Colin Edwards was top CRT at Motegi.

American veteran Colin Edwards again indicated at the Japanese Grand Prix he has no intentions of slowing down anytime soon, finishing as top CRT at Motegi.

The FTR–Kawasaki rider started the race from the 14th place on the grid and crossed the finish line in 12th place as both top CRT and best FTR entry.

It’s been a successful second half of the season for the Texan, now in the box seat to secure a YZR-M1 alongside Aleix Espargaro at Forward Racing in 2014.

“It was a tough race. I got a good start, did what I wanted to do on the start and saw that Espargaro made a little mistake on the first lap right in front of me,” Edwards said. “I don’t know what happened but something must have happened with him or the bike half way through the race and he ended up crashing.

“After that I knew that Randy [de Puniet] was right behind me so I just put my head down and tried to pull away from him. It was a good race, I am happy with it.

“I promised my guys a couple of weeks ago after I jump-started in Sepang that I wasn’t too sure about Australia but that I could promise them I would win best CRT in Japan.”

Edwards is now getting close to securing his second place in the CRT general standing for the 2013 season, with just two points separating him and de Puniet.