Misano MotoGP Reaction: Colin Edwards upset with Michelin again

American Colin Edwards blamed Michelin again for his disappointing performance in yesterday’s Misano GP.

The Tech 3 Yamaha rider could only finish tenth as his challenge for fourth place in the world championship suffered a severe blow.

Edwards was the only Yamaha rider to finish outside the top six in the 28-lap race and he was unable to match the impressive pace of team-mate James Toseland and Jorge Lorenzo.

His main issue was a lack of temperature in his rear tyre in the opening laps and he told MCN “It was a disaster. You go out on the sighting lap and the warm-up lap and it was trying to flick me over the handlebars at every corner. I just couldn’t get it in or get my knee on the ground and it was like being on ice.

“How do you go into turn one and throw it on its side knowing you’ve no grip? I just don’t like being put in this position to where I have to take ten times the risk for something that is out of my hands.

“I knew the rear tyre was hard and that’s why I did a couple of laps this morning just to scrub it because this thing is so dangerous just trying to get it up to temperature. I thought it if I could survive the first two laps then we should be in for a good race.

“But the first three or four laps killed me because I lost so much time. It was ridiculous. I was about a millimetre away from pulling because I ran wide on the Astroturf on the second lap and I just thought something is wrong with this tyre.

“It just kept trying to flick me and even trying to get it into the corner it was coming round. I didn’t feel I could do anymore on the first couple of laps.

“After that I put my head down and rode a good race after that, but the problem on a short track is everybody is doing the same lap times and after you lose ten seconds, gaining a couple of tenths isn’t going to get back you into contention.”