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Motorcycle GP rookie Bradley Smith has been putting the winter blues behind him with a pit stop in Bahrain in a bid to rid himself of any off-season rustiness and help keen riders in the kingdom.
The 22-year-old from the English university city of Oxford, who races for the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha team in the elite motor racing world championship, spent the week touring the kingdom’s sights, advising local riders and speeding down Bahrain International Circuit’s Formula One track in Sakhir.
The professional biker, accompanied by his former motocross racing father Alan, has been staying with friends in Saar, and said: “It is incredible to have this type of facility, with a Formula One standard track, an international karting track and a motor cross track all in one area. I am privileged to come here and experience BIC’s track first hand and am grateful for the opportunity.
“We have wanted to come here for a few years now and with all the facilities on hand it just seemed so right. It took about two years to organise everything and finally it’s all happened. This trip’s been good fun so far as I love riding bikes and it’s been great to get on the saddle as my off season began in November and will carry on until February.
“I’m just trying to get myself familiar with racing 180-miles-an-hour. It takes a while for your brain to speed up to those types of things. You wouldn’t tell a tennis player not to play tennis for three months and that’s my concept as well.
“Bahrain has been kind of like a training camp for me more than anything else. This is just making sure that I’m in the best possible condition to go into the first testing and testing this year is very important to me as I’m new to the bike and to the class. It’s really valuable to be here and I can’t explain how much I appreciate it.”
At the weekend Bradley rode his Yamaha R1 road bike, prepared by Pete Beale Racing, at BIC’s open track day where he transformed himself from a professional rider to an instructor giving a few pointers to eight keen bikers aged from 20 to 50-plus.
He said: “We had a range of experience, age and ability at the track. They really have great facilities here and should take advantage of it.
“I grew up on dirt bikes and I was doing quite well in the British championships until I had an accident in 2003 and broke my leg. I had to have three months off. During those three months, a few people suggested that I check out road racing. ‘Just try it and see how you get on’, they said. I was kind of forced into it but perhaps a broken leg maybe happened for a reason because I have ended up in the elite level of MotoGP and here I am.
“I have a job that pays me to ride motorcycles and I love every minute of it. I would advise upcoming bikers to ride, have fun, use the facilities here and do not race on the road.”
On Sunday Bradley had the F1 track all to himself to try the R1 bike in order to get ready to compete in the second round of the Qatar International Championship at the Losail International circuit this coming weekend.
Qatar will host the opening round of the 2013 MotoGP World Championship on April 7. He will compete in practice and qualifying on Friday followed by two 15-lap championship races organised by the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation on Saturday.
He will be racing against the likes of Qatari Moto2 rider Mishal Al Naimi, Alex Cudlin, a Grand Prix motorcycle racer from Australia who rides for the Qatari Federation, and Nina Prinz who is considered to be one of the world’s fastest female riders.
Bradley has a great track record of his own, clocking two minutes and three seconds around the BIC track on a sandy day. He’ll be riding an ever faster Yamaha M1 mean machine, which can clock 210mph to 215mph, when the competition starts proper.
Dad Alan said: “Bradley trains like a triathlete. He swims, he runs, he cycles and he is good at all those sports. He will go out and swim 3,000 miles in a lake … and in England the lakes aren’t very nice.
“So he works really hard at what he does and what I want people to understand is that road racers are top athletes, they are not thugs. It’s a very good sport to get involved in and riding motorbikes is not dangerous. You have to start at a young age and you have to learn how to do it right.”
Bradley had recently stepped up to MotoGP, partnering with Cal Crutchlow, after spending two seasons with the Tech3 squad in Moto2.
He was also a regular frontrunner in the 125cc class recording three wins, 20 podium finishes as well as nine pole positions in his five seasons in the class.
Now Bradley will have to switch up gears as he takes on a championship like no other, competing in an 18-race series visiting 13 countries, four continents and with pan-global TV coverage.
The race features nine of the world’s most skilled riders lining a grid armed with cutting-edge motorcycle technology with prototype machinery and fielded by three manufacturers; Ducati, Yamaha and Honda.
Bradley’s first MotoGP test of the season will start at Sepang in Malaysia on February 5 where he will ride the Yamaha M1 for the first time.
