Wanted: Motogp Tire Tester
WANTED: MOTOGP TIRE TESTER
RACE WATCH
MOTOGP
Last April at Circuit of The Americas, Colin Edwards announced he will retire from motorcycle racing at the end of this season.
Five months later at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Edwards’ final appearance on American soil, the two-time World Superbike cham-
pion and 12-time MotoGP podium finisher received a worthy send-off.
Edwards did not travel to Brno for the Czech GP. Instead, Moto2 rider Alex de Angelis raced the second NCM Forward Yamaha. With Nicky Hayden rehabbing from wrist surgery, America wasn't represented
in the premier class for the first time since the 2002 German CP.
What’s next for Edwards? A life of minibikes, spent shell casings, and beer? Prior to MotoCP becoming a spec-tire series in 2009, the Houston native was a favored development rider for Michelin.
With the French manufacturer returning to MotoCP in 2016, will Edwards once again be winging his way to Clermont-Ferrand?
"Yeah, I’ve had contact with them,” he said. “We haven’t discussed details. I'd be interested for sure.”
In 2000, when Erv Kanemoto put together an R6D team for Bridgestone, the platform was a Honda NSR500.1 asked Edwards which machine he would choose, a Honda, Ducati, Yamaha, Suzuki, or Aprilia?
"You hit the mystery question on the head,” he said. "Nowadays, you don’t build a tire around a bike; you build the bike around the tire. What might work really good for a Yamaha might not work for a Honda.”
With MotoCP riders prohibited from testing other brands of tires, Edwards’ stock may soon hit an alltime high. -Matthew Miles
