top of that, going back to last season when his overall performance failed to live up to expectations, Silverstone was the circuit where he achieved his best results, finishing first and third. That was Toseland's one and only peak in 2005, but memories of it could be enough to trigger a return to form. A Toseland win at Silverstone is certainly not impossible: the 2004 champion has been the only rider to break the monopoly of Bayliss and Corser so far this year. And Toseland absolutely needs to win if he is to remain in contention for this year's title.

- What's your take on the first few races of this season?
"I was perfectly satisfied after the first two races. The win in Qatar was important for me and for the team. Things went well in Australia too. But everything started to go downhill in Valencia, with a whole series of unexpected problems cropping up. In fact, Spain was a disaster for us! We were unlucky in Monza too. Brake failure forced me out of the first race when I was up among the leaders, and after I fell I couldn't afford to push things in the second race because I couldn't risk leaving Italy without even one point."

- Honda seems to be having a hard time competing with Ducati and Suzuki. How can you bridge this gap?
We've obviously got to improve our bike's performance despite the lack of electronics. We've got the power to keep up with the front runners, but without traction control we can't use the Honda's power to the full. I'm sure that Honda still believes it can win this title, and now is the right time to take this step forward. I personally still think we can do it, and starting with Silverstone I'll be doing everything I can to close the gap between us and the top two in the points table."