Colin Edwards

Colin Edwards II (born February 27, 1974 in Houston, Texas) nicknamed the Texas Tornado is an American professional motorcycle racer. He is a 2 times World Superbike champion. Edwards currently competes in MotoGP, riding for Yamaha Tech 3 in 2008.

At the age of three, his Australian father, Colin Edwards Sr. (an amateur motorcycle racer himself), introduced him to a minibike, and Edwards entered his first motocross race at the age of four. Over the next ten years, Edwards became one of the top-ranked junior motocross competitors in the USA, winning dozens of races in the 50cc to 80cc categories in local, regional and national events.

In 1988 at the age of 14, Edwards stopped competing in motocross races, having become distracted by the normal demands of being a teenager. However in 1990, Edwards and his father attended a motorcycle road race event in north Texas, and this inspired him to attempt road racing.

In 1991 Edwards began competing in amateur road-racing events locally, but rapidly progressed to national events. He was undefeated in every amateur event he entered that year, and won numerous national amateur titles. His performance was sufficiently impressive for him to be offered a sponsored ride with South West Motorsports, and Edwards turned professional just before the commencement of the 1992 season.

In his first professional season (1992), Edwards entered the AMA 250cc National Series. He won five of the nine races and the national title over second-place earner Kenny Roberts, Jr.. In 1993 and 1994 Edwards rode for Vance and Hines on a Yamaha in the AMA Superbike Championship, earning 6th and 5th place overall in those years.

In 1995, Edwards was offered a factory position with Yamaha in the Superbike World Championship. His results in 1995 were disappointing as Edwards struggled to adjust to the demands of competing in a global competition, and he missed the last two meetings after team-mate Yasutomo Nagai perished in a crash at Assen. In 1996 he achieved a greatly improved sixth overall in the Superbike World championship.

1997 was a disappointing year for Edwards as he was forced to withdraw from competing due to injuries sustained in the fifth round of the Superbike World Championship. He was replaced in the Yamaha World Superbike Team and was unable to negotiate a position in the 500cc Grand Prix competition. Fortunately Edwards was able to conclude a deal with Honda to ride the RC45 motorcycle in the 1998 Superbike World Championship. Edwards finished fifth overall that year, and earned his first solo international victory at Brands Hatch.

In 1999, Edwards managed several more victories for Honda (including leading teammate Aaron Slight home twice at Brands Hatch, giving Honda a rare Double-1-2) and ended the season in second overall position, behind champion Carl Fogarty. In 2000, Edwards rode the new Honda VTR-1000 SP1/RC51 twin cylinder motorcycle to overall victory in the Superbike World Championship after Yamaha rider and points leader, Noriyuki Haga was disqualified for testing positive for a banned substance. Edwards came second to Ducati rider, Troy Bayliss in 2001 but reclaimed the title from Bayliss in 2002 in a dramatic fashion, clinching the championship in the final race of the season in Imola (Italy).

After winning his 2nd Superbike World Championship Edwards moved to MotoGP in 2003. He rode for the greatly troubled Aprilia team on the RS3 Cube, and his only notable accomplishment in that otherwise dismal year was avoiding serious injury when his machine caught fire at Sachsenring. Yet Edwards, known in all motorcycle paddocks as a great bike tester, tried to no avail to help lift the struggling team.

2004 saw Edwards riding for Telefonica Movistar Honda, and he achieved his first MotoGP podium position at Donington. Edwards finished the season in fifth overall position.

In 2005, Edwards moved to Gauloises Yamaha factory team as the teammate to the world champion Valentino Rossi. His best result for 2005 was a second position at Laguna Seca, behind compatriot Nicky Hayden. He finished the season fourth overall.

For 2006 Colin Edwards continued riding for the Camel Yamaha factory team onboard the YZR-M1 with teammate and good friend Valentino Rossi in the MotoGP championship. The factory Yamaha team had a troubling start to their racing year with "chatter" problems and tire wear issues.

The Yamaha factory team built a new chassis for the 2006 spec YZR-M1 to combat the aforementioned problems. Valentino Rossi took to the new chassis quickly and rode to victory at his home race of Mugello for the fifth consecutive time since 2001. Edwards didn't have the time to "gel" with the new chassis early in the season, which resulted in him sticking with the older version for the Mugello race. He finished 12th.

At Assen he took the lead at the start, and led until Nicky Hayden passed him on the penultimate lap. He caught back up to his countryman on the last lap, and managed to pass him a few corners from the end. When Nicky Hayden attempted to pass him again in the final chicane, Edwards ran across the gravel and lost control of his bike, which briefly continued on without him. He remounted to finish 13th. Nicky Hayden, who ran across the gravel on the final chicane himself, managed to keep control of his bike and won the race. At his home race, the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix, Edwards finished ninth suffering tire problems in the scorching heat like his teammate Valentino Rossi. At Estoril he qualified second and finished fourth in one of his most competitive showings of the season.

2007 brought great prospects early on. Colin entered his second of a two year deal with Yamaha factory team, now know as Fiat Yamaha riding the new Yamaha YZR-M1 800cc.

Edwards started the 2007 season off in good form. Yet after starting second on the grid in Istanbul, a first lap crash caused by Olivier Jacque took him out. At Le Mans Colin took pole position, but made a slow start and gambled on switching to wet tyres in damp conditions. He did this too early, and by the time it was wet enough his tyres had shredded, forcing him to pit again and finish at the back of the field.

Fiat Yamaha was having problems with the M1 and the Michelin tyres, Edwards along with teammate Valentino Rossi both struggled to find competitive set up nearly the entire season to run up front. Edwards best result of the season was 2nd (equaling his career best in MotoGP) at the wet British Grand Prix at Donington Park.

For the 2008 season Colin Edwards will once again be racing in MotoGP, yet this time for the satellite Tech 3 Yamaha team along side fellow Superbike World Champion James Toseland.

from Wikipedia