MotoGP 2006 - Catalunya Test (March 3/4/5) -

On a soaking wet Catalunya circuit in northern Spain today, Camel Yamaha’s Colin Edwards won this year’s BMW M Award at the MotoGP Official Test. The American rider joins Loris Capirossi, Valentino Rossi and Sete Gibernau in the list of winners of the prize car, having racked up his fastest lap towards the very end of the timed 40-minute session.

After early quick laps from Briton James Ellison, fellow American John Hopkins and Edwards’ team-mate Valentino Rossi traded the top spot with the wet track keeping times far off those of previous days. Rossi then took charge, continually improving his pace, and with Hopkins crashing out it seemed the World Champion would cruise to another first place. However just a minute later Rossi himself went to ground and with ten minutes left, the car was still up for grabs. It would eventually be Edwards who would drive home the brand new BMW Z4 M Roadster, after the Texan put in a scorching lap of 1’57.102 with hardly any time remaining in the timed session.

Upon being presented with the keys to his new car, a clearly delighted Edwards commented on the appalling weather, before expressing his hope that this could be start of great things for the season.

“When I saw the weather before the session started I thought to myself that the car would end up in the hands of whoever was prepared to take the most risks, but in the end the times came quite comfortably and we were able to just keep getting faster and faster throughout the session. I think this is the kick-start I need for the season. It’s my first time riding the same bike in two consecutive years, we’ve been going well and hope to have a good year,” said the Yamaha rider, who is still to earn a pole position or race victory in MotoGP.

Late in the session American riders Kenny Roberts Jr and Nicky Hayden came out all guns blazing in their quest for the BMW, but on a hot lap Roberts himself took a slide down the asphalt, whilst Hayden fell short of Edwards time by over a second. The surprise of the weekend, Carlos Checa looked on course for success in the final moments, but became the only other rider to fall during what was an exciting televised session.

With Edwards the proud owner of a brand new car for his collection, Hayden trailed in second, with Rossi third ahead of a morale-boosting fourth for James Ellison. New recruit Chris Vermeulen also performed well on board the Suzuki in fifth, with Melandri, Roberts, Checa, Hopkins and de Puniet making up the top ten.

The BMW M Award aside, reigning World Champion Rossi dominated the rest of the MotoGP Official Test. Fastest over the three day session, he had the nine best laps on Friday and continued to assert himself yesterday, setting the weekend’s fastest lap of 1’42.477. In the final free practice at the Circuit de Catalunya, only 11 riders elected to continue testing. None improved on their times from the previous, dry sessions.

The MotoGP Official Tests continue in Jerez tomorrow, with two days each for 125cc and 250cc, with three more days of MotoGP testing starting on Friday.