First race and first step for Edwards

The first race of the season has come to an end under for the NGM Mobile Forward Racing rider Colin Edwards in Qatar.

The American rider has improved his feeling with his FTR – Kawasaki bike. Unfortunately he was unable to take the first points of the season during this first race after retiring due to a technical problem.

Colin Edwards – Not Classified

“We made a change just before the race, went a little bit harder on the front forks spring and the bike was fantastic. It did everything right tonight. I started the race feeling confident and tried to heat up the clutch to get it to slip and it didn’t slip at all so then I had to readjust and lost positions. The start was terrible, saw the guys in front of me and started to make some moves. I saw Barbera and Hernandez there and by the time that I got around they had pulled a little bit and managed to come back at them but with seven laps to go I had an issue in turn 10 and I shift down to fifth and it would come back to forth so I would have to shift again and it either broke the front sprocket. I was lucky the chain didn’t lockup the wheel. Thanks to my team, my bike felt good today, we were just unlucky.”

Sergio Verbena – MotoGP Technical Director

“The fact that we took no points today does not reflect our true potential. Colin did a great beginning race, always close to the points positions. He was close to the Aprilia of Hernandez and managed to closeup on Barbera and was preparing to attack. We had a techncial problem with the gear box that caused the break of the rear sproket and constrained Colin to retire. It was unfortunet given that he had such a good begining of the race and diserved to get in the points. We have found a good electronics setting and bike setting here in Doha  and we hope to get the first points in the following races.”