Sorry, I have one name to blow you out of the water, about Colin's result in the wet! Ant West!
Results in the wet are completely irrelevant... just ask Chris Vermuelen... how many people remember he won a race last year? It never features in discussion at all...
And you said Yamaha, generally, for qualifying results... you didn't specify which team. With two contenders in their factory team... what the tech 3 team does... bah humbug! Secondly... we know michelins are great qualifying tyres... how hot would Col be on bridgestone quallies? That Tosserland has already pulled a front row of the grid qualifyer this year, his first year... making Colin's achievments dim a little.

I like Colin. He gives great personality. But to argue he has great results... me no think so.

Ant West??!! Oh please! Where's he at now??? Completely lost. He'll get an ejectable chair if he doesn't get better. Bye, bye...

And Toseland made 1 good qualifying and 1 good finish. But for the rest where's he at now at the last races??? He is getting lower and lower.
But you are speaking truth on the fact of the 1st race he had. It was for sure a suprise to anyone of the team. And that could be a little smack to the face of Colin, but...
Of course it is for sure he'll get better, well I hope for him...
But for the moment Toseland can't pull strings equal to Colin. That is called experience.


Wet race are completely irrelevant?? Pfff, give me a break. Why do they race than, if it is "irrelevant". Do you drive a bike? I do. And I race sometime. Believe me that wet races are more competitive than you would think.

What I'm surprised is the difference between members of this forum in viewing things. But that is the fun part. ;-)

Colin is strongest in the development of the bike, if it wasn't for his input here he would have been dumped long ago by Yamaha I bet. Remember Colin never had a ride until the very latest second with Yamaha, before that he was without a ride for this year.

The rest I agree with what Catty wrote.

***************************************************************************

Colin Edwards thinks Yamaha's MotoGP comeback is all because of him!

Ahhh, you see. Still a good pilot. Again this makes the experience his advantage.

Alright, Pascale! I brought up Ant West as a case in point of those who are successful in the wet. You yourself totally served it up about Ant... and you are very right, I totally agree... but who has these things in common with Ant? Success in the wet, followed by sweet FA? COLIN!

Tosserland... don't forget, he's a rookie, and unlike Jorge or Andrea, there are tracks he hasn't raced on... so he has to learn circuits... unlike COLIN. My point in bringing up Tosserland is that, of ONLY 4 races, Colin has had decent quallies... but he's not alone. Even rookie Tosserland scored a front row start.

WHen I said racing in the wet is irrelevant... I meant because it hardly ever rains... and when it does.. what, two, at the very most, three a season? Out of how many races? So being sh*t hot in the wet... it's irrelevant. You aren't gonna win a WC being good in the wet and crapola in the dry. If every race was held at Donnington for a whole season... then yeah, hail King Ant, or Colin or Chris. But... nup, that doesn't happen...
And as a spectator, I have no probs with wet races... yeah, chance of crashing factor make them a nail biter... I never said it didn't! (But thanks for the tip about your own racing career, LOL.)
Indeed, it's fun to disagree.

Yeah, right. Look, I have no doubt he, like, said SOMETHING whilst he was with Factory Yamaha... but seriously... would you ever really be worrying about the feedback of someone that didn't seem to know how to win, as opposed to your WC winning rider? And was Valentino short of some feedback or something, was he? Ran out of things to say?

I do think Collin did cop it a bit being Valentino's stable mate... he's probalby right on the money when he said it was all about Valentino and his needs (which means they obviously weren't listening to Colin at all...) and the michelin thing... yeah, probably all true. But until Colin gets race results... until we see him flog his bike like Andrea is doing, or Marco last year on the shiteful Honda... even if it's to only get 4th (which we know then starts to become about bike, not necessarily the rider)... at least that shows some real racing smarts and grit. But we don't see that from Colin. So he should stop blowing his own horn.
Experience at coming 8th?

Euh it was 7th in China.. And for the moment 7th in the standings. But true 7th is not the best finishing position. But it is already better than some pilots who are longer than him in MotoGP (like Hopkins, Capirossi,...).

But Toseland is now 6th & new to the bike, new to the team/mechanics, new to the championship, new to the tires & new to some of the tracks too! So what's Colin's excuse now then?

No excuse, racing can change so fast in the championship. I see Toseland keepin on lowering. It is a bit like hotheaded for the first races and afterwards getting some lower results without having a clue what the reason is. Riding on a bike on very high speeds it has much to do with feeling. Setup, tyres, temperature, awakeness,... If you don't have the majority of these things you can get quiet frustrated. But it is still to soon to know where they getting too. Over 3 or 4 races we know already a lot more. Because there are groups forming in the chamionship standings. So let's wait.

Indeed, yes, time will be the great clarifyer!

WHen I said 8th, I wasn't being literal... I was randomly picking a number that sort of sat with the average of his racing results.

Just reading that bit at the end of the article you posted, Angela, where the person answered the article saying that Colin did the bulk of the testing... Yeah, I don't think anyone doubted that, with Valentino's fractured hand, etc. But obviously they had a bike that was already on it's way somewhere... based on last year's debacles and Rossi's endless requests for more power. They just needed someone to literally get on it and ride around a track.

My prediction about the world of racing where things can change so fast? I think Colin will be made or broken this year. I tend to think he won't get the results. Angela thinks a lack of self confidence... I think a lack of basic GP talent. It's not in his blood, or something. Whether he would have faired better on a 990 in the long run... I think the 800s will always be a problem for the superbike blokes coming over, from here on in. Jorge and Dani are producing the goods this year, Andrea in there now, Marco starting to get his sh*t together, can never completely discount Toni Elias and of course, KC, even if he's not winning, he's going to eat up 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th... and our main man, Valentino... Colin has more to conquer this year than last year... I don't think he's up to it. But he's certainly quite welcome to prove me wrong.

I think Toseland has got 'slower' because the first two tracks were ones he had previously raced on, his results ended up putting a higher expectation on his season than before. Since then he has not been to another circuit he knows, coupled with the fact that a few sessions on the new tracks have been lost to wet weather, it has not helped his cause.