Josh Hayes to Replace Injured Colin Edwards in MotoGP at Valencia

Due to injuries sustained in the fatal crash at Sepang which claimed the life of Marco Simoncelli, Colin Edwards was forced to withdraw from the event with a broken bone in his elbow. Josh Hayes was to partake in the official test on Monday following the race as a reward for winning his second AMA Superbike Championship for Yamaha. Since Hayes was already going to be in Valencia the Tech 3 Yamaha team decided to have Hayes fill in for Colin and compete in the final round of the 2011 MotoGP season. Josh has zero expectations and no pressure as a fill in rider so this is more for an experience for Josh than a competition. Obviously Josh wants to do his best on the machine and be competitive but he is realistic about his chances when riding on a bike he has never ridden, against the best riders in the world, and on a track he has never been on. Regardless, Censport is very happy for Josh for this opportunity and very happy to have a helmet on the MotoGP grid. Due to the late announcement we did not have time to paint a special helmet to match the Tech 3 colors so he will wear his helmets from the 2011 AMA season. Good luck Josh!
Photos by Andrew Wheeler and Vicki Schouten