Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128244
Colin Edwards Colin Edwards ha d a trying year In M ot oGR but now he's headed ba ck to what he hop es will be t he top of the pod ium BY H E N NY RAY ABRAM S PH OT O S BY GOLD & G OOSE o lin Ed w ards had a lot to learn in 2003. He had t o learn a new motorcycle. He had to learn a host of ne w tracks th at the World Superb ike Cham pi onship doesn't v isit. He had to learn to fit in to a paddock atmosph ere that w as fa r m or e venomous and g o ssi py t ha n in W o rld Sup erb ik e. He h ad to learn enduran ce: racin g or te sti ng or tr aveling near l y ever y d ay fo r the en t ire 16-ra c e season , a n adj ustment in th e best of times made more com plex by the add iti on to th e fa mi ly of hi s dau ght er, Gra cie . A ll of wh ic h we re o bst acles t hat th e slend er, gregarious, ch aw -chew in g T exan ha ndled w ith his typica l laid -back ap proach . What he did n' t real ize is th at he'd have to learn t o los e, someth ing he'd nev er don e before. From the time he first bounced his CR-5 0 arou nd the m otocro ss trac ks n ear hi s h o m e in Texas , through his ama te ur caree r, where he wo n five CCS rac es in a weekend foll owed by a m ore im p ressive performance in th e GNF, up thro ug h t he AMA 25 0cc GP titl e an d a couple of honest runs at the AMA Su perbik e crown , there w as succe ss. There were bumps in th e road duri ng hi s te nure at Yama ha, thoug h he wo n th e first of his th ree Suzuk a 8Hou r titles in 199 6 , tha t one co m ing with Noriyuki Ha ga , h is team m at e o n th e Al ic e Aprilia t eam in 20 03 . Injuries hel d him back briefl y , then he was off to th e Castr ol Honda te am , where he won a pair of Wor l d Super bik e Ch am pi on sh ips, th e sec ond in improbabl e c ome-from -b ehi nd fash io n in the fina l rac e of th e 2002 seaso n over friend and riva l Troy Bayliss. " Si nce I' ve been rac ing , I' ve been f ig htin g up near th e top ," Edwards says . "I guess yo u co ul d say '9 5 through '9 7 was probably my worst few years . B ut still we got pod iums and sec onds and stuff. There was hope. You do wh at you ca n do. To me it . took j ust still beli ev ing. A s long as I kee p belie vi ng in m y self; o nc e I los e that, I'll j ust co me home. Just keep believing, ke ep strong ." C 22 D EC EM BER 10, 2003 ยท cue I e n e Fo r Edw ards, the definition of success changed. No lo nge r was it the ha bi tua l trips to the podium he'd m ade at the end the Wo rld Superbike races . "We were 30 seconds , 35 seconds be hind the leaders every race we finished," he said . "On ce you get a coup le of them under your belt, then you finish 28 sec onds behind the lea der , you go ' Yeah , all right man, we 're under the 3 0-second ma rk .' Like I said , it's dem o rali zing. It 's just de moraliz ing." T h e season began and ended w ith some o f his best perf orman ces, a seventh in Suzuka and a sixth in th e fina l race in Vale ncia , a result he was proud of not fo r th e pl ac ing itself , but fo r show ing t hat h e never ga ve u p. From th e very first ti me he rode the Cube - and was fl icked o ff it - in Jerez, Spa in , a year earlier, th ere w as so me t h ing wrong . Hi s comment at the time was tha t he 'd had hi s office arranged one way for his enti re rac ing ca reer, and someone came in and m ov ed the furniture . Specifically , it wa s the fly by -w ire throttl e sy st em - no w accepted in m an y team s - th at had him befudd led. Inst ead of an in st ant response, there wa s a dela y . Howev er slig ht, it m eant th at everythi ng th at happens exi ting a co rne r, from th e engi ne g aini ng power to th e loading of th e susp en si on t o th e c h a s si s fl e xin g to th e fr ont e nd un load ing , it was all just sli ght ly off. A te nth here, a t en th th ere and sudde n ly yo u' re a second be hind . And it happened in eve ry co rne r on eve ry lap . Edward s took longtim e c rew chief A drien Go rst wi th him to Aprilia . Gorst k nows what Edwa rds li kes and tr ied to g iv e it t o him in sho rt order. but A pr ili a was on a d ifferent sched u le. At the very first test, Edwards said th ere were five thin gs he needed. The first one, a heavier crankshaft, arrived at Valen cia a year later. "T hroughout th e ye ar there 's been im provem ents , but one of th e for-s ur e things th at we definitely said was g oing t o im p ro ve th e b ik e , a heav ier c ra n k," Edwards said : "w hen I fi rst got o n th e th ing, th e th in g was a ligh t swi tc h. You've got to ha ve some thi ng that c arrie s in ertia . It' s no t just start and stop . So we got vv s that th is weeke nd , and it' s he lped .. . it's improved thi ngs." Desp it e bein g let down by Aprilia's reaction ti me , E d w ard s doesn't wa nt t he co mpany cast in th e wrong li ght an d was selective in wha t he'd reveal. "Obviously, th e co un te rshaft sprocket's ab out 10 inches t oo hi gh ." he said w ith some exagge ration and a q ui c k w ink. "I t fee ls like it , anyway. We're always g o ing t o s t r ugg le w ith chai n fo rce an d swi ng ar m an g le. Try ing to get the ba la nce righ t. Too m uch chain fo rce, too little cha in for c e. It's a rea l fine lin e on what wo rks and wha t doesn't work at any pa rt icula r track . So some pl aces yo u go and yo u need m ore c hain fo rc e: it w o rk ed aweso me. Some pla c es yo u go , and it j ust.. . you ' re beatin g your head against the wa ll." Edw ard s said he ca me to th e project wa nting to m ak e it wo rk. "And whe n you beli eve th at m uch in yo ur ab ility and yo ur co nfi de nce, it's k ind of hard to sw it ch it t o the other side," he said. "I was so gung-ho all ye ar. I ha d been really bel iev ing w e're going to tu rn it aro und. Everyth ing 's go in g to be good. W e're goi ng to d o t hi s, d evel op t h is , d o that. Li k e , with the bli nders on . I cou ldn 't see anythi ng past th at . T hat was just m y goal. Th at wa s wha t I was stri ving for. An d it rea ll y wa s probably J ap an [Mot egi, round 13 of th e series ] w he re I went, 'T his will be th e verd ict. Whateve r happens th is we eke nd.' And I went and g ave blood . I w as o ut probably ri d ing bette r tha n I' ve eve r ridden but st ill qua lified 12th or 13th. On th e first co rne r, go t pus hed off into the gravel, but still that weeke nd was k ind of th e nail in the coffin that reall y m ad e m e make th e dec ision ab out, I got to do something ." Asked wh at coul d hav e been done to im p ro ve th e bik e soo ner, Edwards answers: "T here 's a termin ology , 'bo rn bad .' It's just go t so many thi ngs that need fixing now, like yesterday . A nd it' s ta ke n t oo long . I've sat and we ighed up all the options of how thi s yea r went." Compoundin g th e me c ha nica l p ro b le m s we re whispers of inso lvenc y . Aprilia is known to be going