Bradley Smith eager to assess rookie season progress in Sepang

British rider Bradley Smith is eager to understand how much progress he had made in a tough rookie MotoGP campaign when the gruelling flyaway tripe header kicks off in Sepang this weekend.

Smith tested twice during the pre-season at the Malaysian venue but seven months later and with 14 MotoGP races under his belt, he is keen to see how much he has improved on the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 YZR-M1 machine.

Smith is currently 10th in the world championship standings with nine top 10 finishes, including a seventh last time out at the Motorland Aragon track in Spain.
And he told MCN: “It is very difficult with Malaysia because we always see great lap times in winter testing and then we are a lot slower when we go there in the race.

I have to look at the gap to the first and that comparison rather than the lap time in general but I am really excited to go and have a look and see how much things have moved on. I do believe there would have been a huge step in 14 races and I am really excited to see how much on what is essentially the same bike.

It will be a really good comparison to see how much I have moved on in my rookie season a few months down the line. That is going to be the best benchmark I can get at the moment and the biggest one to tell where I’m at.”