A big tyre gamble by Monster Yamaha's James Toseland on a drying track at the Mugello MotoGP round paid off as the former World Superbike Champion got his best result of the season, crossing the line in seventh.

Toseland was the first man into the pits to change bikes, going out on his spare bike which was wearing the hard-compound Bridgestone rear slick and even though he had come moments, Toseland was delighted with the result.

“That's my best result of the season and I'm happy with that because I feel I should be fighting around the top six on a regular basis. I started the race with quite a hard spring in the rear shock and in the first few laps I was in trouble," he said.

"I hadn't planned on coming into the pits so early for my dry bike but I had no choice. I was losing a lot of time so it was definitely a gamble worth taking. The first couple of laps on slicks were eventful while I was trying to get the hard tyres to temperature, but once I'd got a rhythm going I felt pretty confident and I was pleased I'd decided to come in early.

"The section of track with the new tarmac was a bit scary because that never dried through the whole race, but you could ride the rest of the track pretty much flat-out and coming in when I did definitely helped gain me a lot of places once I'd picked up my pace. I had a really good dice with Randy and there were a few good overtakes.

"It's the first race I've enjoyed for a while because for most of it I was fighting for the top six. That's where I was a few times last season and that's where this bike and team deserve to be. Hopefully I can push on in Catalunya.”