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/128644
World Superbike Champion Colin Edwards II Th e Ed wards' m en ha ve been kn own to drive a hard barga in . There w as the t ime when Edwards was in li m bo aft er th e 199 7 season. He had an offer to rid e fo r th e Red Bu ll Ya maha WCM 500cc GP team. Mo st r id e rs wo ul d h a ve j u m pe d at the ch an ce , and t he money w asn't bad , bu t it wa s a th ird less than he'd made tha t ye ar ra cing a Superbik e for Yamaha , so he turn ed it down . Instea d he ended up at Castro l Honda for even less money , but the chance to be on a winning race t eam . "It wasn 't reall y until I got with Honda that I understood what we were out there fo r," Edwards says . For his 17th birthday his father bought him a K a w as a k i ZX - 7 and f inanced i t with money he didn't hav e. It m eant they co uld ri de to gethe r and one da y his f ather suggeste d th ey ri de to a loc al road -race tr ac k in Hend erson, T exas. Loc al mea nt three-and -a -half hours away . Jeff Covington was ra ci ng that d ay and Cov ing ton wa s a rid er Edwa rd s had beaten in motocr oss. "l th ought, 'I know I can do th is ." he say s. Th ey remember ed eac h ot he r and he allowed Edwards to borrow his Ninja 2 50 on a practice day. Stu ffin g himself into his mother 's orange and black two- piece leath ers, wh ich m at ched his father's old Rickman , Edw ards went out and started dragg ing his toes , motocross style, elbows up , feet hanging down. "I came in and th e first th ing I told my dad is I can go fast on this thing ." Before long he was end uranc e ra ci ng and w in ning and learning. " A nd all it was was tr ack ti m e, getting m ore and more and more track time. Th e m or e I learned th e fa ster , was and that was re all y inst rum ent al into where I'm at today ." He was hooked . " I' ve got 11 years , here I am , J 6 years old , 11 ye ars motorcycle experience, I m ay as well try to put it to use. From th at point on , was look ing ahead . I wasn 't even th in k ing about the al terna tive . I was thinking , I know we can go far wi th this . I knew that [Douq] Polen had come out of here and [K evin] Schw antz had come out of here, and th eir st ories ar e more o r les s similar. I k new that as long as I did th e rig ht thin gs and k new the right people and k ept winning , som eth ing m ight happen. " As a Novice he rode a trio of bikes, a Yamaha FZR600 and TZ250 and Honda RC30, and he went u n de fea te d . Novices st art ed at the b ack o f the Expert fie lds and th ere were some races wh ere he beat all the Experts as well . At the D aytona Race of Cha mpions in 19 91 , he won five t itles and eight more at the WERA Grand Na tional Fi nals at Road Atlanta. His sponsor was Eric Klementich, a fellow 30 JANUARY 3 , 2001 • cu e I e n e T exan who owned OTS, O il Technology Services, the backe r of Chris D 'Aluisio. Edwards and D 'Aluisio wo ul d be team m ates in 199 2. In 1991 , Edwards tra veled to a few of th e AMA rounds to ente r the endurance races on his Novice license . He earned his pro visional Pro license just before the fina l round of the cha mpio nship at Miami and fi nished second to Jimmy Fil ic e. The following ye ar would be defin ed by his year lo ng b attl e w i th K enn y Robe rt s J r. It beg an w it h Edwards, wh o rode the year with a br ok en wri st, win ning at Daytona and ended with Edwards winning at Texas World Speedway - and th ere were three wins in between. He beat teammate D'Aluisio for the title by 35 po ints. " We ha d some g ood races ." he said of his br ief riv alry wi th Roberts Jr. On e of th e best wa s at Brainerd wh ere they both looked ce rtain to c ras h in eve ry corne r, but d idn 't " B ra inerd , h e trac ke d me down an d t rac ke d m e down and it come down to th e last lap. We were both on th e fin e line. At the beg inning of the ye ar I think peop le expected Ken ny and D ' Aluisio . T here was a little buzz about me in the air, but I think once the first race, after Da ytona , I won that, th en I th in k it kind of sh ifted. In my m ind at that point, I was win ning . We wo n fi ve of th e nine races. I thi n k that y ear I was not so much lucky , but I thin k it pann ed out to where F ilic e w as on the Honda that ye ar an d th at was not the bik e to be o n that ye ar. If he had ru n th e Yamaha , who knows." The ne x t y ea r , he a udit ione d fo r th e Va nc e £,. Hines Yama ha seat m ad e available by the death of his fr iend Larry Schwarz bach . Sch warzb ach was from Hou ston , and h e was o ne o f t h e riders Ed wa rd s looked up to. Vance £,. Hin es bro ught th eir tra iler to Hend erson , the track wh ere Edwards go t his st art, fo r a try -ou t. " I knew th e track lik e the back of m y hand. I went out there and I was tw o or three tenths off of Jamie's [James ] times , first time out on the bike. I was happy w ith it. I knew there was a lot more there. At the same time I was n't a cras her. I di d n't want to go o ut th ere and chuck it down th e roa d. I k new th at I co u ld go fa st. I ju st needed to learn a littl e b it more." What he a lso re alize d is th at he was developing so mething of a split per son alit y . A week before a ra c e, t en sion would develop betw een Ed wa rds and his wife. " Lo o k in g back I kno w I would d emand so me things or I would maybe be an asshole, but that was j ust knowing that I'm going to race and getting kind of in th e mode, getting ready. It went on for probably about a ye ar. And then finally we sat down one night uv s and it wa s like, 'o k ay , we' ve go t to fig ure out a plan here. A week before a race, j ust let's try to co ntrol th is th in g some wa y . Try not to mess with me too bad and I'll do my damnedest no t to nitpick at little things .' We fo ug ht it pretty hard . No w we' ve just refined into a few m inu t es before and after a ra ce. I th in k where it co me s fro m , no t that it's a second persona lit y , but it's a pressur e-pa ck ed personality. You 're about to go perform, you ' re about to go put you r ball s on the line, you' re abo ut to go do w ha t yo u do best and you need to be focused." The two persona liti es still ex ist, but now they're more c ontro lled. " I' ve got the easy go lucky, hang out, drink a cou ple of beers with the b o y s, re l ax . Nothing flam boya nt, don't get loud when I'm drunk . Don 't do anything really off the cuff. I do wh at I do. Th ree, fo ur, fi ve m inut es before I get on the bike and probably about 10- 15 min utes after I' ve gotten off the bike, I'm a different person - I switc h into rac e mode. Wh en ever I' m in race m ode , basic all y don 't fuc k w ith m e. D on 't m ess wi th m e. I have a job to do and I would appreciate it if you let me do my job. It' s just a m atter of j ust a co uple of m inutes to focus. That's the only thi ng about it . O n the scooter riding up to the ga rage , I'm just a normal guy. But once I get in the garage and I'v e got photographers all over th e p lace and I know I' ve got five m inutes, start putting my earplugs in and start getting read y , I'm a di ff erent gu y ." There are oc c asional lapses. "I do some thi ng s every now and then that I can lo se m y temper. It's not th at I' m a spoiled brat. Some peo pl e th ink I am when th ey see th ese th ings. I busted my fuck ing ass when I was a k id . I work ed in a damned gara ge to make four dollars an hou r. I sacke d groceri es at Randl e's to make $2.50 an hour pl us tips. I' m by far no t sp o iled . It's j ust m y emot ion co mes out when I don 't win or wh en I don't perform up to my capabilities . " O n c e I g et t o th e press co n fe re nce I'm usua ll y okay . At the podium straight after th e rac e I'll still be the other guy. I'm still the race guy. When I get to the press co nfe rence and questions are asked and this and th at , I sta rt to ca lm down and I'm ba ck into th e normal g uy set . It's not somethi ng I co nt ro l. It' s just wh o I am . I g et the rac e fever. " His team knows how he acts and how to rea ct and fo rgive s him hi s oc casio nal indiscret ions. "Mo nza, I owned it th is yea r. I was a sec ond faste r than everybody. In th e firs t race [pier-Francesco I Chili beat m e fair and squa re and k ic ke d m y ass. And I was pissed . And it ste m med from th e week before when he sprayed me with champagne. I had won the first race at Don ingto n . He sprayed m e with champag ne after the first race. It's kind of an unwritten gentlemen 's agreement that we 've got another rac e. I love Chili to death. He is probably the most awesome guy out there and we get along great. Good friends . I kind of didn 't make a scene, but I said , 'Chili , we got another race.' [This is at Don ington] . 'Ok ay, sorry, sorry .' Sure as shit after the first race at Monza he was happy. I mean the guy is full of em oti on. He 's nothi ng but emotion. He won the race and he was excited abo ut it . He rode his ass off. A nd he sprayed m e with ch am pag ne . A nd before I co uld ca tc h it or even think about it I j ust dropped the cha m pagne bo ttle on the podium . Which, looking back , it was stupid . T h en again , that's emot ion co m ing out. I w as pissed that I lost. And the fact that he just sprayed m e wi th cham pagne wh en I got another race to go, th e second weekend in a row, that just pissed me off more." Edwards fi nished sixth h is first year on the Vanc e £,. Hines Yam aha team and wasn't a world -bea ter the next yea r. By now he was in the house with his brother and h is best friend , Mark M eyer s. They wo rk ed, Edwards ra ced, and they all spent tim e on racing proje cts. " We sp ent six months of ou r lives converting two KX80 big wheels and a YZ80 into 10 0s. We 'd sta y up