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Colin Edwards

Colin Edwards, a Houston native nicknamed “The Texas Tornado,” will offer candid insight about his performance, competitors and life in the exciting world of MotoGP motorcycle racing before every event in 2010 in “Tornado Warning.” It’s the third consecutive season in which Edwards will offer this exclusive insight for www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com.

Two-time World Superbike champion Edwards, 36, is in his eighth year of MotoGP competition, riding this season for Monster Yamaha Tech 3. Edwards and the rest of the MotoGP riders will continue the season Sunday, Oct. 10 at the Grand Prix of Malaysia at the Sepang Circuit (6 p.m. ET, Oct. 10, SPEED).

The colorful Edwards competed in the third annual Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 27-29 at IMS along with fellow American MotoGP stars Nicky Hayden and Ben Spies, and MotoGP superstars Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.

Motegi, that was more like it. What was the big change, the big turnaround?

Let’s see: What was it? Motegi, last year, I should have had a good result there last year if we wouldn’t have had the rain map on the bike in the dry race, which is just a mistake that was  … Shit happens, I guess. We went there, and we just remembered all the problems we had last year. And one of our main problems was just wheelie, just wheelie everywhere. It’s hard to go forward when the front wheel just keeps coming in the air. We pretty much just kind of moved both axles backward, front and rear, we just moved them back. Just enough. Not a whole bunch. Get a little more weight distribution over the front of the bike. Man, that seemed all the difference. I felt so good, so confident. I’ve been running into this front-end confidence pretty much all year. It feels like when I let off the brakes, all the weight just transfers to the rear and I don’t have any front feel. And now we’re putting a little more weight on the front, and now the front seems to stay planted. I feel like I can actually turn the bike and kind of pivot the rear around. It worked out pretty good.

Is that something you have tried before this year or was it something new?

We have never tried it ever. We’re rear, from countershaft to rear axle, we’re longer than we’ve ever been, with Bridgestones. We used to run it quite a bit longer with Michelins, but we had to shorten it up a lot with Bridgestones to make the tire work in the right temperature range and pressure range that it needs to work. We never moved it back, because it’s always, let’s just say, a baseline length that we’ve used. My crew chief had an idea, hey, Guy said: “We’ve got a big problem with wheelie here so let’s just try something a little bit different. It should give you a little more front-end confidence at the same time, and wheelie should be better.” And it all worked out.

We’re talking millimeters here, right?

We’re talking half a centimeter. Maybe not even that. This bike is real finicky. You change a couple of mils on this bike, and it turns into a completely different motorcycle. We didn’t go 2 inches or anything like that. Just small changes. At the same time, I think what probably helped at Motegi is we ran around most of Friday and all day Saturday morning on the hard rear. It was looking real bleak, to be honest with you. Ben and I were both struggling, and Valentino was struggling, as well, with grip. Once we got into the qualifying session and we put the soft tire on and do some lap times, it was like it was a completely different motorcycle. Everything just worked. It just worked a lot better. Put a good qualifying time in, strung a few good laps together, and it was like, “Huh, OK, this is how it’s supposed to be.” It all started working out then.

You have said a few times this year that it’s pretty meaningless to ride at the limit for 10^th or 12^th place. What was it like to ride at your maximum again for a meaningful result, fifth place? Was there a moment when you thought: “This is cool. This is why I race motorcycles?”

That moment kind of hit me on Saturday whenever we put the soft tires back in to go qualifying, and I went, “This feels so easy.” It felt comfortable; it felt like I can push. I don’t feel like I’m gathering it all back together and struggling and limping around. I felt like I could actually push. That’s the difference. When you feel like you can push and you can fight and you can take some risks knowing that you can cut back tight or square it off or run some different lines and play around a little bit, that’s where confidence comes, as well. You’re just comfortable with the bike. It’s just a comfort level. If you don’t have confidence in the front or the rear or whatever it, it’s real hard to push when you’ve got your sphincter overload going constantly.

Did the ferocity of the battle between Valentino and Jorge for third surprise you at all? Were you surprised that the rivalry finally boiled over into a “Screw you. No, screw you!” battle on the track?

Well, you have to look at the whole picture. I’ve known Valentino for many years, and obviously I’m good friends with Jorge, as well. I think Jorge is the only one up to date … you could say Casey, too, but Jorge is more of a wall. If Valentino is trying to play some games with him and trying to jack with him, Jorge just doesn’t really put up with it or doesn’t care what he does. Jorge goes out and does his own thing. But when you look at Valentino and you look at that race at Motegi, that wasn’t about last year or this year or that particular moment. That whole thing is taking place because of next year, really. He’s trying to dig some screws in early for next year and get this new program he’s got going on over at the red camp. He’s just planting that seed; that’s all he’s doing.

I think it worked, because Jorge was complaining after the race. It seems like Rossi got into his head a little bit.

Yeah, that might have been the first time he’s got in there a little bit. At the end of the day, it’s motorcycle racing. Shit, I’m not going to say I run against a bunch of primadonnas. But there are a couple of out there. I don’t really think Jorge is one of them, or Valentino. But that kind of attitude to where somebody rubs you or touches you, it’s like, “Oh, what are you doing?” Shit, where I come from, you can knock somebody off the track and pretty much get away with it. It’s just a different mentality. Hell, rubbin’s racin’.

Odd question, but here goes. You’re one of the few guys now in MotoGP who doesn’t remove his inside leg from the bike and stick it out into the air, almost as a tripod, when in high-speed corners. Why?

Well, first off: I’m 36 years old. There’s something in the saying, “Can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” If I tried to pull my leg off, I might f*ckin’ fall over. It’s just something I’ve never done. It’s not in my repertoire, my bag of tricks. The reality of it helping you actually do something, I don’t see it. I’ve not gone to the school of sticking your leg out while braking. Motocross. But hell, I don’t want the bike moving around as much as motocross.

It seems like nobody started doing it until Valentino started doing it two or three years ago. I don’t recall seeing anyone doing it on the 990s.

There was a time a while back, Schwantz would do it occasionally. I don’t think he even knew he did it. It was more of a reaction, and that reaction usually is when you get that sphincter overload and you’re braking too deep and you’re trying to haul the thing down. That’s how Valentino started out as. Every time he would do it, he did it the whole time I was on the team, so ’05, ’06, ’07. He would do it occasionally. But it would be once or twice, three times a race, maybe. It was that: “Oh, shit, I’m in too deep. What am I going to do here?” That thing would get stopped, and he would put his leg back up. It was more of a reaction. And then everybody caught on to it. And he started doing it more and more. I don’t know what the benefit is. But maybe it works. I don’t know.

Malaysia. What does the weather forecast look like?

I can pretty much guarantee that it will rain every day here, which is generally what happens. It usually doesn’t happen until 4 or 5 o’clock. Afternoon thunderstorms roll in. And being that they’ve got the race delayed for European time and all that, I think we’re racing an hour later, maybe two. I’m not sure. We might get some thunderstorms. Whatever. Here you never know. Hit or miss. It’s either going to be blazing hot or pissing down rain.

Do you think your bike will be set up better for the long straights of Malaysia coming off tight corners because you have the wheelie problem under control?

It should be better. The wheelie is not a real big problem here. There are a couple of corners. But you’re linking a hairpin to another corner. You’re always linking corners here. Whereas Motegi is more start-stop, down the short chute, turn, down another short chute. And that’s where you’re grabbing a handful, and a lot of wheelies occur. Whereas here you’re usually going from a right to a left or a left to a right. You’re constantly flowing instead of just standing straight up and got the thing wheelie-ing. It’s not really that big of a problem here.

Colin Edwards leans into a corner at Aragon

Colin Edwards, a Houston native nicknamed “The Texas Tornado,” will offer candid insight about his performance, competitors and life in the exciting world of MotoGP motorcycle racing before every event in 2010 in “Tornado Warning.” It’s the third consecutive season in which Edwards will offer this exclusive insight for www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com.

Two-time World Superbike champion Edwards, 36, is in his eighth year of MotoGP competition, riding this season for Monster Yamaha Tech 3. Edwards and the rest of the MotoGP riders will continue the season Sunday, Sept. 19 at the Grand Prix of Aragon at Motorland Aragon (8 a.m. ET, Sept. 19, SPEED).

The colorful Edwards competed in the third annual Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 27-29 at IMS along with fellow American MotoGP stars Nicky Hayden and Ben Spies, and MotoGP superstars Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.

Haven’t talked with you since before Indy. How are you doing?

I’m doing all right, man. Just hanging out, man. Motorhome. We’re in today. We’re in the middle of B.F.E. over here. It took almost three hours to get here from Barcelona airport. Just hanging out.

Have you ever been to this Aragon circuit before? Is it all new to you?

It’s all new to everybody. It’s a brand-new circuit. I think Valentino came here and tested a couple days ago on an R1. But for the rest of us, everybody, it’s brand new.

Have you walked the circuit or rode a bike around it to learn the characteristics?

Yeah, I did two laps today on a bicycle. It’s definitely got some elevation changes and some couple tight corners and straights. It looks pretty fun, to be honest with you. There’s definitely some technical aspects to it. It’s got tons of damn run-off, which sometimes is good, sometimes is bad. Good for safety, but for learning … I generally like to know where I can and can’t go.

Does it remind you of any track you’ve rode before?

Oh, man, just going around it on a bicycle, I can’t say. There’s definitely some elevation changes such as like Laguna or Brno. There’s definitely some elevation, uphill, downhill, but no real long climbs. It’s all just kind of in a short area. You’re going uphill, and the next thing you know, you’re going downhill. It’s pretty cool.

How is the bike running? You had tire problems on Race Day at Indy, but Misano seemed better.

It’s still not the fastest bike out there, but we had it set up pretty good. We started really getting the handle on the setup at Brno. Obviously, Indy was not the best race on the planet for us. Misano was OK. We got out there, but I just couldn’t stay with those guys that were up front. Here there are definitely going to be some long, uphill climbs … Well, not long, but some short uphills that lead on to the straightaways. So I don’t know; we’ll wait and see.

When you come to a new circuit for everyone, can that level the playing field? Or is everyone’s engineering expertise so good that the top riders prevail anyways?

The top guys are still going to be the top guys. Ben (Spies) rode from me from Barcelona to here, so we had three hours of just B.S.-ing in the car. I was thinking the other day, if you could say anybody had a slight advantage right off the bat, it would probably would be Ben for the fact that he’s spent the last year and a half, basically every track he goes to, he’s got his brain set in that mode that he has to learn, has to learn the track. He’s never been to some of these tracks still. The rest of us, we’ve been to all of these tracks. We just show up. You really don’t have to walk around the track or ride around the track before you get on it. You just know it. You know where the brake markers are, whereas his brain is just wired for the moment where it just has to learn everything rapidly. It’s been so long since we’ve had to do that. I would say it seems like a slight advantage at the moment.

Is Ben the fifth alien now? Has he entered that class yet?

I don’t know. That’s hard to say. I would like to say 100 percent, absolutely, yes, but at the moment I don’t think he’s on the equipment at the moment to be able to make that step. I think once he gets in the factory team next year, I think that next step will be there, for sure.

But what he’s doing with what he has is pretty mind-boggling, don’t you think? It seems every week he’s going quicker and quicker, and you know the bike he’s on.

Oh, yeah, absolutely. I say definitely he’s young and hungry, and he’s riding the shit out of it. I think to be classified in that fifth alien group, I mean, he is, he’s riding good. I would like to see him on a bit better bike to really know that he can beat those guys regularly.

Any news or update on what you’re doing next year?

Still not 100 percent, but I think we should figure it out this weekend. Obviously, everybody would like me to stay here. I’d like to stay here. We just got a couple things we’ve got to tidy up. I think we should know something this weekend.

It’s been a tough couple of weeks for everyone in motorcycle racing, especially you. How have you been holding up, and how do you carry on through tough times like this?

I mean, you know, hell, it’s a … (exhale) … shit, dude, it’s just jacked up. They say time heals all wounds, which it does. But at the end of the day, he was just a friend. He wasn’t family, or anything. But going back from early days, I’ve had quite a few guys that passed away doing exactly this. Starting with Larry Schwarzbach back in ’92 and Nagai, my teammate in ’95. Hell, I saw him; I was right behind him when that happened. You got Michael Paquay in, I think, ’98 or ’99, I think, was a teammate of mine at Castrol Honda, passed away at Monza. Kato. I’ve had a few guys I’ve seen or I’ve been close to, and it’s just kind of the business. It doesn’t happen that often. It puts you on the ground and makes you realize that … I mean, hell, I could step out of the bus here and trip and bust my head into the next motorhome, and if I hit it right, lights out, so. Life is life. Sometimes it sucks, but at the end of the day, time’s up, time’s up. Shit, man, I don’t know how else to put it.

The mentality of racers, it’s a risk you accept, and you do it because you love it. Does something like this ever cause you to step back and analyze your commitment to the game, your love for the sport?

I think it’s never affected me to the point to where you step back and go: “Whoa, man, this is so dangerous. This is crazy. I don’t even know why we’re doing this.” You don’t say that. It’s just not your mentality. Hell, for the last 33 years, however long I’ve been riding motorcycles, you know the risk. You don’t ever step back and go: “Wow, this is crazy. Why am I doing this?” You just say, “OK.” Died doing what he loved to do. You can’t ask any more than that. At least the guys that passed away, they didn’t grow old and die from f*cking prostate cancer and some screwed-up shit and suffer. They were doing what they wanted to do. So you just have to look at it that way.

Colin Edwards at IMS

Colin Edwards, a Houston native nicknamed “The Texas Tornado,” will offer candid insight about his performance, competitors and life in the exciting world of MotoGP motorcycle racing before every event in 2010 in “Tornado Warning.” It’s the third consecutive season in which Edwards will offer this exclusive insight for www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com.

Two-time World Superbike champion Edwards, 36, is in his eighth year of MotoGP competition, riding this season for Monster Yamaha Tech 3. Edwards and the rest of the MotoGP riders will continue the season Sunday, Aug. 29 at the Red Bull Indianapolis GP at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (3 p.m. ET, Aug. 29, SPEED).

The colorful Edwards will compete in the third annual Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 27-29 at IMS along with fellow American MotoGP stars Nicky Hayden and Ben Spies, and MotoGP superstars Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.

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Colin Edwards

Colin Edwards, a Houston native nicknamed “The Texas Tornado,” will offer candid insight about his performance, competitors and life in the exciting world of MotoGP motorcycle racing before every event in 2010 in “Tornado Warning.” It’s the third consecutive season in which Edwards will offer this exclusive insight for www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com.

Two-time World Superbike champion Edwards, 36, is in his eighth year of MotoGP competition, riding this season for Monster Yamaha Tech 3. Edwards and the rest of the MotoGP riders will continue the season Sunday, Aug. 15 at the Grand Prix of the Czech Republic at Brno (8 a.m. ET, Aug. 15, SPEED).

The colorful Edwards will compete in the third annual Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 27-29 at IMS along with fellow American MotoGP stars Nicky Hayden and Ben Spies, and MotoGP superstars Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.

Laguna seemed like a better weekend than most lately. If that’s true, what did you change to make it better?

Yeah, it was a little bit better. Whatever new, special stuff we were supposed to have, I mean, we did. We had something, but I don’t know if was … The bike felt a little bit stronger. I wouldn’t say 100 percent. Everything else was exactly the same. Engine or electronics or something in there felt a little bit stronger than what it was.

[More]

Colin Edwards at the Sachsenring

Colin Edwards, a Houston native nicknamed “The Texas Tornado,” will offer candid insight about his performance, competitors and life in the exciting world of MotoGP motorcycle racing before every event in 2010 in “Tornado Warning.” It’s the third consecutive season in which Edwards will offer this exclusive insight for www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com.

Two-time World Superbike champion Edwards, 36, is in his eighth year of MotoGP competition, riding this season for Monster Yamaha Tech 3. Edwards and the rest of the MotoGP riders will continue the season Sunday, July 25 at the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix at Laguna Seca (5 p.m. ET, July 25, SPEED).

The colorful Edwards will compete in the third annual Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 27-29 at IMS along with fellow American MotoGP stars Nicky Hayden and Ben Spies, and MotoGP superstars Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.

Settings-wise, how much did you change at the Sachsenring? I read in the team release that you changed quite a bit after Friday.

Dude, I’ll tell you how retarded this weekend was. We started with a setting, went out first session, I think we were fourth or fifth. It looked pretty good. We were going pretty well. So after that, I thought we needed more front end. Needs to turn more. Just needs to turn more. So we go out and change it Saturday. Sunday morning comes, and we try something different. We put all the weight on the front; we put all the weight on the back. Dude, honestly, we did so much bullsh*t this weekend just trying to get it to work. Come race time, we looked at the lap times that everybody had kind of set down, and nothing was easy. Anyways, it didn’t really matter. Every second we put on the bike was a second off the pace. So we sat down after warmup, and I said, “Why don’t we put it back to what we came with?” So whatever I had done warmup on, what I had done qualifying on, what I had done … throw it out the window and just go with the setting we started with. It doesn’t matter. It does not matter what we … I followed Ben whenever he came by me, and his bike looks like a bigger piece of sh*t than mine, to be honest with you. It does not turn whatsoever. He’s running so far wide, trying to get the thing to hook back in.

Is that what happened with your crash? Were you running it in so deep to try and pick up time in the corners that it wouldn’t turn?

My crash was basically … I was fighting for 15^th, man. I don’t race motorcycles to fight for 15^th. I’m sorry, I’m out, I’m finished. Give me a plane home. That is not what I do; that’s not what I’ve ever done. The last few years, I’ve hated fighting for fourth or fifth, but it’s just the way it’s gone about. But the reality of it is, whenever I crashed, hell, I was just pushing. When you lose five, six, seven bike lengths off the corner, you’ve got to make it up somewhere. So I was just trying. I just outbraked myself. I ran a little bit wide. I was just probably a yard off line. But I was just being stubborn because I couldn’t afford to run wide. I was already in 15^th or some bullsh*t. So I couldn’t afford to run wide and lose a little bit of the draft down the straight. So I thought: “I know it’s coming back. I know it’s coming back.” And then, boom. So.

The announcers on the telecast from the Sachsenring kept talking about updates for the Tech 3 bikes for Laguna. What updates are planned for you and Ben there?

That’s funny, dude. I don’t know. It’s a little wishy-washy story at the moment, but from what I’ve heard , we’re getting an update for Laguna. That is the story I heard: We made an ask, a request to the king, let’s say, the boss in Japan. We’ve got Monster, we got Motul, who else do we got? We got American sponsors. De Walt. We need to come up with something that we can show these guys why they’ve got their name on our team. Can we please have something? Well, at the end of the day, he’s pretty much saying: “Maybe something. We could do something.” But the story I heard is that I had the engine in at Sachsenring, which I couldn’t feel a difference. That’s just the story I heard. So I’m hoping I’m wrong. I’m hoping that’s not accurate. But we’ll see.

With all that’s happening now on the team, is racing at Laguna any kind of advantage? Does home cooking help when you’re struggling like this?

Dude, we’re so far off the pace right now, it’s just disgusting. I’m qualifying faster than I did last year with exactly the same bike and slower engines. It’s the same tires. Everything is the same except the engine is slower. I’m qualifying faster, I’m riding better than I’ve ever ridden. Ben is riding the damn wheels off the thing, as well. And we just have two, three, four more Hondas up there, a couple of more Ducatis. Instead of finishing fourth or five, we’re finishing eighth, 12^th or whatever it is. And Laguna, I would like to say, yeah, we’re going to have an advantage. But the reality of Laguna is they totally f*cked it up for us because they changed the track. They took all the technical difficulty out of it. They scraped off a bunch of the bumps and resurfaced it and pulled Turn 1 down. And after the Corkscrew, they fixed all that to where we don’t have to … I don’t know. It’s more European now.

How do you keep your head up?

I don’t know, man. I’ve been trying. I’m trying real hard. At the moment, my motivation factor is running slim. I don’t want to end my career being pissed off all the time. I don’t know. I’m searching for something. Generally, the last couple of years I’ve said, “Just be happy with yourself, be happy that you rode the wheels off of it.” Usually my result was around fifth, sixth, whatever it might have been, fourth, whatever. An occasional podium here and there. But all I could really do was be happy with myself and the way I rode. I’m riding my ass off. Whatever Honda and Ducati and all these guys are coming up with and giving everybody everything, we’re just stuck in the wind.

Were you surprised at all with how well Valentino rode last weekend at the Sachsenring in his first race back after suffering a broken leg?

Oh, no. No, not Valentino. Hell, when he tested that R1 a couple of days before that, he was hauling ass. That doesn’t surprise me. That’s Valentino. I’ve never bet against him. Never have. Never will.

Colin Edwards at Barcelona

Colin Edwards, a Houston native nicknamed “The Texas Tornado,” will offer candid insight about his performance, competitors and life in the exciting world of MotoGP motorcycle racing before every event in 2010 in “Tornado Warning.” It’s the third consecutive season in which Edwards will offer this exclusive insight for www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com.

Two-time World Superbike champion Edwards, 36, is in his eighth year of MotoGP competition, riding this season for Monster Yamaha Tech 3. Edwards and the rest of the MotoGP riders will continue the season Sunday, July 18 at the Grand Prix of Germany (8 a.m. ET, July 18, SPEED).

The colorful Edwards will compete in the third annual Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 27-29 at IMS along with fellow American MotoGP stars Nicky Hayden and Ben Spies, and MotoGP superstars Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.

Barcelona seems like another weekend in which you rode your butt off, but the results didn’t show how well you rode. Correct?

Barcelona is one of the weekends where … Golly, I went out there and we played around with the bike, tried to get it right, tried to get it right. I think I finished sixth there last year. So we’ve got the same bike, basically, with a slower engine. We’ve been struggling to get this thing set up and feeling heavy. So we thought, “Well, let’s have one bike similar to Assen and one bike like we had last year. Last year was the best result we had in Barcelona, so let’s run it. And we did, and I pretty much matched everything I did last year but went faster by like a tenth, two-tenths each session. Everything felt the same. Same tires, same bike, same leathers, same everything, same rider, just a year old. So everything was basically the same as last year. Only problem was, that wasn’t good enough. All the guys running out there up front were better. Just going faster. We did a (1:) 43.1 last year in qualifying. I did 43.0 this year. I came in and I had one tire left, but I was: “I can’t go any faster. I know I can’t. I hit everything I wanted to hit. I can’t go any faster.” And I didn’t. Not trying to defeat myself, but at the same time, Ben, I think had 43.0, the same time as I did, and he was right behind me. And then he went out and put a blinder in, and was, I don’t know, 2 ½-tenths or three-tenths quicker. And that put him fifth instead of 11^th or 10^th, anyways. I came in, I was all pissed off. I threw my helmet, smashed it. I haven’t done that in years, man. I think ’99 was the last time I threw a helmet. Getting older and wiser. But hell, sometimes you’ve got to let some tension out. I was like: “Man, sorry, guys. That was immature of me.” And Herve was like: “No. I like to see that, your aggression. Pissed off.” The short story: It wasn’t working that good. It was working exactly the same as it did last year, just not good enough. So we made a decision Saturday night to kind of let’s keep one bike what we know and let’s pretty much kind of go what Valentino had last year. It’s completely different front geometry than what I was running at the time. Move the front wheel back a little bit, get a little more weight on the front. A little bit stiffer in the rear spring. A pretty big change, considering. Went out in the warm-up and we pulled the tire off one bike and put it on that one, and I was two-, maybe three-tenths quicker consistently. I only got four laps on each bike. But each lap, I was faster on the new setup, on Valentino’s setup from last year. So we thought, “Let’s run that.” Not having any time on it, not knowing what’s going to happen, we only did four laps on it. It felt great. We started the race, everything was going pretty good. And once everything got hot and heated up, and as soon as I caught up to Ben, then it just started plowing. The front just started rolling over. Instead of turning, it was just going straight. I was just sitting on my knee, I thought, “Well, I can do this for another lap and a half and throw it in the gravel.” But at the end of the day, I’m in frickin’ ninth and 10^th, anyways. I’m risking for what? That’s kind of my problem right now. I know that’s my problem. The issue I’m having is that I don’t mind putting my nuts on the chopping block if I’ve got a podium, a top five or we got a good showing. But when you’ve got to do that to finish ninth, I’m out. To me, that’s just bullsh*t.

Yeah, especially when you’ve been doing it this long.

I’ve been doing it this long. And you know, part of thing is, too, I’m not trying to bag on anybody, but De Puniet, I know what level he is. I know what kind of rider he is. A couple of guys, not saying anything bad about Bautista or Capirossi, either, but they’ve been struggling all year. But when you can those guys are just up there and going and De Puniet is qualifying on the front row, this is just a big joke. It’s just a joke.

How do you keep your spirits up? How do you show up at Sachsenring, which I know isn’t one of your favorite tracks at all, and think it’s going to be better?

I’m trying to figure that one out right now. (Laughter). I’m trying to figure out that dilemma right now. I’ve had some long conversations with Mr. Ben Spies. He’s riding incredible. He is riding really good. He’s riding awesome. But at the same time, he has to. In conversations we’ve had, he’s like, “I never … ” He was so pissed off. I think he was more pissed off on the weekend than I was, honestly, because he knew that he rode his ass off. Every lap was a qualifying lap, and he’s still 21 seconds behind the lead. That doesn’t settle well when you’re putting that much effort in. And that’s really the problem he was pissed off about. But anyways, I don’t know what we do. We just keep on moving. Hopefully Yamaha will bring something for us.

It seemed like you could lose two-tenths last year and not drop six or seven spots. What has made the grid so tight this year?

Honda, really. Honda has just been doling out new sh*t to everybody. Swingarms and chassis, everybody’s got good engines. That’s really quite not like Honda whatsoever the last few years, but obviously I think they’ve probably been taking note of what Yamaha has been doing over the last few years. The satellite bike seems like they’ve probably been the best satellite bike. The Yamaha. And Honda, probably they put a little more effort this year in supplying all these guys with some good stuff.

Speaking of Honda, it probably wasn’t news to you when Casey Stoner signed with them for 2011. What are your thoughts on that move, possibly as a third factory bike?

Well, I think the writing was on the wall when Livio Suppo went over there. I know Livio always has liked Casey. I don’t know if that’s the sole reason for him going over there. But it will be interesting. I’m really excited about next year, honestly. We still got the rest of this year to go, but looking like Valentino’s going to Ducati and Casey over to Honda. There’s been a little bit of a shakeup going on. It’s what the sport needs.

Hell, yeah. You look at everybody going nuts over LeBron James going to Miami, and I put on our Facebook page this morning that you’ve got the top four riders in MotoGP as free agents this year.

Absolutely. I think it will be cool. I don’t know if I’ll be involved with it. But it’s definitely going to be a good year for the shakeup.

Has this tough run of form this year caused you to think about next year differently than maybe you would have two months ago?

Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. It seemed like there I thought we were just having a bad run of races, and it would all turn around and everything was going to be cool. I know. You can ask my teammate. He knows, as well. I’m riding, he’s riding, we’re riding the best we’ve ever ridden. I’m riding the best I’ve ever ridden in my life. I feel so good, so confident on the bike. But God, I’m taking so much more risks than I normally. I’m not a risk kind of … I’m a calculated guy, you know? I get the bike set up. I get it going good. I ride it to the limit to where I know I’m going to put in the best result I can, and if that’s second, third, fifth, 10^th, whatever it is, 99 percent of the time I’m happy with it because I know I’ve rode my ass off. Problem is now, yeah, the results aren’t showing how hard you’re riding, and that’s really the deal.

Speaking of risk, Valentino is coming back at Sachsenring. That’s 40-something days after he snapped his leg in half. Don’t you think that’s kind of a risk? Why would you do that?

Well, I know why. Let’s just pretend, hypothetically. OK, I’m going to put it to you this way: Let’s pretend, hypothetically, that hypothetically in his contract there might be a clause that if you miss a race or two or three in a row, then your salary might hypothetically get cut in half or a quarter. You know what I’m saying?

Hypothetically, of course.

Hypothetically, of course. So I’m assuming, hypothetically, that he probably has a clause in his contract that if he misses more than X amount of races in a row, then his pay might be chopped up. Something like that. I’m assuming, hypothetically. (Laughter). And honestly, I don’t know what’s he’s making, but let’s just pretend he’s making $9 million. You know, half a million dollars a race, you start chopping that up, and that’s a bunch of money that’s going out the window.

Did you see the last-lap accident in the Moto2 race between Morales and Kenny Noyes at Barcelona?

Oh, crap, yeah, I saw it. Geez, I was sitting there watching it live. Woof. This is experience, too, and I’m not saying anything bad about him, anyone or whatever, as well, but he’s (Morales) not going to make that pass. It’s impossible. The finish line is right there; you’re on a 600. You’re just not going to make the pass. But the guy’s got a do-or-die spirit, and he was convinced that he was going to make the pass. But it didn’t work out.

Wild-card rider, too. He’s trying to put on a good show in front of the home fans.

Yeah, absolutely. He took a lot of risks, and it didn’t work out. But I’m glad the guy’s OK. It looked gnarly at the time.

Colin Edwards at Assen

Colin Edwards, a Houston native nicknamed “The Texas Tornado,” will offer candid insight about his performance, competitors and life in the exciting world of MotoGP motorcycle racing before every event in 2010 in “Tornado Warning.” It’s the third consecutive season in which Edwards will offer this exclusive insight for www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com.

Two-time World Superbike champion Edwards, 36, is in his eighth year of MotoGP competition, riding this season for Monster Yamaha Tech 3. Edwards and the rest of the MotoGP riders will continue the season July 4 at the Grand Prix of Catalunya (8 a.m. ET, July 4, SPEED).

The colorful Edwards will compete in the third annual Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 27-29 at IMS along with fellow American MotoGP stars Nicky Hayden and Ben Spies, and MotoGP superstars Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.

It seems like you were happier with the bike at Assen, but the results didn’t show it. Is that accurate?

Yeah, that’s pretty accurate. Assen is always a bit of a strange track. You’ve got guys who have got it going on, guys who don’t have it going on. You get spread out. It’s not one of those tracks where you’ve got a whole lot of battling going on the entire race. I was faster than I was last year, by about two seconds. They changed the track a little bit. But overall, I was faster based on what the leaders were doing. I was closer to the leaders. But instead of being fourth, I was eighth. So I just had a couple more Hondas and a Ducati and stuff up in front of me. I don’t know. I was riding my ass off. I was smelling Nicky’s farts the whole time. I could just kind of hang on with everything I had.

In auto racing, you have a spotter in your ear telling you lap times. You don’t have that in motorcycle racing. How do you know when you’re a bit quicker or slower in a lap? Do you just feel it?

It’s weird, you know. You just have a feel for it. You know, Turn 4, you might have spun up a little bit too much, or Turn 7, you might have got the apex absolutely correct. But generally, you can come off the last corner and pretty much know to the tenth of what lap time you think you’re about to do. You’ll come off that chicane (at Assen), and a lot times be in helmet, and I’ll be like, “OK, that’s probably about a 35.8.” You come across 35.8. Then the next lap you might have a little mistake here, a mistake there, “Ah, it’s a 36.0, I think.” 36.0. You don’t have anybody telling you that, but generally you know what you’re doing.

Does that ability come with experience, or did you have that sense for time when you were 18?

No, it’s just because I’m so damn smart (laughter). No, honestly, it’s something that you develop. When you’re 18, you don’t know. You’re just frickin’ flying by the seat of your pants, trying to make up every half-tenth, tenth or whatever you can make up. I think the older you get, the more experienced you get. And you know, in general. I think the older you get, the more experienced you get. In Malaysia, it’s over a two-minute lap time. But you can pretty much hit it on the head every lap. You know about what you’re going to do.

What’s the next step for the bike? What are going to work on going into Barcelona?

The main thing I want to be able to do is I want to be able to let go. I want to be able to let go of the front brake. That’s generally, in years’ past, from way back, it just seems like the earlier you can let off the brake and roll through the corner with lots of momentum, the faster your lap time is going to be. I just feel like I have to hold on. I’m holding onto the front brake to keep it loaded, to keep it so it will turn in. I feel like that if I let off the front brake, it’s going to pop up and run a bit wide. So that’s the main thing we’ve got to work on and get worked out here at Barcelona.

Barcelona has two long straights. Does that put even more pressure on you guys to fix this turning problem due to the issues you have with power?

We are going to be the slowest bikes. That’s pretty much a given on that front straightaway speed trap. There’s nothing we can do about that. That’s my conversation with Herve (Poncharal) and the big bosses here. I can’t change, after the corner until the entrance to the next corner, I can’t change that speed. It is always going to be the same. The only way I can possibly make up any lap time is being faster in the corners and generating more corner speed. And the more corner speed you try and generate, then the harder you’re asking the chassis to work, and a lot more things are starting to happening. So we’re just trying to figure all that out.

Do you finally feel like you’re in a rhythm this season with this European road trip?

Yeah, I guess. I guess you do. This being the third week in a row we’re coming up on, it definitely feels like we’re in back into the swing of things. With the results that I’ve been having as of lately, it’s so hard to be upset because I feel like I’m riding so good. Results aren’t showing it. But Ben’s doing an absolutely phenomenal job, to get on the podium at Silverstone and even this last weekend, he finished fourth. He’s riding great. Generally when the results get better, then you feel like the season has started. I’m waiting it out at the moment.

I read an interview at Road Racer X about a ranch that you’re building. Tell me about that.

I’ve always wanted to somehow give back, to kids’ schools, to somehow try to teach kids what I know or what I’ve learned. Try to pass on words of wisdom, or whatever that might be. I’ve got some land near where I live. Pretty much just put a whole package thing together. And instead of going corporate and deciding to do it that route, I’m just going to build it all on my own. We’re basically covering a football field with a roof, 30 feet high, a big metal structure, metal roof. I can’t have a bunch of Europeans come over and say, “Sorry, man. We’re rained out. Come back next week.” That’s kind of where our catch-all is. But we’ve got other tracks, too. We’ve got, I don’t know, probably four or five tracks on the property. We’ve got 5 acres of paintball in the back. We’ve got a 500-yard shooting range on the left side. It’s not just going to be kids. It’s going to be adults. We’re going to have all kinds of camps. Adults, under 21s, over 40, military camps for military guys. We’re going to do kids’ camps during the summer. We might even do an all-girls’ camp if they don’t want to come hang out with a bunch of smelly men. I don’t know. We’re open to all kinds of stuff.

When will this be ready?

It’s under construction at the moment. I’d like to do a couple of dry runs, let’s say, October, November, with some local guys, local bike shops and stuff, just to get some feedback. But basically we’re building it out by the shop. It’s going to sleep about 30 people. Our plan is to pick everybody up from the airport. You don’t do the rental car. You don’t do the hotel. You don’t need to worry about food. It’s an all-inclusive package. You sign up, come out to the ranch, and we take care of you. Food, barbecue, campfire stories. You can’t ride motorcycles for three days straight, so we’ve got kind of all these other activities we’ve got planned, as well. Keep it fun.

I know who the chief storyteller is going to be, right?

Oh, yeah. Right. I’ve got a story or two up my sleeve. At the same time, I’m planning on actually three or four good instructors that are down South. Some good guys that I’ve had my eye on that are also good riders, good road racers at the same time. Our camp is basically going to be dirt bikes with slick tires on the back. Kind of what Kenny Roberts kind of come up with years ago. Without that experience, I wouldn’t be where I’m at. I learned a lot of my fundamentals doing just that, learning bike control and feel. And that’s what we’re shooting for.

Colin Edwards at Silverstone

Colin Edwards, a Houston native nicknamed “The Texas Tornado,” will offer candid insight about his performance, competitors and life in the exciting world of MotoGP motorcycle racing before every event in 2010 in “Tornado Warning.” It’s the third consecutive season in which Edwards will offer this exclusive insight for www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com.

Two-time World Superbike champion Edwards, 36, is in his eighth year of MotoGP competition, riding this season for Monster Yamaha Tech 3. Edwards and the rest of the MotoGP riders will continue the season June 26 at the TT Assen (9:30 a.m. ET, June 26, SPEED).

The colorful Edwards will compete in the third annual Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 27-29 at IMS along with fellow American MotoGP stars Nicky Hayden and Ben Spies, and MotoGP superstars Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.

First of all, how are you feeling? Feeling better physically?

Oh, yeah, I’m good. There was never a problem with me, obviously. I had some tests, some blood work, I had a bunch of things done, and everything came back negative. You’re perfectly fine. Yeah, I’m fine. I knew I was fine. It was just a matter of: “Why am I getting arm pump? Why do I feel out of breath?” I just wanted to go get checked up anyways just to get checked up.

You still felt the arm pump at Silverstone, though?

Yeah. We’re on to something basically that the degree angle that we’re using on the forks, basically we found that on Michelins a few years back that it seems to work good with me. Problem being is that the Bridgestones are quite a bit flatter, not as triangular as the Mich used to be. The tire is a lot heavier. Whenever I used to run steeper angle, it used to get a lot of chatter. So we’ve never even gone back to what Valentino uses because I always had chatter with that. We just haven’t been back there. Now that I feel like I’m getting arm pump, we’re obviously riding harder, going faster, pushing the limits more. That agility is one thing that definitely comes into play. I just feel like I don’t have it. I feel like if I let go of the bike, it continue turning forever. And having to pull the thing up is one thing that Jorge complained about on the weekend, as well. So we’ve got to make some changes, but we’ll make them for Assen.

Did the bumps at Silverstone make your arm pump worse?

No, not really. What the bumps do is, Ben and I were last and second-to-last on the speed charts, again. We’re getting used to that. But what it creates is when your bike is slower, your engine is not the fastest thing out there, from point A to point B in a straight line, you cannot change that. It’s always the same. The only way you can try to get the lap time that you need to get, which is what everybody else is doing, is basically in the corners. Whenever it’s bumpy like it is at Silverstone, it’s a bit more difficult. You have to know what’s coming up. You know there’s a big bump coming up. You have to brace for it. You have to carry speed before it, after it, the whole 9 yards to try to link it all together. Yeah, it makes it more difficult, sure, when it’s bumpy like that.

You like Assen. I know the new track isn’t the same as the old track, but is the circuit better suited for your bike than Silverstone considering the problems you’re having?

Assen is not really a monster horsepower type track. It’s more of a linking all the corners together. I left Silverstone still kind of complaining that the bike being a little heavy. We’re running a little more angle than the rest of the guys on the Yamaha. We know last year Jorge and I had some wear on our front tire at Assen. He finished second; I finished fourth. Our front tires didn’t look that great. Our bikes were set up kind of similar. Valentino’s was set up different than ours, and his front tire was great. So taking that into account, we’re going to have the same tire we had last year, I told the guys, “Just give me the exact same settings.” When I start the weekend, I want to go out on exactly what Valentino had last year and just adapt to it and see how we get rolling. We had another setup, as well, we could use. A little bit of a variation of that, as well.

Speaking of Jorge, you said two weeks ago that it would be interesting to see how he would react to Valentino being away from the team. Seems like he made a pretty big statement at Silverstone.

Yeah, he did that. He was fast all weekend. Even though we don’t have the same chassis or the same engine, it’s roughly the same type of family. And I was pretty impressed: He was fast all weekend. I would say he reacted perfect. And to get back to the Yamaha guys, Ben, honestly, what Ben did yesterday was just, for me, was just retarded. I know what bike he’s on. I know how slow it is. I know what chassis he’s on. I know how the bike is set up. But for him to actually get on podium, I think he’s a lot better, personally, I think he’s a lot better than everybody thinks he is. Everybody thinks he’s a good rider, but to do what he did is quite remarkable in my eyes.

So we’ve got the fifth alien in the making with Ben?

Could be. Could be. I spend a lot of time with Ben. When we’re changing into our leathers and we’re sitting there and bullsh*tting and talking and farting all over one another, whatever. We’re in there giggling and having a good time. At the same time, whenever one rider says to another, “It’s like what are we doing here? We’ve got the slowest damn bikes out here. So how do you get motivated?” Whenever you throw these kinds of words around, it’s just demoralizing to a point. But racers is racers. You point your helmet on, you go out there, you give it 110 percent. You crash, you crash. If you come in good, you come in good. Whatever. You just ride your ass off. But for Ben to have the attitude that we had Saturday and Sunday morning and then for him to go out and do what he did, I was actually very impressed.

Any more word about you and Valentino’s factory bike? (Note: This interview was conducted two days before Yamaha announced test rider Wataru Yoshikawa as Rossi’s replacement.)

Oh, I’m out. I’m out on that one. That was never really a good idea. My pockets might have got a little fatter. That probably would have been the only positive about it. The reality of it is it sounded good for Fiat Yamaha. It did not sound good for Tech 3 Yamaha, Monster Yamaha team. At the end of the day, I had some discussions with Herve (Poncharal, Tech 3 team boss). I wasn’t real comfortable doing it; he wasn’t comfortable doing it. Yamaha factory, of course, the Japanese side of it, they didn’t care. But the European side of it was kind of wanting to get me on the bike. Obviously, they want to win the triple crown: Most points for the team, for the manufacturer and their rider winning the championship. And you put a test rider on, that hurts your chances right there. At the end of the day, Herve sold the team to DeWalt and to Monster and all these guys that sponsor with me and Ben as the riders. And it’s kind of hard to say, “OK, I’m sorry, but we’re going to take one of those riders away.” It wasn’t going to work out.

Colin Edwards at Mugello

Colin Edwards, a Houston native nicknamed “The Texas Tornado,” will offer candid insight about his performance, competitors and life in the exciting world of MotoGP motorcycle racing before every event in 2010 in “Tornado Warning.” It’s the third consecutive season in which Edwards will offer this exclusive insight for www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com.

Two-time World Superbike champion Edwards, 36, is in his eighth year of MotoGP competition, riding this season for Monster Yamaha Tech 3. Edwards and the rest of the MotoGP riders will continue the season June 20 at the Grand Prix of Great Britain (8 a.m. ET, June 20, SPEED).

The colorful Edwards will compete in the third annual Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 27-29 at IMS along with fellow American MotoGP stars Nicky Hayden and Ben Spies, and MotoGP superstars Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo. This interview was conducted June 10.

Weird weekend at Mugello for you. You started strong Friday and Saturday, and Sunday was rough. What happened Sunday?

Well, I wouldn’t say I started out strong. I would say we actually fixed the bike. We got the bike back to last year’s spec. Seating position, foot pegs, handlebars, you know, all that kind of stuff. Felt really comfortable. When I say I felt really comfortable, I had good front-end feeling, good confidence. The only problem was I did about four laps on Friday, four flying laps. I came in and my arm was locked up. My right arm was like steel. It was just fricking so pumped up. Problems grabbing the front brake. I come in, and I don’t know what the hell is going on, but man, this is crazy. So the bike just feels like it weighs a ton. It feels like you’re driving a train with damn bicycle handlebars just trying to steer the thing. Mugello is typical to be a little more physically demanding. You’ve got chicane after chicane, fast, and your gyro effect counts for a lot. So we didn’t really mess with the bike too much. It felt really good. The qualifying was good. The bike was really good … for about three or four laps. I was just kind of holding in the back of my mind that: “Ah, in the race, it will be different. Get out there, get the adrenaline flowing, and it will be fine. It would all be good.” Well, it didn’t work out that way.

Have you ever had arm pump before?

I’ve only had arm pump whenever I was climbing a lot, like in 2000, 2001. When we were doing a lot of rock climbing, then I started getting some arm pump. And naturally, I stopped climbing. I don’t need that. I don’t know. I never get arm pump on a road-racing bike. Even on a motocross bike, I don’t get arm pump. It’s a bit strange. Man, once we got into the race, it always happens: You get in the race, and you start losing a bit of your mojo. You dig deep, you bring it back up, you push for another few more laps, you start feeling a little drained, you dig deeper. You always find that little bit extra. Whereas there was just nothing there. I dug deep. I was feeling like I was about to pass out on the bike. I just couldn’t get any air. That was the main thing: I wasn’t getting any oxygen.

Was that because of the arm pump? It was killing you so bad?

Once, I had some injections, some anti-inflammatories. They call it mezotheraphy. It’s little pinpricks into your arm that kind of inject some anti-inflammatories. The arm wasn’t that much of a problem in the race. It was just lack of oxygen. I couldn’t dig down. I couldn’t grab anything. I went to grab some more and get going, and it was just going slower and slower. Come out of the last chicane, and I’ve passed out before in a MiG (jeft) flight before, and I knew what it feels like. Coming out of that last chicane after about seven or eight laps, and everything kind of tunneled up and it got kind of a little gray on the outside, and I thought, “Nuh-uh.” I ran it a little bit wide, and after that I was like: “Y’all just go on. I don’t really need to pass out while I’m doing 200 mile an hour.”

What’s going on?

Not to leave you hanging, but the doctor said “Well, you might be going into an adult form of mild asthma, which obviously would explain the lack of oxygen and not getting any air. Do you cough when you get in the cold air? Yeah. Do you cough if you overexert yourself? Yeah. But I think everybody kind of does that. He’s thinking it might be a mild form of asthma, and I’m not getting enough oxygen into my blood. But then he kind of got thinking again, and he goes, “Maybe you fly so much that you might have a blood clot up around your lung,” which is not good to have a blood clot for anything. So he immediately sent me over to the CAT scan. Did a full CAT scan on my chest. They injected the dye into me to make sure that the blood was flowing right, no major blood clots. I still don’t know the results of any of it, but they wouldn’t have released me if I had a blood clot. They did come back and say: “You’re free to go. The doctor will get back with you.” It’s weird. I feel good; I just feel short of breath. I don’t know what the hell is going on.

You look at Valentino’s situation. He knows what’s wrong with him – a bone was sticking through his leg. With you, it’s a mystery of “What the hell is going on here?”

Dude, there’s nobody more curious than me. Hell, it’s something I’ve never had to deal with. I’ve always been fit. I got blessed with some good genes and never really had to work too hard to keep weight down. I’ve always been in good shape. I don’t know. Roles have kind of reversed a little bit. When I’m home, I’m working. You got the kids, running around, getting the boat ready, bringing the kids to school, taking my boy out to ride, getting gas. I’m always doing something. Then when I come to the race, I get to the track, and it’s like, “Whew.” I lay on the couch in the motorhome for 16 hours per day. It’s just kind of download and relax. It’s weird. It’s just kind of like role reversal.

What was the buzz around the paddock at Mugello when everyone learned Valentino was seriously hurt?

Definitely a lot of people talking about it. What is this going to the championship? What is this going to do to the attendance? Immediately, the first thing you heard is ticket sales are down already for Silverstone, camping sites for Germany, whatever. I don’t know if people make sh*t up or if they’ve got real physical proof of what’s going on. Obviously, Valentino is the biggest draw for our championship. Can the championship survive without him? Sure. Of course it can. It always has. It’s gone on for eons and eons, and somebody has got hurt. In Valentino’s case, racing a motorcycle is ticking time bomb. It really is. Sooner or later, you’re going to get hurt. We all know that. We all put up with the risk. Valentino, fortunately, through his entire career seems to have had really amazing luck with that. He hasn’t spent any down time hurt. He’s had to ride through some aches and pains and bruises and all that stuff. Hell, what did he have 200-something starts …

Yeah, I don’t think he’s ever missed a race, has he?

I don’t think he has since (his) 125 (career) started, or something ridiculous. You look at everybody on the grid: We’ve all been there. I had to sit out pretty much all of ’97, being broke up. Everybody’s been there at one point or another, except him. I’m not saying he was due or not due. But this is the sh*t that happens. This is motorcycle racing.

Now that Vale isn’t going to be on the grid for a few races, do you think Dani Pedrosa can catch Jorge Lorenzo, or is Jorge too far gone?

It will be interesting. I think Jorge, he feeds and thrives a lot off having a rivalry in his own team. Hell, at Jerez and Le Mans, he pretty much showed how dominant he was, chasing Valentino down and passing him both races, pulling away. The more interesting thing will be how’s Jorge going to be. Pedrosa, he wants to beat Jorge worse than anything. It doesn’t matter if Valentino is there or not. But I think it will be curious to see how Jorge reacts.

The $1 million question: Who’s going to get that factory ride of Valentino’s?

They can run these next two races, Silverstone and Assen. The contract the teams have with Dorna and all that, they can leave that spot vacant for two races. Since he actually entered and rode at Mugello, that doesn’t count as one. He actually was an entry. So then you’ve got these next two races, they can leave that spot vacant. But then at Barcelona, they’re going to have to have somebody on the bike. Through my team, with Herve (Poncharal), he came to talk to me about it. There’s a lot of buzz going around that if somebody was to replace Valentino, they’d want me to come over and ride on that team. At the same time, my thoughts are kind of, “Why would I want to do that?” I’ve got a good team. I like my crew chief. I like the Team Texas thing we have going on. We have a good relationship, all our sponsors, DeWalt, Monster, all of those guys we have a good relationship with. I don’t really want to feel like I’m turning my back on them to go ride this factory bike for a few races. Because at the end of the day, when Valentino is ready, it’s probably not even a thank you. It’s like, “OK, f*ck off and get back on the other team.”

Do you have a choice in the situation?

At the moment, Herve, myself and everybody involved in the team, we do as much as we can for Yamaha. We always have. Even though at the moment, I’m paid by Herve. I’m not paid by Yamaha anymore, we always do what we can to help out Yamaha. If it’s explained at the end of the day, “Hey, this is what we REALLY got to have you, there’s no other option, we can’t do it,” well, then we’re going to have to do something. Until then, I’m just going with my first instinct is I like where I’m at. I’m having a good time doing what I do. First and foremost, I need to figure out that I’m good, that it was just maybe a Mugello fluke, a little virus or dehydration or whatever the hell it was. We need to make sure that it was just a Mugello thing and nothing else.

Did you ever race at Silverstone in World Superbike?

Yeah. I think I’m the only guy that’s ever raced there.

But the track has changed.

Yeah, it’s changed. Over half of it is what it used to be. That last little part they’ve obviously changed. I definitely feel like I’m going in there knowing a little bit more where I’m going than the next guy.

Colin Edwards, a Houston native nicknamed “The Texas Tornado,” will offer candid insight about his performance, competitors and life in the exciting world of MotoGP motorcycle racing before every event in 2010 in “Tornado Warning.” It’s the third consecutive season in which Edwards will offer this exclusive insight for www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com.

Two-time World Superbike champion Edwards, 36, is in his eighth year of MotoGP competition, riding this season for Monster Yamaha Tech 3. Edwards and the rest of the MotoGP riders will continue the season May 23 at the Grand Prix of France (8 a.m. ET, May 23, SPEED).

The colorful Edwards will compete in the third annual Red Bull Indianapolis GP on Aug. 27-29 at IMS along with fellow American MotoGP stars Nicky Hayden and Ben Spies, and MotoGP superstars Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.

Jerez. You’ve probably already forgotten about it. It just seemed right off the hop that it wasn’t going to be.

We pretty much picked up at Jerez where we left off at Qatar. We’ve got a couple of things that are different on the bike than last year. Whatever we raced in Qatar and Jerez, we’ve got a different pad, scooting our weight back a little bit. We did some things in the middle of last year that we haven’t ridden at these tracks with it like that. So it just seemed like it started off bad both weekends. Nothing really good. Jerez, man, was just a struggle. It was just a struggle. Hell, on the warm-up lap I was going out, come around Turn 5 or Turn 6 to the back straight, and it just lit up. The warm-up lap. It lit up. And I’m like, “That’s normally not a good sign.” You should have pretty good traction for seven, eight, nine laps. Then you start playing around with that stuff. I was like, “Man, I don’t know.” Our bike, I have an inherent problem. Whenever I struggle, I have no rear grip, so the rear doesn’t hold grip to push on to the front tire. It just feels like you go in, the rear’s sliding all over, and then the front’s just popped up high. You can’t get any weight on it. We didn’t mess around with that. Then we found it. We found something on Monday, which we always do.

That’s never been a good track for you, anyways, right?

It’s never been a track that I’ve ever really considered I can’t wait to go to Jerez because I get along so good with the bike. I got a podium there in ’07, and Valentino and Dani were sitting right in front of me, and we ended up getting a podium. Strange thing about that race is the bike felt completely wrong, but we managed to get by. I don’t know. We’ve got something in our bag there. We found a little trick on Monday. This inherent problem has always been there. Whenever I have a problem, it seems she sits down on the rear, front pops up, doesn’t turn, too much weight on the rear, no traction. That sort of thing.

How much does the lack of testing during the season hurt you when you have a problem like this? You were lucky you had a test right after this race.

It used to be, hell, we tested all the time in years past. You might have a little problem or something might wiggle its way into your setup, but you don’t know what’s going on. You go out and test and figure it out. But now, it’s that much more detrimental finding a decent setting. Which we thought we had, but we just had one little small little thing that we needed to correct, but we can’t find it on a race weekend. It took the test to find it.

As bad as Jerez is for you, Le Mans is one of your best. That must be encouraging going into this weekend.

Yeah, absolutely. That’s the thing: I’ve always gone good there. Podium, probably should have won a couple of races there in years past. I have no idea why. It’s not like I really enjoy the place. It’s not like it’s fantastic venue. Just my style and the Yamaha seem to suit that track really well. But I’m old enough and mature enough nowadays to where you have a bad weekend, I remember 10, 15 years ago I’d be all down on myself and doing lap after lap after lap in my head, what can we do … Nowadays, you know you have a problem. You know you struggled. So wipe the slate clean and move on to the next race. That’s really all you can do, or you’ll drive yourself nuts.

This has been a weird year. It’s May, and you’ve had just two races. Are your body and mind in any kind of rhythm yet? It’s freakin’ May.

It’s insane. At Le Mans, then a weekend off, Mugello, a weekend off. We’re kind of working our way into it, and then we’re going to get these back-to-back-to-back, riding three weeks in a row and doing all this crazy stuff. It does seem crazy. When you look at especially the (World) Superbike guys, what are they, three, four races. It just seems like we’re getting off to a slow start, but what do you do?

What’s up with all of these guys getting hurt training on motocross bikes? Lorenzo, Rossi now Bautista? Do you ride motocross bikes in your spare time?

About as excited as I get on a motocross bike, and as soon as I get off the phone, I’m going out to ride a motocross bike right now. But it will consist of a 50cc following my kid around and popping a wheelie here and there. I used to. Honestly, I did. I had the 450, and I’d go out and motocross. Hell, I motocrossed my whole life. Problem is, when you’re a racer … It’s probably the helmet syndrome. As soon as you put the helmet on and put the goggles on, it’s just hard to slow down. It’s real hard to slow down. About four years ago, I did about eight laps on my 450 out at the local motocross track, and the big stuff I was coming up a little bit short or long or dabbing my foot, my timing was off a little bit. I did about eight laps and rode it straight in the back of the track, and I left. I haven’t been back there since.

You’ve got to feel good about that decision with all these guys getting hurt now on motocross bikes.

Um-hmm. The thing is, the older you get, the wiser you get. I can do lots of other things to become physically fit. Hell, we’re out surfing on the boat yesterday and swimming all day. We can do other things that are fun. As much I enjoy and love motorcycles, motocross is just a ticking time bomb, especially if you don’t do it professionally. Even if you do do it professionally. Sooner or later you’re going to have that one that’s going to hurt.

It’s not if the bone is going to be broken, it’s when.

Exactly. I’m not saying road racing is … It has its knocks, too. You crash, you hit something or you tumble, you’re going to break something, too. But at least in my professional opinion, I’m getting paid to do what I do if I break a bone. I don’t want to go out and risk a pay check by breaking it doing something else.