MotoGP Rider Colin Edwards - Edwards Ascending

"We're going to win races; there's no question that we're going to win races."

A bold statement, and one you might expect from Jorge Lorenzo or Casey Stoner. But Colin Edwards? "There's no question. There is zero question. It's not a matter of if; it's just when."

In the 86 races before Edwards made that statement-on the eve of the Portuguese Grand Prix in Estoril-he had never won. And he didn't win in Portugal. He's been on the podium numerous times and nearly won at Assen in 2006, a loss that was especially painful. Within sight of the checkered flag, Edwards crashed in the final chicane, handing the win to Nicky Hayden.

But this is the new, rejuvenated Edwards, the one whose up-and-down career has earned him a pair of World Superbike Championships. And now, in the twilight of that career, he's found himself on the Tech 3 Yamaha team, a team that-like Edwards-has seen better days. They've come together at the perfect time. And the magic they've made so far is evidence that Edwards may be on to something and that the glory days lie just ahead.

Colin Edwards left his hometown of Conroe, Texas, in 1995 to pursue the World Superbike Championship. He'd won an AMA 250cc title and raced for the Vance & Hines Yamaha team for two years. Then he went to join the Yamaha World Superbike team, followed by the Castrol Honda team in 1998. His first World Superbike Championship came in 2000; his second followed two years later. He then joined MotoGP, where he should have gone sooner but didn't have the chance.

His first year in MotoGP was a mess, the Texan unable to come to grips with the fly-by-wire Aprilia RS Cube. The most memorable moment during that time was when Edwards was forced to jump off a flaming Aprilia at 100 mph (a crew member forgot to tighten the fuel tank cap, and the leaking fuel ignited on track) during practice for the German GP in Sachsenring. Next came a season on the satellite Gresini Honda team. That year was marked by front-end struggles traced back to the profile of the new Michelin front tire. Then came the move to the factory Yamaha team alongside the great Valentino Rossi. Edwards was in the shadows, the dutiful supporting teammate for three years.

At the end of the '07 season Edwards wanted to stay with Yamaha, and the feeling was mutual. The company's priority was 250cc World Champion Jorge Lorenzo, who was joining Rossi on what would end up as a split factory team; Lorenzo would be on Michelins, Rossi on Bridgestones. Yamaha slotted Edwards into the satellite Tech 3 Yamaha squad, a team that had carded downfield results while developing tires for Dunlop for two long years. Edwards had been asked at the end of 2006 about moving to the French Tech 3 team. "[As long as they were on Dunlops] I said, 'Absolutely not.' There was zero possibility of that ever happening. [But] at the end of last year, I knew Lorenzo was coming and got to talking with [Tech 3 Yamaha team manager] Herve [Poncharal] pretty early in the year, really. We got to talking about tires and maybe the one-tire rule and started kicking things around. We kept in contact, and at the end of the day the Michelins made sense.

"We understand the Michelins. I've been a Michelin guy forever. I let them have it in the press [last year]. They needed to [get to] work. They weren't catching up [to Bridgestone]. And they have. I haven't seen this kind of effort out of Michelin since '02 when they first came out with that C3M process and we had constructions and profiles."

By then out of Rossi's shadow, Edwards suddenly flourished. Rossi was injured during preseason testing. Lorenzo was a rookie, as was Edwards' Tech 3 teammate and fellow former WSB champion James Toseland.

"They had me testing all the chassis and swingarms through the winter, and I made my decision; I knew which ones were better," he says. "I think that's helped me out a lot. Valentino [develops] the bike. It doesn't really matter what it is-he can ride the s**t out of it-but I think the bike that I helped them build this year, it's pretty obvious: Toseland can ride it, Lorenzo can ride it. It's not a one-man show. It's pretty forgiving. It's strange, man, it works. We don't have any problems-none."