Vermeulen gets on the gas at a rainy Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where the Aussie finished ninth in a red flag ending.
Well how about the Indianapolis Grand Prix! They were the worst conditions I've ever experienced.
You know rain-wise we had a lot of time on the track in the wet, but we hadn't experienced the wind. The circuit wasn't the best in the wet because there were basically two different surfaces. The new surface, which was Turn 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 held a lot of the rain, so there was a lot of standing water on the track. The rest of the track drained very well and gave good grip in the conditions, but in the race, with those winds, it was just incredible. They were forecasting up to 60 mph, I don't if they got there but it felt like it.
I'd like to say I though the officials did the right thing by red flagging the race. One lap before they stopped it, the wind was getting quite treacherous and blowing us around a lot and there was a big branch that blew off a tree down the end of the back straight. You would have known it if it hit you, so I was expecting the race to be stopped for safety reasons.
Now much has been said about the minutes that followed the red flag and how the race was eventually awarded to Valentino. In my opinion it was the right decision.
There had been no post-race discussions in our team. As soon as I rode back into the garage we began to prepare for a re-start. It was business as usual. But the directors made a decision to cancel the race and I'm happy to stand by what they did. I'm satisfied with the way they handled the situation, we could have waited for four hours, who knows how long it was going to take for the wind to die down and I think they had everyone's best interests at heart. The rule actually states that a race will run from flag to flag to finish the full distance, unless for safety reasons and there is no doubt safety was an issue.
It was another chapter in the Indy record books, bikes back to the famous circuit after almost 100 years. It was a shame about the weather, but nobody can change that. I think because Indy car and NASCAR don't race at all in the rain the fans really appreciated the effort we put in to race in those conditions. Incredibly all 19 of us finished which rarely happens even in dry conditions.
Umbrella girls, a definite neccessity when Hurricane Ike is a couple hundred miles south and bringing weather to Indy.
We are going back there for two more years and I'm excited about that. Hopefully next year it's better weather, but it's a good racetrack that had been prepared well. Indianapolis Motor Speedway put on a great show. They are really well organized, the locals were just tremendous and I think importantly, they deserve to have MotoGP. They set the bar high and as a category that's what we should all be striving for, so I will be more than happy to go back.
The countdown is on to my fourth Australian Grand Prix and as usual I am extremely excited to be heading back to Phillip Island for my favourite race of the season.
A lot of people ask me if I get nervous or do I feel any added pressure racing at home and the answer has always been no! People can be surprised by that, but it's the honest truth and I think the fans have a lot to do with it.
In my opinion there is just no expectation from the Aussie motorcycle fans, at all. To me it seems they are just happy to be down there cheering. They want an Aussie in the race and sure they'd like us to do well, but more importantly they just love the racing. I think that's one of the reasons I like going there so much, the Aussies fans are just fun to race for.
This ain't NASCAR, MotoGP rides in the rain America!
This will be my third outing for Suzuki at the Island. I'll never forget stepping on the podium in 2006 under trying conditions. Now last year we didn't have such a good result. We were eighth and to be honest we struggled a little bit with set up. Trying to get grip out of those long, fast corners can be a real nightmare for our team. We've made a lot of changes to the bike this year. In fact we've even made some major changes during the season with the chassis and engine. Some of the problems that we have during the year at other tracks are magnified at the Island, so we are hoping we are going to take a step there. Of course for me, in front of a home crowd, it would be great to step on the podium.
The middle part of the season for me has been quite positive. After making those changes I just spoke about it we felt like we'd made a step in the right direction, but it's never enough. There is always room for improvement and there is no such thing as a perfect motorbike. It's always compromises.
At the end of the day you can't let emotion run the show. It is round 16 of an 18-race championship, and my goal is to be as far up the points table at the end of the season as possible. It just happens to be at one of the best racetracks in the world and definitely one of my favorites!
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