Tornado Warning: Grand Prix Of Italy

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Colin Edwards, a Houston native nicknamed "The Texas Tornado," will offer candid insight before every MotoGP event in 2008 about the characteristics of the upcoming circuit, his tactics and possible motorcycle setup for the weekend, the personalities and rivalries of the exciting world of MotoGP, and personal anecdotes about the region where each event takes place in "Tornado Warning."

Two-time World Superbike champion Edwards, 34, is in his sixth year of MotoGP competition, riding this season for Yamaha Tech 3. His next race is the Grand Prix of Italy on Sunday, June 1 at Mugello.

The colorful Edwards will compete in the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Sept. 12-14 at IMS along with fellow American MotoGP stars Nicky Hayden and John Hopkins, and MotoGP superstars Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.

I know you're never happy with anything but a win. But it had to be a good feeling to return to the podium at Le Mans. Any particular setup changes, or was it just further understanding of the changes the team made at Shanghai?

The big change that we did in China seemed to help a lot at a track where it (bike) wasn't working, obviously. We know Le Mans. The bike seems to work pretty good, usually. We went there to Le Mans, and we had one bike set up with our standard setup that we started the year with, and then the other bike was a China setup. Went out, did a few laps on both and made a pretty quick decision that we needed to stay on the China setting. That was it, really. As far as setup, it's pretty strange. What worked at China, a really high-speed track, it worked good at Le Mans, as well. We might have fiddled around a little bit with the fork spring, but that was pretty much it. As far as geometry-wise, that's pretty much the same as China.

Is it safe to say that 2007 setup has been officially retired?

I don't know. I'm not going to say that was a 2007 setup. It was more of a testing setup, '08 model. I don't know if it's been officially retired. We might have to break it out somewhere along the line. As far as settings-wise, they're miles apart. If we're struggling with this setting, we might have to revert to the old setting.

During your career, both in Superbikes and MotoGP, is that the most radical change you have made to a setup in such a short period of time?

Pretty much, yeah. It's a bit strange. The first thing is, whenever you make a change, you have to adapt. You have to adapt your riding style. You have to basically take what the bike can give you, and you have to make the best out of it. And sometimes trying that transformation in your own riding style, you get lost along the way sometimes. It was pretty easy, really. Once I went out and adapted, it took me a few laps in China, once I got it sorted it, it probably was the biggest change, yeah, maybe in my career, from one point to the next, and bam, here you go.

Was there anything you had to do physically to adapt to the new setup?

Just kind of getting a feel for it. This setting we have now is a little more nervous, a little more twitchy. But at least it seems to constantly be searching for traction, and that's a big bonus.

Do you like a bike that moves around? Sometimes they say loose is fast.

I don't know. My style is different. My style has always been whenever I've looked like I'm going my slowest, it's usually when I'm breaking lap record after lap record. I don't know what it is. The only person I even know of (with a similar style) is Eddie Lawson. Eddie Lawson, back in the day, he was just so smooth. When he looked like he was going slow, he was going fast. Not that I've tried to emulate that, back in the day, David Bailey was a big motocrosser, and he was always so smooth. So I always tried to emulate him whenever I was motocrossing, and maybe that's just transferred over into road racing. I don't necessarily like it twitchy. It's twitchy to me, but to the public eye it might look smooth as can be.

At Le Mans, you said Valentino Rossi looked like he was on a rocket ship when he passed you. When he gets in a zone like this, is it equipment or confidence? You were his teammate. What gets this guy into a zone like this?

That is the magic question, isn't it? I don't know. I've seen guys do some crazy stuff. Le Mans was nothing. Le Mans was just typical Valentino, if you ask me. I've seen him qualify 13th on the grid and make a big change to the bike overnight or in between warm-up and the race that he's never even tried before, and go out and win the race. The guy has stopped impressing me a long time ago because he just seems to do it all the time. But what is it? I don't know what it is. You could say he's getting in the zone, but I think he's maybe permanently stuck there.

Is adaptability one of Rossi's strongest traits? It sounds like he doesn't need much time to adjust.

As far as adaptable riders out there on the track, he is probably the most. He can ride it like a 250, and then a couple of corners he might be riding it like an old 500. It just depends on his line. He's just trying to extract the most out of it. Throughout the lap he might have different styles, and then the next lap he might have a different style. He's very good at adapting to different situations.

What's the difference for you between racing for the factory Yamaha team last year and the satellite Tech 3 Yamaha team this year?

Basically, it's a lot more relaxed. That is a little part of it, not being on the factory team, maybe. But as well, I had a lot to do with developing this bike this year. Valentino couldn't test because he was changing to Bridgestones. Michelin wouldn't let him test. The fact that I had quite a big hand in developing the chassis and what we have now, I think that's the big difference in why I'm riding so good. I pretty much chose pieces that I like. And at the end of the day, Lorenzo liked them, as well; Toseland liked them, as well. In years past, Valentino's developed a bike that worked really good for him. I don't know if it worked good for everyone else. We're going back to this adaptability thing, if you notice the first couple of races, he wasn't so happy. Now he's starting to come on strong. I think he's just adapting to the bike we have.

At this point in your career, and with your personality, the satellite team suits you better, doesn't it?

Yeah, I think so. On this particular Yamaha team, you're exactly right. You've got some big names, Valentino and Lorenzo. There's barely enough room for me on the satellite team with those guys. It's good. Where I'm at this year on that team, it's a perfect situation.

It had to be gratifying to stand on the podium at Le Mans and know one, it was an all-Yamaha podium, and two, you beat a lot of factory riders to get there.

I've always gone good at Le Mans. So realistically, I expected to win there. I was turning faster times than anybody all weekend, and once I got in the race, just couldn't get enough "oomph." I couldn't get close enough to outbrake anybody. All of these guys were world champs at some point or another. I expected to win there, really. That was probably the most disappointing third place I've ever had in my life. Even though I rode good and felt good, once I got past those guys late in the race and trying to catch Jorge …

Describe Mugello. How do you get a quick lap at that place?

That is something I'm not completely sure of yet. I've never had a great result there. I don't really know why. It's not for lack of effort. Maybe it's bike setup. I said last year maybe I don't understand this place. I seem to hit every bump on the track. I'm not dodging anything. I don't know. I think growing up there definitely helps … it's probably like Laguna, when those guys came over here. We had an advantage because we grew up there. We knew where all the big bumps were. I don't know. Racing there since 2003, and I don't seem to have learned much one weekend a year. But this weekend, we're looking to change that, for sure. We've got our bike working really good, so we're looking to change that.


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