Edwards Stays with Tech 3 Yamaha Team

Henny Ray Abrams | September 19, 2010

Colin Edwards will stay with Yamaha for a seventh year in MotoGP and a third year with the Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team after the team announced they’d re-signed the outspoken Texan for 2011.Edwards had his best year with the French team in 2009-he finished fifth overall, including a podium in England-and was hopeful of more of the same in 2010. But this year has been a disappointment and Edwards has been vocal in his displeasure. He doesn’t feel that he and teammate Ben Spies have equal equipment to the factory Fiat Yamahas, though Spies has ridden through the handicap to a brilliant rookie MotoGP season.

Despite that, Edwards, who’d planned to retire a few years ago, was adamant about wanting to return in 2011. The team is currently without a firm sponsor, though talks with Mosnter Energy continue, and that may have affected Edwards’ salary. Still, he will be a valuable tutor to Brit Cal Crutchlow in his rookie MotoGP season as he’s been to Spies this year.After making his 100th MotoGP appearance for Yamaha in today’s Aragon Grand Prix, Edwards said, “I am delighted to have signed a new one-year contract with the Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team. I want to say a big thanks to Yamaha and to Tech3 for their unwavering support. I am honored to continue my long and successful relationship with Yamaha, Herve Poncharal and all at Tech3. I love the team and feel like part of a big family and I’m thrilled that our adventure together is continuing next year. I’m excited at the challenge of competing in the MotoGP world championship again and still being competitive in probably the strongest field in history is an achievement I’m proud of. I am also looking forward to working with and helping out Cal Crutchlow next season. I’d like to think I helped James Toseland and Ben Spies adapt when they arrived in MotoGP, and I will be doing my utmost to do the same for Cal if he needs any advice. I think all of us can look forward to an exciting 2011 together.”Team owner Herve Poncharal said, “I am thrilled to have reached a new agreement with Colin for the 2011 MotoGP world championship. His appetite and passion for racing is stronger than ever and he has been an incredible asset for the Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team. He is a great character but he has consistently proven that he remains one of the fastest riders in the world and I am glad that the Tech3 story with Colin will go on for one more year. I believe with Colin’s experience and boundless enthusiasm and Cal’s hunger and desire to succeed in MotoGP that the Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team can already look forward to 2011 with tremendous optimism.”

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.