Smith still has work to do at Qatar

Monster Energy Tech 3 Yamaha racer Bradley Smith says it’s clear that there’s still work to be done for the squad ahead of the opening round of the 2016 MotoGP championship late next month.

Finishing the second of three pre-season tests at Phillip Island thirteenth and with a low-speed crash, the British rider was nonetheless optimistic about the results of the test.

“We did a good job at Phillip Island, although there are obvious signs that we have to do a bit more. I was a bit unlucky on the last day because I did the famous turn 4 crash. The good news is that I don’t have too much pain or any serious injuries and when I remounted, I was able to ride quite comfortably.

“Aside from that, it was a positive day, although it was a shame about the cold weather and the rain in the middle of the day, which affected our front tyre choice. Yet, we still got through our testing programme so I feel confident enough to say that we have a really solid base setting as we go into the final three days of testing at Qatar. There, we need to reconfirm a few things that we tried here.”

And, with an electronics testing programme complete, Smith may yet be in a better position than his position on the combined times suggests, if he can capitalise on turning the development work now complete into a good base setting next week at the final test at Qatar.

“I am happy to say that the electronics are really positive at the moment and the team and I are doing a solid job in understanding that. There are still some areas that we need to work on, specifically with the acceleration, but that’s the same for everyone I think. I am satisfied with what we accomplished here, but we need to push harder next time because 13th is not enough for us and for our sponsors.”