I knew something was seriously wrong when I looked down and saw my fuel tank covered in blood as I raced down the start and finish straight in the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi on Sunday.
Just a quarter of a lap before I smashed my throat into the screen of the bike when it high-sided me out of the saddle. I went up and came down as the bike went up and, although I didn't realise at the time, I broke the screen of the fairing with my throat. With my heart rate so high the blood just pumped out all over me and my bike. I could feel the blood spraying around in the wind.
At first I didn't realise where the blood was coming from. I knew it was not my mouth but when somebody passed me with blood on their screen and helmet I knew it was certainly flowing from somewhere. The racer in me kept me going to eventually finish tenth but the faces of my mechanics when I pulled back into pit lane was a picture. When I took off my helmet the blood poured over my leathers and the gory sight of their rider produced a few white faces.
It was actually looked a lot worse than it was and I marched down pit lane to the Clinica Mobile where they cleaned up my throat, stopped the blood flowing with some butterfly stitches and I was fine. It was no problem during the 12 hour flight home on Monday and it's healing well before I jump on the plane to
Jerez on Wednesday afternoon.
I high-sided because the engine was delaying delivering the power when I opened the throttle. When the power came in it was so aggressive and it really kicked in just when I was racing through one of the streams that were still flowing across the track after the morning rain. I just held on for the ride but when I came down I smashed and slit my throat when it hit the screen which broke.
The engine problem was getting worse as the race went on and it was beginning to get dangerous as I found out. In was such a shame because I was behind Andrea Iannone who was leading the bunch on slick tyres, but before the high-side I'd settled for ninth place because I knew I'd crash if I'd pushed any harder.
It must have been a great race to watch on the track that was actually steaming in the sunshine as it started to dry out. I think Danny Webb took a great gamble starting on wet tyres and he was unlucky because the track which had been flooded just an hour before dried so quickly. Full marks also to Iannone who might have been lucky in Qatar but was fantastic on Sunday and nobody could match him.
Let's hope we can put one over him in
Jerez at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday. I learnt a lot in Japan where the weather was so freaky. How could it rain so hard on Sunday morning and then produce warm sunshine and blue skies just an hour later. Japan is an Island and Motegi which is surrounded by hills and mountains seems to produce its own climate. I have never ridden so hard on slick tyres on a damp track while others had nothing to lose by risking wets and it nearly paid off.
I'm very lucky to have former 125cc World Champions in the Aspar team. Both Alvaro Bautista, who won the 250 cc race in Japan and Gabor Talmacsi told me in Japan that my bad luck will not continue. Gabor pointed to last year when he was defending his title. It started disastrously but it turned in the end and he won three races and eventually finished third.
They told me to keep focused and all of a sudden it will all click into place. Let's hope it starts on Sunday. I've scored points at the opening two races, I didn't actually crash in Japan, my injuries are cleared up and I finished third at
Jerez last year.
I'll just remember to keep my throat away from the screen this weekend.
Bradley Smith
