Colin Edwards 2006 Yamaha YZR-M1

Replica of Colin Edwards 2006 Moto GP Yamaha YZR-M1. Due to licencing issues, this model has been released without the Team logo and the logo of the bike lean over on its side.
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2008-10-20  Sepang rider impressions
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This weekend at Sepang we saw some great racing, in some parts of the race for the firs place, in other parts for third. Andrea Dovizioso finally managed to get first podium after outracing Hayden, proving once again that he was right choice for Repsol Honda. Dani Pedrosa continued to improve on Bridgestone tyres, proving that next season he will be even stronger. Read rider thoughts after the Malaysian Grand Prix. Valentino Rossi - 1st: I am so happy with this win today because all of the toughest championship of my career, including with Yamaha in 2004, have been won with nine victories. Of course that doesn’t mean I don’t want to win again next week, but for now I like this number! Today was incredibly hard because it was so hot. Once I got behind Dani I tried to pass many times but he was very fast and very consistent and I had a good battle to get by him. Lap-by-lap I understood better where it was possible and eventually I could make my move and go away from him. Everything worked very well today in such conditions, my M1 and my Bridgestone tyres and I want to thank everyone for making me so fast all weekend. I love winning here because it’s such a great track but today was really a test, especially the last five laps when I really had to make an effort to keep my concentration in such incredible heat. Anyway, it was important to win here because when we came here in the winter I did a very fast race simulation and I promised my new Bridgestone tyre technician, Peter, that we would win the race! I took a gamble in February so I had to win today! Finally I want to congratulate my friend Marco Simoncelli for winning the 250cc World Championship today. I know how hard he has worked to get here and he really deserves it – I am very happy for him. Dani Pedrosa - 2nd: It has been a busy weekend. On Friday morning we were only 17th, I think, then we started moving forward and yesterday we were able to get pole and today I finished second, so finally it has been a good weekend for me and my team. We have made another important step forward after Phillip Island where I crashed out of the race and hurt my left knee. At the end of today’s race Valentino was faster than me, he always puts on some extra pressure towards the end, so it was difficult to follow him, but we were closer this time than we were at Motegi [where Pedrosa finished third], so I am happy that we are making progress with our new bike and tyres. It has been a little bit difficult for me and my team to get used this package so late in the season, but we are getting faster every race and this is important. If we can get closer at the next race then we know we are working in a good direction. I am looking forward to Valencia next week. The Spanish crowd wants a Spanish winner, so I will do my best. Andrea Dovizioso - 3rd: Today I am happy! The first podium in MotoGP, after so much work in a season full of satisfaction: this is important for me and for my team. I wanted to give other podiums to the team but I hope that this will repay them for all the work done this year, but it is also a thanks for the seven years that we have competed together. With the Scot Team I won the world 125cc championship and we wanted to achieve something spectacular, given that next year I will be in the works HRC Repsol Honda team. The race was hard and after a good start, Valentino and Dani gained ground, while Nicky I were left behind. I led alone, focusing on myself, because I had no references in front and felt the approach of Nicky's Honda going into every turn! When I saw the group behind, I realised my situation and realized that I could not afford to make the slightest mistake. I made the most of the tyres, which in these conditions slid a lot, and I had to drive hard by picking the bike up out of the corners early. Over the last few laps I was passed by Nicky but I managed to finish ahead and finally realise my podium finish. Thanks again to everyone on my team as every one of them has always been close to me and supportive. Nicky Hayden - 4th: We knew it was never going to be easy – all weekend we’ve been sixth and seventh, and with the changeable weather we were never really able to find anything set-up-wise. Then we had a bad warm-up. We tried some stuff overnight and went a bit backwards, so for the race I was quite unsure how it was going to go. We put the bike back to how it was yesterday morning, and it was okay, but I was just missing that little bit. The race honestly went better than I thought I would, it could’ve been uglier. I pushed hard, a couple of times I was able to get in front of Dovi, but he held tough. Man, he don’t give in for nothing. I enjoyed the battle, it was fun battling for the podium after the dudes up front took off early. I tried everything I could, I was pushing the front quite a lot, through Turn Three mainly. Maybe I should have tried something a little more silly on the last lap, that’s always hindsight, but sure I’ll beat myself up tonight, thinking I should have taken some bigger chances, but I was already pushing hard. Congratulations to Dovi on his first podium, he earned it. Shinya Nakano - 5th: I’m satisfied with this race I got a good start and quickly moved up from fifteenth to sixth. I followed Stoner for a while and tried to pass him in several places but it wasn’t easy because he was so fast and he was braking very deep in the corners. Anyway, I soon realised that he was starting to have some issues, it looked like the front end of his bike, so I was able to make the pass and then hang on to fifth place until the end. Casey Stoner - 6th: I had no feeling whatsoever from my injured hand today, it just wasn't working. It meant I had to put all the pressure on to my right hand and in such physically demanding conditions it was really difficult. It started cramping up and I couldn't even get the throttle fully open down the straights. To be honest I don't think we quite found a perfect set-up this weekend but I can't complain about that because I wasn't able to push the bike to the limit today. It's been a tough weekend and we have another one coming up at Valencia, which we will push hard to get through with as good a result as possible before finally looking ahead to the operation. At least we have the runner-up spot already in the bag, which is an achievement I think myself and the whole team can look back on and be very proud of. Loris Capirossi - 7th: It has been a bit of a tough weekend, but I am quite happy today because I tried 100% all race and when you see a podium place that close it makes you try even harder. I struggled a bit to get past Colin as our bike still needs more speed to be able to overtake other riders - so that is still something we need to work on. Once I got past Colin I immediately caught up with Casey because he was quite a bit slower over the whole lap than me. I tried to overtake on turn two and then ran wide and he came back past, then on the next lap I went into a corner much faster to get past, but I touched the back of his bike and ran off the track! If I had got by Casey earlier I really believe I could have challenged for the podium, but it was not to be. I really want to say thanks to all my crew because again they have worked really hard this weekend in difficult conditions. We still have to keep pushing really hard for the extra performance we need - I believe in our potential and we really need to start next season with a good bike because I feel strong and still have a good opportunity to fight with the top guys, and I will try everything I can to make that happen. Colin Edwards - 8th: I thought I’d got a good start and I must have done because I nearly tangled with Jorge off the line and he was on the front row. It was pretty close but luckily we didn’t touch. But at the first corner people started coming around me and there was a bit of bumping and barging and I lost a couple more places. Nakano and Capirossi came by but in the first eight laps I felt pretty good and I got into the high 2.02s. I was right on the back of the bunch but I felt like I was losing a bit on acceleration. As much as I’d close up on the brakes, I’d lose coming onto the back straight and the front straight. It was so hot and the track temperature was so high that the balance of the bike changed around the halfway point. Once the rear grip goes down a bit, it stops transferring weight on the front. When Jorge crashed I almost went down in the exact same circumstances going into the first corner because the rear tyre wasn't holding as well as it did at the start of the race and it wasn't driving the front tyre into the track. And when that happens it is hard to turn the bike. That was my issue and after that it was difficult. I kept my head down and tried to push because I could still see the group in front. But I couldn’t get any pace going coming out of the corners and I made a couple of little mistakes. I’m really disappointed even though it is my best result ever at this race. But eighth is well below where I want to be. I leave here knowing I did the best I could do and I hope I can give the team and Yamaha a strong finish in Valencia next week before we starting looking to 2009. Chris Vermeulen - 9th: It was very hot today and that made it really difficult out there - the track was nearly 20 degrees hotter than it had been all weekend! I got a good start and felt very comfortable on the first lap. After a few laps I was right up with Loris and everything seemed to be working well, but I then had a few issues with front end grip and that continued as the race went on. With about eight laps left the rear grip started to go off, making the front and rear more even, and I was able to pass de-Puniet and get up to ninth. I thought we had enough pace to do better today, but that was the best we could mange and we have certainly taken some steps forward. I am now looking forward to see how the improvements we have made recently work at Valencia, which is a slower track and should probably not affect our horsepower deficit so much. Randy De Puniet - 10th: At the start I released the clutch to early and did a big wheeling losing a few positions. After the first lap I started to set my rhythm and was pretty comfortable despite the heat. I enjoyed battling with Toseland because he passed me twice and I did the same with him but at the end he crashed. Then I caught Hopkins and passed him in the fifth lap pushing hard to catch the first group. My pace was pretty fast but I took a big risk in the last corner at four laps to go and preferred to reduce the speed. In the middle of the race my right wrist started to ache a lot and was very hard for me to change directions and to brake in the corners. John Hopkins - 11th: I got away from the start pretty well, but then I got pushed out wide a couple of times in the first lap, so I didn't manage to make up as many places as I was hoping for. Initially the lap times were good, but as soon as the rear tyre started to go off I began having problems. We improved confidence in the front this weekend, so I was able to close right onto the back of Vermeulen into the turns, but I was losing ground on the exit every time. The bike was just spinning off the edge of the rear tyre on the throttle, and it continued spinning once you'd picked it up onto the fat part of the tyre. With five laps to go the rear grip dropped off even more, giving me no chance of catching de Puniet and Vermeulen before the end. Rear traction has been a consistent issue this season, and it's an area that we need to look at very closely if we're to fully understand the cause, and ensure that we don't transfer the same problem to the 2009 bike. The result today was disappointing, because I really thought it was possible to get into the top ten. Hopefully we can end our season with a better result next weekend in Valencia.      Anthony West - 12th: The start went pretty well, but then I got pushed out real wide in the first turn and lost all the places I'd made up at the start. Things weren't too bad for the first part of the race; the rear was still spinning up out of the corners, but at least there was some drive. But as the rear tyre started to go off I started having problems going into the turn. It was a really strange feeling; the rear would break traction as I turned in off the throttle. It was worst at the downhill turn two where it really unsettled the bike on entry, but I could feel it everywhere to differing degrees. It's quite hard to put in consistent lap times when you're lacking rear grip on both corner entry and exit, but I just got my head down and did the best I could. Hopefully we can come up with some improvements for the season finale next weekend, as I'd really like to end my time at Kawasaki with a good result. Alex De Angelis - 14th: I’m really disappointed with today’s race because I made a good start but I got pushed wide by Toseland, who braked really late into turn one, and a few riders were able to pass me. I got my pace together but then lost a lot of time fighting with Melandri, and in the second half of the race I struggled with the tyres and I couldn’t get back on the pace I’d been able to set in practice. It was a really tough race but I’m confident I can bounce back at Valencia and make the most of our last chance this season. Marco Melandri - 16th: There are only negatives to take out of a race like that. We went back to the settings we used yesterday afternoon but I didn't have the same feeling. I had hardly any feeling with the front from the first few laps and I couldn't brake hard into the corners. From then on things just got worse. I went for a softer rear tyre so the grip was good at the start but I almost crashed a couple of times in the fast corners in the second half of the race and that took away any shred of confidence I had left. Nobuatsu Aoki - 17th: The bike was working really well until near the end when we had a bit of problem with the feel of the front end. I thought I could have passed some guys to get a point but unfortunately I wasn’t able to do that and we also had a few engine performance issues that caused my speed to drop – I really hoped it would rain so I could come in and change the bike as I didn’t want to break the engine! I took it easy to the end of the race so that I could finish. I certainly believe from this we now have some very good data to help us for next year and I hope I can help develop the bike for the GP team a lot more. Jorge Lorenzo - DNF: I didn’t feel good today and I was riding much worse than yesterday. I was having some problems in braking and acceleration and this is really a pity because I thought I had the chance to be on the podium today. I had many problems with my tyres in the first few laps and in fact I had a lot of warnings about the crash, but in the end I just couldn’t avoid it. I got a bad start and it seems this part of the race is getting more difficult every time. If I had a better start I could have tried to go with Valentino and Pedrosa but today was terrible. We have to change something here because at the moment it’s quite difficult. Apart from these problems I know I didn’t have the same feeling in myself as I had yesterday, so it really wasn’t a good day! It’s a little sad now that we can only be fourth in the championship, but I can still be rookie of the year so I will focus on this because it’s important for all of my team. Congratulations to Valentino for another triumph and now let’s look onwards to Valencia. James Toseland - DNF: Things never clicked from the start of the weekend, although this morning we found a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. But getting it nearly right on Sunday morning means you don’t have time to get a proper feeling with the setting and we made a big change with the front. We raised the front and got it to steer better because that was the main issue we had. It was causing me a problem on the brakes and entry and that was messing me up for the rest of the corner. I could brake better and it made the bike more balanced for the entry and exit. Qualifying 12th though makes it tough, especially here and I got boxed in a bit at the first corner. I braked after everybody else and made a couple of places up but ran wide and then it was a real dogfight. I was having a close battle with de Puniet and West but then when I picked up my pace I went down. I had to run a harder front tyre to make the race distance and I think it just needed another lap to get the temperature in it. I just pushed it too hard and lost the front at turn six. I paid for pushing too hard trying to make up the time I’d lost. I was confident after this morning when I was eighth and we'd make progress with the bike, so it is a bit disappointing. But I’ll be going all out to make amends in Valencia and finish on a high.

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