MotoGP trio react to costly crash

Colin Edwards, Nicky Hayden and Alex de Angelis all gave their reactions to the first lap crash at Misano which immediately ended their quests for points on Sunday.

There was drama early in the MotoGP contest on Sunday at Misano when home rider Alex de Angelis hit Colin Edwards at the start of the first lap, with the crash also taking Nicky Hayden into the gravel and instantly ending the race for all three riders.

Following their good performances in practice and qualifying each of the talented trio had looked well set to earn a decent points total at round 13, but it was not to be – with De Angelis accepting the blame for the crash and later apologising to both Americans.

However, Edwards was in no mood for sympathy and described De Angelis’ riding as unacceptable. The Texan fumed, “I thought I had the pace to easily be fourth and maybe fight with Dani Pedrosa for a podium but we are in Italy and occasionally you have to deal with an Italian rider who wants to be a hero and today that was De Angelis. Turn one at the start with 17 bikes is not the place to be going at race pace and he was never going to make through there. Today De Angelis is the guy who needed to be wearing Valentino’s donkey helmet.”

The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider continued, “I didn’t know what had happened until I was sliding through the gravel. Turn one is the most dangerous time to crash with so many bikes around you, it is unacceptable. I’ve been fighting with Andrea Dovizioso in the championship most of the season and now he has ten points on me with four races to go. That’s racing.”

Hayden, meanwhile, was similarly disgruntled and was particularly dismayed to have missed the chance to give the thousands of Ducati supporters at Misano something to shout about. The Kentuckian competitor remarked, “It’s easy to say it now but I just know I was set for a good race so I’m extremely disappointed. Maybe I wasn’t going to win but at least I could have run with the front guys for a while and given all the Ducatisti something to cheer, as well as picking up some vital experience and data for this machine.”

He added, “To be honest I had a feeling De Angelis might create some drama here. He’s at home and fighting for his job and when I saw him in the corner of my eye I just tried to gas it and get out of his way. Unfortunately he slightly clipped my rear wheel and that was the last I knew about it. I know in racing people can make mistakes and I have done plenty in my life but I’m not happy with Alex because this wasn’t racing - it was just stupid to try and pull a move like that on cold tyres, on the first lap. Anyway, we’re all okay and looking forward to Portugal.”

For his part it was a highly costly error and De Angelis has now failed to finish the race on both occasions he has ridden in his home event as a MotoGP rider, having also crashed out last year.

He ruefully stated, “I got a decent start and thought I could make some more ground up on the inside on the turn but I went in too deep. Colin cut in front of me and I braked as hard as I could to avoid him but the front folded and I hit him. Unfortunately Nicky was hit as well and I apologise to both of them. Unfortunately these things happen in racing and I am desperately disappointed because this is my home race, there were a lot of people here supporting me and I wasn’t able to deliver a good result. It is especially frustrating because we had the potential to put a really good race together here after another excellent weekend, but we’ll take the positives out of it and try to continue with our recent progress at Estoril.”

Colin Edwards Biography

Full Name: Colin Edwards
Date of Birth: 27th February 1974
Place of Birth: Houston, USA
First Race: 1990
World Superbike Debut: 1995
Grand Prix Debut: 2003

Colin Edwards was born on the 27th February 1974 in Houston, Texas and now lives in Conroe, Texas with his wife, Alyssia and their four-year-old daughter, Gracie Kayte, and a one-year-old son, Hayes, who was born in December 2005. He has two World Superbike titles to his credit and currently competes in MotoGP. His nickname is the 'Texas Tornado'.

Colin was introduced to minibikes at the age of three by his Australian father, Colin Edwards Snr, who was an amateur motorcycle racer himself. He entered his first motocross race at the age of four. Over the next ten years he became one of the top ranked junior motocross competitors in America. He raced in the 50cc and 80cc categories winning dozens of races in local, regional and national events.

At the age of fourteen Colin ceased motocross racing as he got heavily involved in the usual teenage demands. In 1990 his father took him to see a road race event in northern Texas, which rekindled his love for bikes and racing.

By 1991 Colin was competing in amateur road racing. This was on a local level but he soon progressed to racing at national events. Winning every amateur event he entered he was offered a sponsored ride with South West Motorsports and turned professional just before the 1992 season.

In 1992, his first season as a professional, Colin raced in the AMA 250cc National Series riding a Yamaha TZ250 for SoutWest Motorsports. He won five of the nine races thus securing the title infront of Kenny Roberts Jr.

For 1993 and 1994, Colin rode for Vance and Hines Yamaha in the AMA Superbike series. He finished in 6th and 5th place respectively for the two seasons.

Colin rode in his first World Superbike season in 1995 which proved not to be an easy one for him. He struggled to come to grips with competing in a global competion. Unfortunately, when his team mate, Yasutomo Nagai was killed in an accident at Assen the team withdrew from the last two races in the competition. Colin finished in 11th place overall with 141 points. Colin also finished in 4th place in the Daytona 200, and 5th place in the Suzuka 8 hour.

The following season saw Colin's racing greatly improved with an achievment of 6th place overall in the World Superbikes. Teaming up with Noriyuki Haga, Colin won his first victory in the Suzuka 8 hours endurance race repeating this victory twice more, in 2001 with Valentino Rossi and in 2002 with Daijiro Kata.

1997 proved a bad season for Colin. After eight races he had scored 79 points and was in 5th place. Following this quite good start he was then involved in a crash that was to keep out of racing for the rest of the year. Despite a good start to the season he finished in 12th place overall. He was replaced in the Yamaha World Superbike Team and failed to negotiate for a place in the 500cc Grand Prix Competition. Fortunately for the 1998 season he was able to fill a gap left by John Kocinski in the Castrol Honda WSB team. Racing on a RC45 he had a double victory in Italy and a third victory at Brands Hatch Ten more top six results left him in 5th place overall with 279 1/2 points. Colin also finished in 3rd place in the Susuka 8 hours with Tadayuki Okada and 4th place in the Japanese Superbike race at Sugo.

1999 saw Colin becoming a regular visitor to the rostrum. Riding the new SP-1, which replaced the RC45, Colin had a total of twenty top six finishes. Carl Fogarty took his fourth title this season but Colin and Troy Corser tied for 2nd place with 361 points overall. With Aaron Slight he also finished in 2nd place at the Suzuka 8 hours.

In 2000 Carl Fogarty was unable to ride through injury so Colin and Noriyuki Haga both fought hard for the title. Colin achieved six pole positions, six fastest laps, eight wins and a further ten top six finishes gaining 400 points and was 65 points clear of Noriyuki and the World Superbike Championship. Colin and Valentino Rossi also qualified in 6th place at the Suzuka 8 hours.

Defending his title in 2001, Colin's new rival was Ducati's Troy Bayliss. He finished the season with 333 points but had to be satisfied with 2nd place against Troy's 369 points. Colin, with Valentino Rossi and Manabu Kamada, won the Suzuka 8 hours.

Now riding for Honda for the fifth year, Colin found that Troy had won fourteen of the first seventeen races. He kept up the pressure on Troy managing nine consecutive race wins and, when Troy had problems at Assen, Colin managed to clinch his second World Superbike Championship. With Daijiro Kato he also won the Suzuka 8 hours again.

In 2003 Honda pulled out of the World Superbikes Championships and because they couldn't find him a position in the Grand Prix, Colin opted for Aprilia's four-stroke GP machine. The only change he insisted upon was his favourite Michelin tyres. Colin improved on their 2002 best (which was 8th place) by finishing in 6th place overall, as well as achieving a couple of second row qualifications. Continuing his steady results, Colin switched to Honda for 2004 which gave him the chance to take on the leaders. Regularly in the top seven, Colin scored 157 points and finished in 5th place overall.

Colin joined Valentino Rossi in the Yamaha MotoGP team for the 2005 season and contined to show steady form. The final result was 179 points making him in 4th place overall.

2006 found Colin once again with the Camel Yamaha factory team contending the MotoGP championship. Edwards came cloest to his debut MotoGP win at Assen. He took the lead at the start, and led until Nicky Hayden overtook him on the penultimate lap. He caught back up to his countryman on the last lap, and managed to pass him a few corners from the end. When Hayden attempted to pass him again in the final chicane, Edwards ran across the gravel and lost control of his bike, which briefly continued on without him. He remounted to finish 13th. Hayden, who ran across the gravel on the final chicane himself, managed to keep control of his bike and won the race. Colin finished the season in 7th place overall for the Championship.

For 2007 Colin remained with the Yamaha team, and Valentino Rossi, as the series moved to 800cc bikes under the new rule changes. Edwards was in need of a strong season in order to retain his ride but did not get it. His best result was a second place at Donington Park, but he was twelve seconds behind Casey Stoner. The only other time he climbed onto the podium was in third position at Jerez.

His final position of ninth place ultimately cost him his ride for 2008 as he was replaced by 250cc Champion, Lorenzo. Yamaha did reward his loyalty by moving him into the satellite Tech 3 team, alongside James Toseland.

Edwards once again proved to be a reliable team rider during 2008. MotoGP newcomer and team mate, James Toseland, cited the American's advice as a big help during the early part of the season. Consistent results for Edwards, including podiums at Assen and Le Mans, saw him finish the season in seventh position. Many will remember his season simply for the stunning lowside which he saved during qualifying at Jerez - picking the bike up on his leg and lapping up the cheers from the Spanish fans.

In 2009 he remains in an unchanged Tech 3 Yamaha team.

Career Highlights
2008: 7th - MotoGP Championship (Yamaha)
2007: 9th - MotoGP Championship (Yamaha)
2006: 7th - MotoGP Championship (Yamaha)
2005: 4th - MotoGP Championship (Yamaha)
2004: 5th - MotoGP Championship (Honda)
2003: 13th - MotoGP Championship (Aprilia)
2002: 1st - World Superbike Championship (Honda)
2001: 2nd - World Superbike Championship (Honda)
2000: 1st - World Superbike Championship (Honda)
1999: 2nd - World Superbike Championship (Honda)
1998: 5th - World Superbike Championship (Honda)
1997: 12th - World Superbike Championship (Yamaha)
1996: 5th - World Superbike Championship (Yamaha)
1995: 11th - World Superbike Championship (Yamaha)
1994: 6th - AMA Superbike Championship (Yamaha)
1993: 6th - AMA Superbike Championship (Yamaha)
1992: 1st - National 250cc Championship (Yamaha)
1991: Amateur racing in 600cc, 750cc and 250cc classes