Tornado Warning: Grand Prix Of Catalunya :: Official site of the Red Bull Indianapolis GP

Thursday, June 5, 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 Catalunya on Sunday, June 8 at Barcelona, Spain.

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.

You said after the Italian Grand Prix that you were happier with fifth at Mugello than with your third place at Le Mans. Is that because you finally got a result at a track that has been tough for you?

Yeah, pretty much. That's about what happened. Just going there, my past history. That's always been a bogey track. To walk out of there with a top five, I was pretty pleased with that. Nobody likes getting fifth, but at the end of the day, Le Mans, I really expected to win it, so that was kind of a letdown. But Mugello, I was pretty happy with fifth.

What were the changes you made at Mugello to help you get that solid finish?

Mugello, we just basically went with what we had at Le Mans, China. But yeah, a couple of little tiny changes just to make it right. But it was nothing drastic as far as the bike. It was pretty much very similar.

When you go to a track like Mugello that has been tough for you in the past, how much of the barrier you must hurdle is mental?

I'd say a lot of it is. I remember last year thinking, "Maybe I just don't jell with that track or something," and I was kind of getting down on myself. Rolled up this year and talked with my crew chief, Garry (Reinders), and he's like, "All right, what's past is past, and now it's time to change history." Pretty much, that's the way we looked at it.

You're a third of the way through the season. Analyze your progress so far.

I definitely could have used a podium, should have got one, at Jerez. Crashing there wasn't never in the cards. It never is, is it? Am I satisfied? I don't know. Yeah, I guess, a little bit. At China, I should have had a podium there, as well. There's a couple of things you look back at every season, especially being a third of the way through, it's like, "Man, if I'd have done this or hadn't done that?" It's always, "What if? What if?" We're starting to get a good rhythm now.

What's the next step for improvement?

Everything seems to be working pretty good. Michelin seems to be working good. The bike, as well. Don't go off on a tangent somewhere if you've got a problem or an issue somewhere, just a little minor thing. We don't have to reinvent the wheel; we've got the bike working pretty good. Little improvements. We don't have to do anything drastic.

You're in a stretch of the season where you have four races in five weeks. Do you change your routine at all to compensate for that busy schedule?

Not really. The thing is you're on the bike so much, you're getting all your workout. You add the days together and the amount of days you're gone, you're getting your workout. You're just recovering. Time in between, you're just spending it recovering.

Do you like being this busy? Some guys like the work; some like the rest between races.

I like it how it is. You've got a couple of races back to back, and then you get a weekend off, and then you've got a couple more back to back. If it was up to me, I'd run the whole season like that, personally. I kind of like having the races, bam, bam, bam. If it's long, drawn out, you might have three weekends off and then you go back to racing, and it's like, "Whew, man, is this the first race or the 10th race?"

So you'd rather race than test?

Yeah. You've still got to do the testing, but I like to race. I like the back-to-back stuff. I always have.

Next stop is Barcelona. The Spanish people are nuts about bikes. What's the atmosphere at that track compared to Jerez?

Yeah, it's pretty crazy. The Catalans, they're pretty hardcore about their motorcycle racing. It's always a good crowd when you race in Spain.

Barcelona has a reputation as being a dull Formula One track. How does it rate for MotoGP?

It's cool. It's a great track for motorcycles. It's awesome.

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Thursday, June 5, 2008

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