Smith: “We must learn from this tricky weekend”

Bradley Smith  experiences one of his most difficult weekends on the 2015 season, but continues his run of points.

It was not an easy weekend at any stage for Bradley Smith at the Pramac Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix, he was the only MotoGP™ rider to fall the entire weekend. But his focus remained and the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider continued to push for the best result possible. Unfortunately the situation did not drastically improve and Smith was forced to worked hard during the 27-lap race, setting a consistent pace to fight into tenth. Crucially Smith finished in front of Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) and was thus able to open a five-point gap as they fight for sixth in the standings.

With tenth in the race Smith continues his record of scoring points in each MotoGP™ World Championship round in 2015, Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha) the only other rider to do so. This consistency has granted Smith the unofficial title of top satellite rider with two rounds remaining as Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) is 51-points behind with a potential of 50-points remaining in 2015. Smith has also dominated teammate Pol Espargaro throughout the season, the Brit with 158 points while Espargaro has just 96.

Bradley Smith: “To be honest, today was a tough race for me and it’s positive to walk away with a top ten finish. This weekend we struggled to find the right setting in order to give me the confidence that I needed to be fast around this technical track. In the end, we did the best that we could with a solid setup for the race and ultimately, I was pleased with the consistency of my lap times. They were better than the times I had been setting across all three days so the team did a good job with giving me the best bike that they could. Having said that, unfortunately this was only good enough for 10th, but nevertheless, I was fighting with my teammate and I finished in front of my championship rival Andrea Dovizioso, plus I gained three points on him.”

“We must learn from this tricky weekend because every day we couldn’t quite find the right direction, especially with regards to the extra hard tyre that Bridgestone brought here. Therefore, we need to take note of what we did and then try to improve these factors in the future. However, next up is Sepang and we won’t have that tyre there so I will arrive in Malaysia a lot more confident about getting back inside the top six which is where I feel I need to be. We had two great tests there in the winter, so I’m happy that we’ll have a solid base setting to start with. It will be another gruelling race under the heat so now it’s time to recover as much as possible in the next few days so that we can be ready for a good performance in Sepang.