Tornado Warning: Grand Prix of Germany

By Paul Kelly
redbullindianapolisgp.com
Thursday, July 10, 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 Tech 3 Yamaha. His next race is the Grand Prix of Germany on Sunday, July 13 at Sachsenring.

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.

Where do we start with your third-place finish at Assen? You were last in the field after stopping to avoid Valentino Rossi after his first-lap crash, and you ended up third. Was that one of the craziest races of your life?

I don't really know how to explain it other than we were going good all weekend. I was top three all weekend. Stoner was pretty much out front of everybody. He was kind of making us look silly all weekend. And then me and Valentino seemed to be right there together and then everybody else behind us. I knew I had a podium pace going anyways. Qualifying, we had a couple of small issues. I didn't qualify really as good as I wanted. Sixth, we were still second row. And yeah, man, start the race, and all hell broke loose. Got behind Valentino, I was kind of setting him and de Puniet up to kind of not to really run around the outside of them, but I was trying to get some momentum going to get on that straightaway. As I set up to kind of run around the outside, the next thing you know, Valentino crashed and took de Puniet out. When I think about it or look back at it, I probably could have tucked it in, but I would have missed Valentino's head by maybe a millimeter or I might have it it, I don't know. It was just one of those things where it's not worth … when in doubt, just roll with it instead of taking somebody else's health in your own hands. So I just thought, "Ah, I'll just stand it up and let this all dissipate and then get back on it." Well, I didn't plan on actually stopping and letting the whole field go by, which is what happened.

What goes through your mind when you realize are dead last after starting sixth? Panic?

That was pretty easy, really: I can tell you exactly what went through my mind. As soon as I got it back up and got it in gear, I saw a podium position fly out the window. Podium positions are good. You've got to think about 18 races. You've got 18 chances, but at the same time I've done three (podiums) a year, four a year, whatever it might be, so each one I get, I was pretty happy. So that flies out the window, and it was just an instant thought. I thought, "Well, screw it, I'll just put in the gravel trap or push as hard as I can for as long as I can." That's all I can do. I ride a lot better when I'm pissed off, anyways. Always seemed to have. I was like: "Screw it. Chuck it into the gravel or let's see how far we can get up."

Are you more relaxed in that situation because there's only one way to go - up - or is it anger that fuels you?

I don't know if I could answer that, really. I think it's more of a determination that sets in, maybe. I'm not real sure if it's anger or what it is. You just kind of say, "Screw it, that's it," and everything else goes away and just focus 100 percent on getting as far up the field as you can. I pushed as hard as I could. The last three or four laps, we started to get some movement in the rear. It was getting hard to get out of some corners, which is normal with abusing the tire as much as I was. I just kind of held station, just catching a little bit to Nicky. And that good, old last little chicane that hit me a couple of years ago decided to (do) payback time, I guess.

Could it had been any more fitting, or karma, as you said, that Nicky Hayden ran out of gas in the same spot where you lost the lead to him in 2006? Did that cross your mind when you got to that point?

Yeah, dude, I don't know how to explain it. You can say 100 different things. At the end of the day, he just ran out of fuel. That's the reason. But I don't know, man …

He could have run out of fuel anywhere else on the racetrack, but he just so happened to do it there.

Yeah, you're right. You're absolutely right. So I don't know how folks want to look at it, but I can tell you I was not sad for him at all. I was about really, "Take that." (Laughter)

At what point in the race after that first-lap incident did you realize: "Hey, this is working. This might happen."

You've got to look at our field. It was a bit thinned out without Hopper, and then de Puniet and Valentino crashing, and then the very next corner, de Angelis flipped himself at the end of the backstraight. So the field was already thin anyways. And next thing you know, I looked and I was 10th, and I saw a whole bunch of people right in front of me. So I thought, "OK." Then I was in seventh, and I saw three guys in front of me, and I was like: "Whoa, 6-5-4. I'll be in fourth if I pass these three guys." And I still had 15 laps to go. I thought this would be a piece of cake. And again, I'd be halfway happy with a fourth after the miserable first lap. So I got up past those guys. And basically where it happened, at one time I was seven or eight seconds behind Nicky. Then I pulled that down to five seconds, then down to four seconds and then down to three seconds. And I was sitting there and I was watching, and I'm trying to do the math. Half-second to three-quarters of a second faster I'm going a lap. I've got five laps left, four laps left, and I could see him and Pedrosa both coming back. Honestly, with probably about seven laps to go, I thought I was going to be able to catch him. That's when Nicky started upping his pace a little bit to put some pressure on Pedrosa. My pace went a little bit slower, trying to fight with some tires that I abused pretty much all race. I don't know, man. It was just a weird race. Once I got into fourth, I was like: "All right, cool. I've done just about all I can do because those guys were so far in front." But I just kept pushing anyways.

Moving to Sachsenring. That's a track that poses some unique challenges. You're on the left side of that tire for a long time per lap, aren't you?

Sachsenring is a real (tough place) as far as a racetrack. I'd rather be out there on a 125 shifter kart or on a scooter than on a Grand Prix bike. You're on the side for so long, and it's so tight in some places. There are maybe two or three good corners that you could qualify for Grand Prix racing, but the other 10, you're just like, "Why do we have 800cc motorcycles going around this thing?" But at the end of the day, we've all got to ride the same thing. It's just a little Mickey Mouse go-kart track, really.

What do you do with your bike setup to compensate? There's really no other track like it, is there? Is it just a one-off as far as setup?

As far as setup around there, any time you're leaned over for such a long time like that, you've got to have pretty good balance. You've got to make sure you're balanced pretty well as far as keeping rear traction but at the same time still turning. OK, that's always a compromise. You're never going to have a bike that turns as well as you want but that has the best traction you want. I wouldn't really say it's much different than most places. Everywhere is a compromise. We deal with this problem every weekend. Tire conservation comes into play probably more than any other track since you're on that left side of the tire that long.

Braking isn't a big deal, though, because the only place you're on them really hard is at the bottom of the hill, right?

Yeah, you've got Turn 1 and the bottom of the hill. Braking is not an issue there (Sachsenring). It's not a track that you really have to set up for braking, although it is a couple of good passing points.

What has Casey Stoner found in the last few races? It seems like Ducati was lost for a while after Qatar, but he's definitely back on the pace.

Casey always has ridden well; we know that. I don't think anything has changed in his riding ability. He hasn't flipped a switch and just decided, "I'm going to ride this much harder." When I saw him on the podium at Assen, I looked over, and I was like, "Dude, what happened?" I hadn't really talked to him since Donington. I said: "What happened? Y'all must have found something in the Monday test after Barcelona." And he kind of gave me a wink and looked at me and goes, "Yeah, we found something that just kind of brought the whole package together." He didn't say it, necessarily, but it's surely electronic, something to do with electronics. And man, he just gets along with it. He goes out, first session, and just lays down the law. Pretty much everybody else, he's just making us look stupid sometimes. I think he did (1:) 36.0 on Friday around Assen, and 36.8 or something was Valentino, and I was 36.9. He had eight-tenths over everybody, which is just ridiculous. That just doesn't happen in Grand Prix racing, normally. He's found something, but he's riding really well, as well. He's riding absolutely fantastic.


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