SEPANG, MALAYSIA, OCT 19: Tech 3 Yamaha’s Colin Edwards survived a frantic first corner only to be laid low by grip problems late in the sweltering Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang.
The 33-year-old Texan dropped his lap times into the 2.02’s bracket and took eighth place from Rizla Suzuki’s Loris Capirossi with a pass at the second corner on lap four.
That left Edwards on the back wheel of Fiat Yamaha’s Jorge Lorenzo, as the Yamaha riders joined a six-rider battle for third to eighth.
“I thought I’d got a good start and I must have done because I nearly tangled with Jorge (Lorenzo) off the line and he was on the front row,” Edwards said. “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.
Edwards moved to seventh when Lorenzo crashed in turn one on lap 11. But he slipped back down to eighth, where he would finish, four laps later when Capirossi came back at him.
“(Shinya)Nakano and Capirossi came by, but in the first eight laps I felt pretty good and I got into the high 2.02’s. 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.”
With track temperatures hitting 108 degrees, Edwards began losing grip and was unable to maintain any momentum.
“It was so hot and the track temperature was so high that the balance of the bike changed around the halfway point,” he said. “Once the rear grip goes down a bit, it stops transferring weight on the front. When Jorge (Lorenzo) crashed, I almost went down in the exact same circumstances going into the first corner because the rear tire wasn’t holding as well as it did at the start of the race and it wasn’t driving the front tire 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 start looking to 2009.”
