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

Thursday, June 19, 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 Great Britain on Sunday, June 22 at Castle Donington, England.

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 Catalunya Grand Prix that your bike encountered a mysterious problem almost right after the start. Did you find the problem?

I don't know, man. It's really hard to explain. I didn't feel I had enough traction yet (Dani) Pedrosa used a harder tire than me, and he just checked out. I was scratching my head the first couple of laps and just kind of put up with it the rest of the race. I rode good and rode hard and hung with those guys for a while, and then the (rear) fell out of it. From that point on, it was survival. After like 15 laps, I couldn't do anything. I couldn't keep pace.

Do you think maybe it was an isolated problem, due to track conditions instead of the bike?

At the end of the day, that same tire that I was on, I did do like a (1:) 43.2 on in practice, which was good. But in the race, I did 42.9, three- or four-tenths faster. I was patting myself on the back just to do that, much less Pedrosa was doing a 42.3. That was just ridiculous. He's barely done low 43's all practice, and then he goes and just chops a second off his time for the race. So I don't know. There was something in the air going on that day. I don't know; he woke up on the right side of the bed, that's for sure.

Still, you must be happy with a top five considering you weren't happy with your bike.

Yeah, my results there have never been that great, same as Mugello. I was fast in pretty much all of the sessions, the top five, so I expected to be fighting for a podium. At the end of the day, I finished in the top five, so I can't complain.

Donington, on the other hand, that's one of your favorites. You've won twice there in World Superbike. What suits you so well about Donington?

I don't know what it is about Donington. It's always been kind of like a second home, I guess. I used to keep my motor home here in England. Still do, really. I have all kinds of friends and family that come to see the race. Apart from Australia, it's always been like my second or third home. I just kind of get along good with the track, as well. I always feel comfortable at Donington.

Describe a lap around Donington. How do you set up the bike there? Is it a compromise track?

What track's not a compromise? I haven't seen one yet. Donington, one of the most important things is braking. You have hard braking and trail braking in. That's where you can do a lot of passing, on trail braking in and get up underneath somebody. You set up a lot for the braking, but at the same time it's two completely different circuits. You've got the fast, new, sweeping, down Craner Curves, Old Hairpin and all that fast part. And then you've got what we call the Bus Stop Chicane and the hairpins there. They're two completely different circuits in one. It really is a pain in the ass to set it up to get it as good as you can get it.

This is a big race for your teammate, James Toseland, as it's his first MotoGP race at home. Does that have any effect on you when there's a lot more attention and a lot more media surrounding the team?

I don't know. I don't know how it's going to affect me. I wouldn't imagine it would affect me any different. I've been looking to this race from before we even had the first race in Qatar; I've been looking forward to Donington. Knowing that I have a good bike, I have a good package, knowing at Donington I'm going to have the best engine we could have, this was one event I'm looking forward to winning. I've been looking forward to this one, to Assen, to Laguna, Indy. There have been some tracks that I've been looking forward to, and this is the second one. Le Mans was the first one.

Fellow Texan Ben Spies is making his MotoGP debut this weekend. What advice do you have for him?

I did have a conversation with him a few days ago. He called me up. We talk on the phone quite regularly. He asked: "What do you think? Is it a good idea or a bad idea to do it?" He might have had some reservations about coming to a track that he doesn't know on a bike he doesn't know. That's understandable. He wants to show his potential right off the bat and show these guys what he's made of. And maybe to come to a new track with a new bike and everything is not the ideal conditions for him, but I think he'll do well. I told him: "Just jump in. Jump in it. It's not a matter if you're at Laguna or at Indy. These guys just need to look at you. They need to see you. They need to see what it's all about." That's why it was so hard to go from World Superbike to Grand Prix because they just weren't watching you every weekend. They were just hearing from a friend of a friend, maybe catching races on replay. It's just difficult to get in here unless you're a 125 or 250 rider; they get to watch you every week. That's the only thing I could tell Ben: "Just jump in, come on. All they want to do is watch you."

Do you think Ben feels like this weekend is a tryout, even though he already has the wild-card rides lined up at Laguna and Indy? Does he feel like, 'Man this is my shot; I've got to do it?'

Honestly, that's true. This is kind of his shot to really show his ability to adapt. He's been on the 1000 (Superbike) for a couple of years now. And at the end of the day, any good Grand Prix rider always has the ability to adapt to certain conditions or tires or rain or snow, sleet, sunshine, whatever it might be. All these guys out here are good at adapting pretty quickly. You look at James (Toseland). He's at new tracks pretty much all year. For him (Spies) to show up here, OK, it is a new bike, new tires, but let's just see what happens. I don't think there's any pressure on Ben. He just needs to go out and ride like he knows how.

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Thursday, June 19, 2008

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