Smith targets top satellite rider in 2015

Far from drying to deflect attention ahead of the new season Bradley Smith has acknowledged the challenge that he’ll face in 2015. The Englishman, in his third season in the premier class, knows that finishing the season as the top satellite rider is the only way to guarantee him a chance of remaining with Tech3 next season.

“I’ve said it plenty of times but at the end of the day I’m in a position where if you’re top satellite rider you get to keep your job, that’s kind of a given thing now, and it also puts you in the shop window for the factory teams,” admitted Smith. “I don’t believe that there’ll be any factory rides up for grabs for 2016 because pretty much everybody is signed already but things can and do change. It’s more a case where for me where I do the job that means that Yamaha and Tech3 want to keep me for another year and then we’ll see what comes around in two years time.”

The first challenge for Smith will be to beat his teammate, Pol Espargaro, who last year had an exceptionally strong rookie season that included a front row start in Le Mans.

“First and foremost, I have to beat Pol. He has a Yamaha contract rather than a Tech3 contract so he’s their chosen rider at the moment so if I can stay in front of him I believe that is my main target because, obviously, finishing behind him last year wasn’t great so getting in front of him and the other satellite riders is the target. Out and out though my target is to be number one within Tech3 and then number one within the satellite teams.”