Following a highly successful inaugural visit to the new MotoGP circuit at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Jeremy Burgess was understandably over the moon with the all-round performance of his charge, Valentino Rossi, throughout the weekend.In spite of the dreadful weather conditions, Rossi put on yet another top draw show for the hardy race fans who braved the elements as the tail-end of Hurricane Ike lashed the IMS circuit, to put himself within touching distance of a sixth premier class crown - as he led by nearly six seconds when the race was cut short and his seventh 2008 victory was declared.
Burgess reviewed the historic Indy weekend telling motogp.com, `It was great to be here, it is a wonderful place. It was wet on Friday, we got some dry running time on Saturday, good qualification in the afternoon, pole position, lap record and race win, so it worked out very well. Unfortunately it didn´t go the full distance but I think the fans got a good taste of what MotoGP is all about here.´
Commenting on Rossi´s game plan in such difficult conditions in Sunday´s contest, Burgess added, `The tactics for the race were pretty much as they are for all wet races. It is usually better if you have got the clear track ahead of you to get out in front. We are on different tyres to Nicky so we had to take that all in and see where we were stronger and where we weren´t. We were a little bit conservative at the start of the race, however we worked our way through to second and then when the opportunity came he was able to take Nicky.´
With Rossi having started at the head of the Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix grid, courtesy of his pole-setting 1´40.776 Saturday QP best, the Italian maestro set the fastest lap of the wet race on Sunday with a 1´49.668s effort coming on lap fifteen, with Burgess insisting that `The Doctor´ was determined to put his name in the history books in MotoGP´s first visit to the famous American venue.
`He started out trying to enjoy himself this weekend,´ said Burgess. `I think he really did enjoy this race as he definitely set himself the goals of wanting to be on pole and to win here at Indianapolis. That was pretty clear from what I could see in his riding, he wanted to be more than an also-ran, he wanted to win it, so it has been wonderful.´
Fourth or better next time out at Motegi will be enough for Rossi to wrap up the title, though with Burgess hailing from Adelaide and with fellow Australian mechanics Alex Briggs and Gary Coleman also in the team, alongside Brent Stephens (a New Zealander who resides in Australia), there would not be huge disappointment if they had to wait a week longer to secure championship at Phillip Island – where Rossi clinched his 2004 title.
Burgess concluded, `It is not over yet but you have to say that we have a good handle on it. It is going to be good to go to Motegi in Japan and then on to Phillip Island, which I know he loves. Having an `Australian´ team it would be great to go to Phillip Island having won it, or to be able to celebrate the victory there.´
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