After one of Monster Yamaha Tech 3's most difficult weekends of the season, Colin Edwards dug deep to secure tenth place in today's German Grand Prix.
The French squad were hampered by the same front-end problems that troubled them in the last two races but Edwards fought hard and was threatening the factory Ducatis before having to back off with a lack of rear grip.
“That was a difficult race because it was one of those where you can see a few places up for grabs in front of you but you can’t do anything to try moving forward”, he explained. “I was with Valentino, Nicky and Alvaro for pretty much the whole race but it didn’t matter what I did or tried, I couldn’t get close enough to try and pass them. One tenth round this track feels like a million because it is so short but it felt like I was on a bungee rope the whole time. Each time we started going through the series of lefts from Turn 4 onwards, they just seem to have more traction than me. They’d pull a few bike lengths on me but then I’d gain it all back in the hard braking for Turn 12 at the bottom of the hill and hard braking for the last corner. My bike was really stable on the brakes but the bike lengths I’d catch up I’d lose again on the next lap and the process would start all over again.”
“With a few laps to go I was in Turn 2, off throttle and the rear came round. From that point on I had less grip and a bit of vibration and I couldn’t stay with them and I was making more mistakes trying to keep their pace. So I just took 10th place, which is not where I want to finish, but I’ve never gone great at this track and I’ve gone faster than I’ve ever run here. Usually it’s a disaster here, so I’m actually happy with my race and going to Laguna Seca now to race in front of my home fans, I feel really good and confident.”
Team manager Herve Poncharal felt the result didn't do justice to Edward's performance, adding that tenth was a good result under the circumstances.
“The feeling is better than the result looks because Colin had a strong race. He had a good start and he rode most of the race together with the factory Ducati and factory Suzuki. The pace was good and I think there was not a lot more we could do. This is a tough track for Colin but his pace was pretty strong and consistent and I am happy. Now we can focus on Laguna Seca, which is a massive race for Colin and Monster, so everybody at Tech 3 Yamaha will be giving maximum effort as usual to deliver a top result in America.”
