Assen MotoGP: Colin Edwards thrilled with third after late drama

Colin Edwards starred in late drama at Assen for the second time in three years today as he claimed an unlikely podium finish.

The Texan looked like he’d have to settle for fourth place when he was on hand to pounce on horrendous luck for compatriot Nicky Hayden exiting the final chicane.

With Hayden’s Repsol Honda spluttering to a halt as he ran out of fuel exiting the final corner with his first podium in nearly a year beckoning, Edwards blasted past on his Tech 3 Yamaha to take his second rostrum of 2008.

It capped an amazing comeback from the Tech 3 Yamaha rider, who had been dead last at the end of lap one.

He was forced to take evasive action to miss Valentino Rossi and Randy de Puniet, who had crashed out in front of him at turn three.

He moved into seventh on lap 10 with a pass on Jorge Lorenzo and immediately jumped onto the back of the bunch fighting for fourth, which included Chris Vermeulen, Andrea Dovizioso and Shinya Nakano.

He passed Nakano on the entry to the first corner on lap 13 and a lap later surged into fourth by Dovizioso and Vermeulen. He was over two seconds adrift of Hayden in third at the time, but by the end of the race had halved the gap.

But as he came through the final chicane, Hayden suddenly sat up as his pneumatic valve RC212V ran out of fuel to let Edwards in.

In 2006, a crash at the last chicane by Edwards had handed Hayden his one and only victory outside of America and Edwards said: “Third is never a win, but this feels as good as one. I remember how disappointed I was with third in Le Mans and I feel much better with this after what happened.

“I thought I had a good start and was fifth or sixth when Valentino got tangled with Randy de Puniet and he crashed. I might have gone left but I knew Valentino was on the ground and I didn’t want to run over him or his bike and I just stopped. The next thing I know is I’m dead last and then Alex de Angelis went down soon after and I lost a bit more ground.

“I just decided to get my head and push. I thought I’d rather be in the gravel than riding round for eighth or ninth. I started picking guys off and before I knew it I was on the back of the group fighting for fourth. I just kept pushing myself to go faster and the next thing I’m fourth.

“I could see Nicky and Dani in the distance and all I did was ride as hard as I could and my Tech 3 guys gave me a great bike today. Michelin had some great tyres so I started to hammer away at Nicky.

“I thought if I kept applying pressure he might make a mistake and if I hadn’t kept pushing as hard as I did then I might not have been close enough to pounce on Nicky. I’d settled for fourth but as I came out of the chicane he was sat up, and I couldn’t believe it. I guess that’s karma corner after 2006.

“This place owed me something after I crashed a couple of years ago with my first win in sight, and I’m really happy with third just because in the way I achieved it. It’s hard to get on the podium at any time in MotoGP, so to do it from last is a great feeling.”