Totally gutted is the only was to describe my feelings when I hit the floor in China. The pain just increased one hundred per cent when I realised I could not get back on the bike and in the race. The footrest hanger broke in the impact and that was that, no World Championship points once again.
It's no good pressing the re-wind button because we can change nothing but what was so frustrating is we can't find a reason for the crash. The telemetry showed I was travelling at exactly the same speed as the previous lap although the revs were slightly higher which might just have upset the balance of the bike more than normal.
The crash in Portugal came because I was trying too hard to stay with the leaders but in China it was just one of those things that you can't compensate for because everything up till then was going so well despite the rain.
Practice and qualifying in the dry was good despite a crash early in the Friday qualifying session when I pushed too hard on cold tyres at the beginning of the session which was a silly mistake. I went out on the second bike and it was brilliant and so I stuck with it all weekend. I qualified in pole for the third grand prix out of four, won another watch, and enjoyed being in the press conference with World Champions
Valentino Rossi and
Casey Stoner.
Rain was forecast on Sunday and the first thing I did on Sunday morning was jump out of bed to open the curtains and it was not raining. I had another peek before breakfast but then leaving the hotel for the Shanghai circuit it started to pour down.
If you have been quick in the dry it should not make that much difference in the wet because you have confidence in the bike and tyres. The wet warm-up went well and I was second behind World Champion Gabor Talmacsi. I made a good start from pole and was quite happy to follow Talmacsi and Italian Andrea Iannone who went on to win the race. I'd chosen a slighter harder rear tyre and when the track started to dry prospects looked good but then the crash.
