Smith back to 2015 form at long last

Bradley Smith says that the pace that took him to sixth place and top satellite bike in Mugello isn’t a one-off – and insists that he’s now back to the level that saw him finish the championship in that spot last year.

Struggling to adapt to the Michelin tyres since the beginning of the season – and chasing settings because of it – the Oxfordshire racer says he’s now found his form.

“I don’t think Mugello was a one-off, because we saw great potential in Le Mans, except I just didn’t finish it off how I should have. If it had, I would have been top satellite. I think this is a sign of things to come now. I’m feeling better and better with the bike.

“I’ve improved it again this weekend, and even though I do like Mugello, we’ve now made the bike good at two completely different racetracks. We’re getting our heads where we need to be, and the performance is coming because of it.

“Thirteen seconds behind the leader at the end of the race is a strong result for us and shows that we have worked in the right direction. It has taken us until the sixth round to get to where we were last year, which is quite a long time but we have plenty more races to go to make up the points we lost at the start of the season.”