Thursday, October 23, 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 Valencia on Sunday, Oct. 26 at the Ricardo Tormo circuit, the last race of the 2008 season.

The colorful Edwards competed in the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Sept. 14 at IMS along with fellow American stars Nicky Hayden, John Hopkins and Ben Spies, and MotoGP superstars Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa. 

Another solid run at Sepang. Another top-10 finish. Your impressions of the weekend? 

It was a good weekend. We basically went back to an old setting that we know works, from the beginning of the year. We tried a setting at Assen, the front end with a large offset. It worked good at Assen, so we thought we actually hit something good. We thought this was the magic setting. Well, we kept using it and never went back to what we know works. We ended up doing that. And to make a long story short, it was just awesome (in Friday practice in Malaysia after returning to old, trusted setup). It felt great. First, we went out in practice, and it was good. 

When you were fastest Friday at Malaysia, was the feeling one of "Man, I knew this was the right decision!" or "Damn, why didn't we return to this setting six races ago?" 

It was probably more of the latter one. I know I know how to ride a motorcycle. The last few races, it's been like, "Man, I feel like I'm riding my ass off," but it just wasn't working. We've come back to what we know works, and that's probably one of the first things we should have done. You know, it just goes to prove it's never a perfect science. You're always chasing a compromise or trying to find a perfect setting to make it easier. We just made our own mistake, really. You live and you learn, as they say. 

Did you keep the same setup for Sunday that you had for Friday? 

Friday, we were testing a couple tires. Let's say we had four tires that were the same construction on the rear, and then we had one tire that was a softer construction that was supposedly going to be a race tire. And I went out at the end on it, and immediately did unbelievable. Those tires just felt so good; the tires were great. We ended up doing the fastest time on Friday with that tire. Well, I put that tire back on Saturday morning, and after about 12 laps total, counting the laps we did on Friday, it just shredded. It was just completely shredded after about 12 laps. Once it shreds, then you're about four seconds off the pace. What looked good on Friday all of the sudden it was kind of a downer on Saturday. We can't use that tire. So we had to go back to the harder construction. The best I ran on it all weekend was a 2: (0)8 or a 2: (0)9, and that's what we did in the race, 2:8, 2:9. That's as quick as you could go on the tire. 

You said after the race that rear grip was an issue. Was that because you had to use the harder compound rear tire for durability? 

Yeah, exactly. It's a fine balance. You've got to get your balanced right. You try to get your bike balanced right for a mediocre. What's right with good tires is not right with used tires. And what's right with used tires is not right with new tires. It's a fine compromise to find something that works with both. Problem in the race, basically everything felt good. I was doing the fastest times I'd done all weekend. Everybody was riding so hard. Once the rear grip went away, you lose that push. And once you lose that push, that goes on to the front. Then the front rides high. And then you're losing the front left and right, and it's a struggle after that. 

When the titles are settled for the season and most of the deals are done for the next season, do you notice a different riding style or tactics in races? Do guys go for broke more often? 

I agree with that 100 percent. Some riders may start off the year, maybe not conservative but just getting a feel for it. At the end of the day, when it's easy and you're winning, that's when you know it's working. If you're struggling your ass off and finishing 10^th, then you know you've got problems for the year. You've got to sort it out. Once the title is all sorted out and everybody is moving on to the next year, it's go for broke, I would say. It's the last impression you get to leave before the start of the next year. 

We're starting to hear more rumors about the new tire rule for 2009 trickle out. Twenty tires per weekend, two dry compounds, one wet compound per race. Have you heard any of that yet? 

I've heard a little bit of it. I heard about the 20 tires, and I guess there's some kind of lottery system they're talking about developing so nobody gets any specials. They just pick the tires basically out of a lottery or whatever. I'm happy with it. Everybody has the same thing. I don't think anybody can sit here and say, "That's not good enough." Well, why isn't it good enough if everybody has the same? 

I know one guy who might be happy with it. He has No. 46 on his bike. 

Yeah. Honestly, this whole tire rule, everything leads itself to Valentino in a way. Anyways, he is who he is. He's got a million World Championships under his belt. He's got the thing working really good to where, man, I don't know if there's anybody at the moment that can beat him. I don't think there will be. He'll probably win the next five championships easily if he wanted to. As much as I want to say it's going to even things out, at the same time, they're going to look at him to do a lot of the development. 

You know Valentino well; you've raced against him for the last six years. He has dabbled in F1 testing and has done World Rally events. Do you ever see a point in the next couple of years where he will get bored with MotoGP and go to something else, especially if he dominates? He's only 29. 

Good question. I don't know, man. I think if he could actually go test a Formula One car and be instantly breaking a lap record, I think he might do it. But that whole process of having to give up the information you have already and start new and fresh and learning, I don't know if he's wanting to do that. I don't know. Let's see. I don't know that side of him, what he's thinking in his head. What I do know, it's a no. I don't think he'll go race Formula One. I don't think he'll race rally. I think he'll still right here. 

Talk about Valencia. What kind of setup do you need there? I know there are tight and twisty bits, but there's also a very long straightaway. 

This place is a lot of momentum around here. You've got a couple of little hairpins or whatever, but it's just being smooth. This place, you can't get too jerky. Just being smooth and carrying lots of momentum and trying not to destroy the left side of the tire. Everything here is just about left, left, left, with a couple of rights thrown in. You've just got to take care of that, really. 

Are you sticking with the same setup philosophy as Sepang, sticking with the older, proven setup? 

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. We'll go with it. It's something that I've ridden three-and-a-half years on. I've had some of my best results on it at the beginning of the year, so we're just going to stay with that. We know it works. 

It's the last race of the year. What's the atmosphere like? You read stories about the F1 drivers partying all night after the race at a bar called the Log Cabin at Suzuka when the F1 season ended there. Anything crazy like that in Valencia? 

I've been to the Log Cabin a few times myself, usually after the eight-hour race there. (Laughter) Here, it's funny. To me, I think everybody, it's one of the biggest races of the year because it's the last race. Everybody is excited, I think, about the race. But everybody is excited that this is the last one, too. It's those two things, you know. It's a good race, and this is the last race.

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