They had been warning us all weekend at Indianapolis that the remnants of Hurricane Ike would strike the circuit. We kept waiting and waiting but typically when it did arrive it was in the middle of the 125cc race.
With the rain pouring down and the gale force winds blowing debris across the track the race had to be stopped but if only we could have continued - who knows what would have happened.
I was flying and catching the leaders after being knocked down to 27th place when Michael Ranseder crashed into the side of me and knocked me onto the kerb on the very first lap. He crashed but I just managed to stay on the bike.
At the end of that first lap I came into one of the most famous start and finish straights in world championship motorsport with those vast towering grandstands on either side, and my chances looked pretty grim. The leaders were racing into turn one and I was 12 seconds behind them.
All I could do was get my head down and try a bit of damage limitation and take some world championship points. My pace surprised me and I was faster than in practice and the warm-up. I passed loads of riders. In first to fifth gear the bike was equal to the others but in sixth it just took off.
I closed the gap on the leaders to just five seconds but the rain was pouring down and even more worrying was the wind that was blowing loads of litter and leaves across the track. Race Direction let the race continue until we’d completed enough laps not to have the race rerun and out came the red flag. I actually crossed the line in seventh place but the final positions are taken from the previous lap and so I had to settle for eighth.
