Bradley Smith slumps to worst qualifying of 2013

British rookie Bradley Smith will start from the lowest grid position of his impressive rookie MotoGP campaign in Misano tomorrow after the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider struggled to a lowly 13th in qualifying.

A run of six consecutive top 10 starts came to an abrupt end as a lap of 1.34.869 meant Smith failed to advance from the opening QP1 15-minute session for the first time this season.

The 22-year-old might have lapped over 1.2s faster than his pace in practice yesterday but as he pushed hard to break into QP2 he crashed out on his final unhurt at Turn 14.

It was the second time this weekend that Smith has suffered a front-end crash and when asked by MCN to outline his issues he said: “For some reason the bike stops like a truck and turns like a truck. And that is not the normal way for Yamaha. Normally you can brake and it stays in line but my rear tyre is constantly off the ground and when I put it into the corner it turns like a lorry. It will not go round slow corners and I am a little bit lost as to why.

I don’t know if it is lean angle or set-up but I have now had two crashes on relatively slow corners just trying to turn the handlebars to make the bike turn. I completely tucked the front and it is my own fault because I am twisting the handlebars to try and get it round the corner. It is frustrating and if we knew the magic cure we would have it in there. I can do decent lap times and do them consistently but I would like something a bit extra in my pocket to beat the Ducati’s tomorrow.”

This afternoon was the first time that the Oxfordshire rider has not made it through to the QP2 session and he said that was a humiliating experience.

Smith added: “It’s humiliating to not make it through and I’ve never not made it through. Even in Qatar I didn’t do it and to do it here is obviously very humiliating on a track that I know I go well on and I like. But this is what can happen in your rookie season.”