MotoGP News
Date: 24/August/2011
Yamaha appears to be gently nudging Colin Edwards towards MotoGP retirement at the end of 2011, but the man himself insists he has no plans to do so.
Edwards, a former factory Yamaha team-mate of Valentino Rossi, has outlived retirement rumours more than once.
The Texan switched to the satellite Tech 3 Yamaha team for what was billed as his final MotoGP season in 2008, after being forced to make way for Jorge Lorenzo.
Excelling in the more relaxed environment of Herve Poncharal's team, Edwards has been re-signed three times since, and finished fifth in the 2009 championship.
Edwards, 37, has outperformed all his Tech 3 team-mates with the exception of Ben Spies (2010) and has put the French team on the podium four times, most recently at this year's Silverstone round.
But with team-mate Cal Crutchlow on a two-year contract, and Yamaha keen to use Tech 3 to develop up-and-coming riders, Yamaha Motor Racing director Lin Jarvis has been quoted as saying that Edwards - although still competitive - should perhaps call it a day.
Edwards disagrees.
"Probably the worst thing is that I’m not ready to retire," he said. "That would make it easy for everybody. But at the moment, I’m still enjoying it. I’m still having a good time, and I’m still motivated. Until that goes away, I’m going to ride motorcycles."
Edwards' seat is under pressure from the likes of Moto2 title leader Stefan Bradl and Yamaha World Superbike star Eugene Laverty.
In addition to Tech 3 Edwards, a former double WSBK champion, has admitted to talks with the factory BMW Superbike team among other options, but says the situation is unlikely to become clear until at least September's Misano round.
"At the moment, nobody knows exactly what’s going on. I have a little bit of an inclination but I cannot say anything now," he said. "Will we make any kind of announcement at Indy? Probably not. Misano, maybe. We’ve got a few pieces of the puzzle lying around. We’ve just got to put those pieces together."
Despite Yamaha's apparent lack of enthusiasm, the switch to 1000cc engines for 2012 should mean Edwards' development skills are in demand somewhere on the grid.
That is especially true for the new class of 'Claiming Rule Teams' - basically privateer constructors - although it remains to be seen if Edwards would want to take a risk with one of the newcomers.
The gun-totting Texan joked: "Right now I’m working on developing a new load for this new rifle I got. I’m going to stick with that development until somebody wants me to go ride motorcycles."
Edwards is ninth in the world championship, and the leading non-factory bike rider, heading into this weekend's Indianapolis round.
"Sitting ninth in the points, I don’t think anybody can ever be happy about that," said Edwards. "But at the end of the day, we had a bike quit on us while sitting in a podium position in Jerez. Then I broke a collarbone and didn’t race at Barcelona.
"The one podium, at Silverstone, has obviously been the highlight. Apart from that, it’s tough. You’ve got so many factory Hondas out there and Yamahas, and everybody’s riding good.
"You get in the top five or the top six, and it feels like you’ve done something."
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