The rivalry into Motogp
Troy Bayliss and Colin Edwards would race against each into 2003 and Motogp.
Fortroy, it was a relatively simple move through the Ducati works world superbike team into the Motogp team to ride alongside Loris Capirossi. Colin’s route to Motogp was more circuitous… Despite winning the 2002 world superbike title for Honda, Colin never got what he wanted for 2003: A factory Honda RC211V on Michelin tyres. Instead he ended up on the unfancied Aprilia RS Cube: But how?
Well, it seems Honda wasn’t selling many VTR1000 SP-2S, so was shutting down its factory WSB operation... so the team told him to go looking at other options in the middle of 2002. Colin even offered to race for half or even a quarter of what he was on during 2002 in 2003 just so he could race – albeit with a carrot of a factory Honda V5 for 2004. “I told them I wanted to be Valentino Rossi’s team-mate,” recalls Colin. “Instead they talked about Fonsi Nieto… I mean, really? It was clearly a sponsor thing or I didn’t kiss enough ass!”
Instead the 2002 AMA superbike champ Nicky Hayden got the 2003 ride alongside Rossi: a decision that (at the time) Colin had a hard time getting his head around. Of course, Nicky would eventually take the 2006 Motogp title from ayamaha-mounted Valentino, so his potential was fulfilled. Other options for satellite Hondas and Colin were mooted – on Bridgestone tyres, one even with his existing Castrol Honda crew – but never materialised. He even had talks with the Kawasaki andyamaha factories for a Motogp entry. The galling thing was Colin had by this time given up a secure option to replace Bayliss on the factory Ducati – the new 999 machine for 2003. Eventually it came down to riding a satellite Honda, but on Bridgestones or a factory Aprilia on Michelins:tyres he had been ‘working his butt off’ to develop in 2002; he was held in very high regard by the French factory.
When he heard of what was happening to his rival at the hands of the factory that he’d fought tooth-and-nail for the 2002 WSB title for,troy succinctly said of Honda: “What’s wrong with those guys? Are they stupid?”
So it was thattroy would race in Motogp for Ducati in 2003/2004 and Honda Pons in 2005, before returning to world superbike duty for Ducati in 2006 – where he’d win the second of this three WSB titles. He’d also become one of the few racers to win in both world superbike and Motogp, with his single Motogp win as a guest rider at Valencia in the title-deciding 2006 race.this made him the only rider to win a world superbike and Motogp race in the same season.
Colin would enjoy a long career in Motogp spanning the 2003-2014 seasons and would eventually become Valentino Rossi’s teammate, albeit in the factory Yamaha squad. Unfortunately, he’d never get that elusive Motogp win – the closest he came was at Assen in 2006, when he crashed at the final chicane, allowing Nicky Hayden to take the win on his way to the title.