During a wet session, American rider Colin Edwards won the 2006 BMW M Award at the MotoGP Official Test held on the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona last week. Setting the fastest time of the day, the Camel Yamaha Team rider took home a brand new BMW Z4 M Roadster as prize.
Edwards was followed on the podium by Repsol Honda rider Nicky Hayden and current World Champion, Valentino Rossi.
British rider James Ellison showed the way in the first half of the special 40-minute session with the Yamaha of Tech 3 Team. Ellison became one of the surprises by finishing in fourth overall with a laptime of 1:59:619.
Rizla Suzuki rider, John Hopkins, who took first place in the morning test session, also enjoyed the top spot for a while until a fall put him out of the fight for the BMW. Rossi started to push hard on the wet Spanish track and jumped to the top of the leaderboard, although the seven times World Champion would also go down on his Yamaha M1.
The Italian ended up on third place with a laptime of 1:59:360 after 11 tours.
Edwards waited until the best moment to go out and with 10 minutes left to the chequered flag, the Texan rider set the pace with a fantastic lap of 1:57:102 leaving second finisher Hayden at almost two seconds adrift at 1:58:921.
"I think this is the kickstart I need for the season. It’s my first time riding the same bike in two consecutive seasons, we’ve been going well and hope to have a good year," Edwards said.
With the keys of his new car in hand, the American said: "All the hard work seems to be paying off."
The MotoGP series kicks off on March 26 at the Gran Premio de Espana in Jerez.
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