AMA Road Racing: Read All About Colin Edwards' Path to Racing in this Week's Edition of Larry Lawrence's Archives in Cycle News

Southwest Motorsports Yamaha team mates Colin Edwards #45 and Chris D'Aluisio #2 come into the turn 5 area during a practice session for the AMA 250 Grand Prix Championship Series at Road America in late June 1992.  The Southwest Motorsports/Yamaha/Dunlop/Arai-sponsored and TZ250-mounted riders would battle for the 250GP final event during The Coca-Cola Super Cycle Classic at the Elkhart Lake, WI. track, but it would be D'Aluisio taking his 3rd win in a row at the track that year.

Edwards burst onto the scene in AMA Road Racing in the 250 GP class in late '91 after claiming a handful of championships and hardware in the WERA Series, and would open the '92 season with a win at Daytona and at Charlotte, which would catapult him to the '92 AMA 250 Grand Prix Championship.  Yamaha USA took note, and by the '93 season he was on the factory-supported Vance & Hines Yamaha AMA Superbike Championship team as a team mate to '89 AMA Superbike Champion, Jamie James. 

Edwards would go on to win his first AMA Superbike Championship Series race at Mid Ohio in '94, and by the '95 season was racing in the World Superbike Championship in Europe.  Ironically, Edwards would win his two World Superbike Championships after he left the Yamaha fold, while riding for the Castrol Honda WSBK team.
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Check out this great story about 2-Time World Superbike Champion Colin Edwards, that details his rise to fame from a Texas WERA racer some 20 years ago, thanks to the one and only Larry Lawrence and his 'Archives' column at Cycle News.com's Digital Edition:

http://cyclenews.coverleaf.com/cyclenews/20111004#pg107
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Indy Red Bull MotoGP Round 11 May Be Last Chance for North Amer Fans to See Colin Edwards on a MotoGP Bike

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Kenny Roberts, Jr. sits on the #25 Wayne Rainey Racing/Otsuka lectronics/Nankai/
Tsubaki/PJ1-backed Yamaha TZ250 ready to roll out for practice at Mid Ohio in late July/early August of 1992. To his right sits--and SMILES--eventual '92 AMA 250GP Champion Colin Edwards on the #45 Southwest Motorsports/Yamaha/Dunlop/OTS/Arai/Vanson-sponsored TZ250. KRJR obviously moved up to the then-500CC World Championship, and won the title for Suzuki in 2000, the second to last before the end of the two strokes.
Edwards moved up to the premier AMA Superbike Championship Series in '93 winning Rookie of the Year honors and winning three races in '94 while riding for the Vance & Hines Yamaha squad, his first of those wins coming at Mid Ohio in the summer of '94. Moving to the World Superbike Championship in the mid-late '90s with Yamaha, he could never attain the championship with them-and it wasn't for lack of trying! With a move to Honda, CE captured the '00 and '02 World Superbike Championships on one of the team's star-fleet RVF-RC51 big twins, winning his AND Honda's initial championship on the all-new 1000CC twin that was brought out to even the score over the big twin Ducatis.
Could the 2011 season in MotoGP see Tech 3 Yamaha without any Texas riders (with Ben Spies most-likely moving up to the Factory Yamaha team) and Colin possibly on a Xerox-sponsored Factory Ducati in WSBK? Time will tell. That's why they call it silly season. But where ever The Texas Tornado may land, hopefully he will be smiling again!
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Colin Edwards' Tech 3 Yamaha Monster Energy/Motul/Antonio Lupi-backed YZR-M1 sits outside the paddock garages at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in August of 2009 in preparation for the 2nd Annual Indy Red Bull MotoGP round. With the talk-and probable announcement this weekend-that team mate Ben Spies will be moving up to the Factory Yamaha team for the '11 season, and CE considering a move to World Superbike, the France-based Tech 3 team could be looking at starting fresh for the first time in a few years. And the big question would be who would fill the seats on this fine team? Considering they have the direct ties to the Yamaha factory, a rider would just about give his first-born to ride one of these finely prepared machines. I know it's silly season, but with Indy being the 11th of 18 rounds for MotoGP, it's also time to line up the dominos for next game.
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With the 11th round of the MotoGP calendar about to commence at the 3rd Annual Indianapolis Red Bull MotoGP, the cards are starting to fall as to who will be where, and who won't for the 2011 season. With '07 MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner announcing his move to the Repsol Honda squad and multi-time Champion Valentino Rossi making his move to Marlboro Ducati official 10 days ago, the big news that will most likely come out of the World Capital of Racing in Indianapolis this weekend should not only involve Nicky Hayden as discussed earlier today in our previous post, but the riders on the Tech 3 Monster Energy Yamaha squad.

It's pretty much a badly kept secret that Ben 'Elbowz' Spies will be moving up to the Factory Yamaha team for the '11 season, and that announcement will most likely come 'officially' this weekend, so as to help spur on more American fans and with any luck American involvement in the high dollar arena of MotoGP racing. And to be able to capitalize on a U.S.-based round and crowd to help generate more buzz throughout this great land of ours.

For Colin Edwards, the talk has been centered on his possible/probable move to the Factory Ducati squad in World Superbike for next season. CE has been fairly vocal on the lack of speed from this year's YZR-M1, and of course the fact that Honda has the fastest bike, again, in a straight line has pretty much made it miserable for anyone NOT on the Big Red--or Orange as the Repsol sign would be. Except of course Yamaha Fiat Factory Pilot Jorge Lorenzo who can't seem to turn a wheel wrong.

With Ben Spies able to get one on the podium in his first year in the premier class, the frustration with NOT being able to get the bike up to speed has grown with Colin Edwards, thusly the chance he may or could make the move to the series he helped to dominate from '95-'02 and winning two World Superbike Championships in the process a solid reality. That could mean that U.S. fans may be seeing the last appearance by the Texas Tornado at Indy on a MotoGP bike. Not that a move to WSBK would be bad--where ever the man lands, as long as he's smiling and in the mix, bravo. JMOH. But then I've been a fan of CE's for 19 seasons now, dating back to early '92.

So if you ARE a fan of Colin's--and even if you aren't--relish this visit to the World Capital of Racing in Indianapolis by not only the MotoGP circus in general, but of Colin on a multi-million dollar factory prototype as it may be our last chance to see him before he possibly heads over to the World Superbike Championship for the 2011 season.

Read about it below and check out an old interview with CE as well!
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Here's the article by Dean and Co. over at SuperBikePlanet.com that talks with The Texas Tornado about his chances/prospects of moving to the Ducati WSBK team for the 2011 season. Which ever way it goes, Colin will still always be a welcome sight at any race event, being one of the crowd favorites as well as one of the on-track favorites. Where ever he may land for the 2011 season and beyond, the series he runs and the fans that follow it will be better off for it as always! Go get 'em man!

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2010/Jul/100724b17.htm
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And here's a great little article about Colin penned by the always excellent and on the edge Dean Adams over at SuperBikePlanet.com that talks with him back in '03 after he had moved to the MotoGP World Championship after having won the '02 World Superbike Championship.

Check down the right side column and you'll see the cover shot for American RoadRacing in August of '92. It's CE and KRJR on the bikes as shown in the first shot above from the '92 AMA 250GP Championship and Colin's championship-winning season. Good old stuff! Thanks Dean!

http://www.superbikeplanet.com/2003-nov/031110edwards1.htm
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Colin Edwards Is A Forever Man.....

Great news for Colin Edwards and for his fans came from a story from the great folks

at http://www.crash.net/ from across the pond the other day that pretty much confirms that

Colin Edwards pretty much has a job for life with the Herve Poncharal-owned Tech III

Monster Energy Yamaha team. The team owner confided that the relationship with

The Texas Tornado and the team has been wonderful, as have been the results, plus

with Ben Spies coming on for the 2010 season to help firm up Team Redneck--or Team

Texas should you prefer--the number one satellite team in the MotoGP paddock has

a great future as well. And should CE take up Mr. Poncharal on that offer the team will

have a solid leader down the road to take them into the depths of the decade in top form.

You can check the story out here while you are checking out the shots for the day:
http://www.crash.net/motogp/news/155188/1/tech_3_wants_edwards_forever_future_test_rider.html
And to fill you in a little more on CE's background check this out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Edwards

After having won the '92 AMA 250GP Championship, The Texas Tornado made his move up

the ladder and joined the Vance and Hines Yamaha Superbike team for the '93-'94 seasons,

where he finished a respectable 6th and 5th those seasons, while also going on a roll by winning
3 of 4 of the final events in the '94 season. By '95, he jumped across the pond to field

a Yamaha Factory mount in the World Superbike, and won his first WSBK Championship

in '99, and following it up with a second crown in'02 while riding for the British-based

Castrol Honda team. Since the '03 season, Mr. Edwards has been a regular top 5-6

performer in the MotoGP series, capping it off with a 5th place finish this year, the first

'non-full factory' man in the championship. A deed hard and well earned against the

best in the world.

Having watched the man win and compete since the early '90s, I have become a big fan

of the double 'T' and am thrilled he has done so well over the years. The shots I have thrown

in today are of CE from the '94 season at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI. as well as Road

Atlanta in Braselton, GA.

The top shot we have of Colin coming into turn 7 at Road Atlanta during qualifying for the

season ending event that year. We follow that with a picture of Colin leading Pascal Picotte

on the Fast By Ferraci Ducati as they come out from under the bridge down the hill into

the last turn during the final. We then have a shot of Colin leading his team mate, Jamie

James, the '89 AMA Superbike Champion on his #2 Vance and Hines Yamaha as they head

into turn 14 during the final that w/e. Several laps later, CE would bin it coming out of this

turn. We then have another shot of Colin in qualifying at Road Atlanta, and we finish out with

CE in the middle of a pack that includes team mates on the Fast By Ferraci Ducati #21 Pascal

Picotte, eventual '94 AMA Superbike Champion Troy Corser on his #19, and Dave Sadowski

on his privateer Ducati. This shot is also during the Road Atlanta season ender finale as they

come out from under the downhill run bridge.

Congrats to The Texas Tornado on this announcement and to all he has given us race fans over

the years to cheer for and be proud of. And to the man who coined the Team Redneck term

for himself and Ben Spies for the 2010 MotoGP season, go get 'em dude, and thanks for all of

the great memories and rides. You truly rock!

And thanks to all of you for dropping in to say high and spending your time with Stu's Shots.

You rock too!!