"I think those were the worst conditions in which I have raced in my career," declared Rossi. "It started to rain strong, so the amount of water went up on the racetrack and it became all dark like in the night, but the biggest problem was the wind. Beer cans and bags [were blown] in front of the bike. It was very, very bad, especially because the wind was so inconsistent and very strong.
"You never knew what would happen," he continued. "Along the straight you used all the width from left to right just to try to go straight! Also, on the exit of turn nine, I had a wheelie and got blown a bit wide, I crossed the white line and lost control of the bike. I was quite lucky.
"Seriously, I think I have to raise my hand [to try to stop the race], but I was in front and could see that my advantage was going up. So I try to go and every lap I wait for the red flag, red flag, and after the red flag arrive I think is the right decision because racing like this is too dangerous."
The race was eventually red-flagged after 20 laps and, following ten minutes confusion as to whether there would be a restart - during which an airfence, amongst other things, was seen being blown in the air - Rossi was confirmed as the first ever
MotoGP winner at the Brickyard.
"In my mind, no way to restart, especially because the wind remained very strong," said Rossi. "A restart for eight laps, with all riders together in these conditions is like when you put one bullet in the gun and you make, "trrrrr," like this. It was dangerous; I think it was the right decision."
Rossi was thus confirmed as winning his fourth grand prix in a row and the first motorcycle race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway since 1909.
