Bradley Smith plans to imitate Stefan Bradl in debut MotoGP season – MotoGP news
Yamaha Tech 3 rider Bradley Smith aims to emulate LCR Honda rider Stefan Bradl in his debut MotoGP season.
Bradl finished 8th in the final riders’ standing for 2012, Bradl’s debut MotoGP season. Bradl finished amongst the top five riders in four Grand Prix rounds.
“Looking at what Stefan Bradley did in his first year up last year, in that seventh to fifth area, I would like to think I have got that type of result in me. It's a realistic focus, a very
hard one to achieve, but I believe in it,” Smith said while talking to BBC Sports.
Having spent 2 seasons in the Moto2 class riding for Yamaha Tech 3, Smith will be moving up to the MotoGP class in 2013 and will find Cal Crutchlow as his teammate. Smith’s Moto2 run was
not very impressive considering the fact that in his two years of Moto2 career, Smith could only manage 2 podium finishes. Leaving that aside, Smith aspires to challenge the likes of Repsol Honda rider Marc Marquez and Ducati Desmosedici rider Andrea Iannone.
“If I could emulate anything close to Bradl in his first year I would be chuffed. There are three rookies coming up from Moto2 this year in Marc Marquez, Andrea Iannone and myself. That gives
me two riders who I know well to base myself on,” said Smith.
In his most recent MotoGP appearance at Sepang, Smith impressed MotoGP experts and fans. The English rider finished the first 2013 pre-season MotoGP test eight, ahead of Ducati factory riders
Nicky Hayden and Andrea Dovizioso. 2 minutes and 2.093 seconds was Smith’s best lap time.
According to Smith, he is still adjusting to the power of YZR-M1 bike since he signed a deal with Yamaha Tech 3 in 2011. Categorising himself as a ‘lanky scrawny kid’, Smith claimed that
he will require a lot of work in the gym to get master control over his MotoGP bike.
The second official pre-season test starts in a couple of weeks at Sepang. It is imperative for Smith to capitalise the second chance he will get to test his Yamaha bike.
Tags: