Edwards Crashes in Germany

Henny Ray Abrams | July 13, 2008

HOHENSTEIN-ERNSTTHAL, GERMANY, JULY 13: Tech 3 Yamaha’s Colin Edwards ended his streak of top five finishes at five when he crashed on the 21st of 30 laps in the rain-soaked German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring. The Texan was the highest placed of the Michelin riders when he lost the rear tire in the downhill left-hander while sitting in fifth place. The YZF-M1 was too badly damaged to continue, though Edwards was unhurt. “All I can is it was a very tough race right from the start,” he said. “The conditions were not easy, but I got a reasonable start and just wanted to get into a steady pace. But it was obvious from quite early on that it was going to be difficult. I didn’t have a lot of feel from the rear tire and I tried everything I could to hang in there and keep a top five finish for the team, who have been great all weekend. It would have also kept my own personal good run going. But as the race wore on it wasn’t getting any better and I lost the rear at the downhill left-hander. I had no warning at all and I didn’t feel I was particularly pushing too hard, because by that stage a podium had already gone.” Edwards had run as high as third on laps six and seven before getting dropped to fourth by Fiat Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi on lap eight. He took third again by passing JiR Team Scot MotoGP’s Andrea Dovizioso on the ninth lap, before losing it on the tenth to Rizla Suzuki’s Chris Vermeulen. “I’d tried to follow Casey (Stoner) and Valentino (Rossi), but I just didn’t have anything for them. Fifth was going to be the best result I could have managed today and that’s a bit disappointing because in the dry I think I could have been fighting for a podium,” he said. Edwards said he was “just grateful I didn’t get hurt in the crash, because I’ve got my home race coming up and I desperately want to put on a good performance for the American fans, Tech 3 and Yamaha at Laguna Seca. After this disappointment I’ll be looking to bounce straight back.” Edwards will certainly have support at Laguna Seca. In addition to the home crowd, he said about 50 friends and family would be making the trip from Texas.

Henny Ray Abrams | Contributing Editor

Abrams is the longest-serving contributor at Cycle News. Over the course of his 35-some years of writing and shooting photos, he’s covered events from MotoGP to the Motocross World Championship - and everything in between.