Suzuka 8hr 2015

Bradley Smith: Suzuka R1 feels like MotoGP M1

Bradley Smith admits there is a lot of pressure and expectation ahead of this weekend's debut in the Suzuka 8 Hour endurance race.

Smith and Tech 3 MotoGP team-mate Pol Espargaro have been called up by Yamaha to star in its factory return at the prestigious Japanese event. The pair will ride alongside national champion Katsuyuki Nakasuga, most familiar to European fans for his podium at the 2012 Valencia MotoGP.

“Yes there is a lot of expectation, but we know the job we need to do and Yamaha have given me Pol and Nakasuga a fantastic package,” Smith said. “Nakasuga-san has taught us a lot as he helped to develop the bike and has the most experience at Suzuka so yes, we expect the pressure but all of us want to win and bring the trophy back to Yamaha Motor Corporation.”

Having reached MotoGP via the familiar CEV-125cc-Moto2 ladder, Superbike - let alone endurance racing - is something of an alien environment for the Englishman. Yet his machinery already feels familiar.

“The good thing is that the R1 I'm using at Suzuka already feels like my M1 I use in MotoGP and the fact that we use Bridgestone tyres in MotoGP means I am used to the feedback I get from the tyres,” Smith explained.

“Of course they are a little bit different to our MotoGP tyres, but the DNA of the Bridgestone MotoGP tyre is still there and they worked well in testing.”

Smith, joint fifth and the leading satellite rider in this year's MotoGP standings, made his grand prix debut in 2006 - three years after the legendary Suzuka circuit was removed from the calendar.

“I really love riding at Suzuka, it was better than I expected,” he said. “Everyone I talked to said how much fun it is to ride, but it really is great and I love the undulations and blind corners.

“I would say my favourite part is the 'S' Curves as I really enjoyed riding through that part, but also 130R at the end of the back straight.”

Yamaha is seeking its first Suzuka 8 Hours victory since Colin Edwards and Noriyuki Haga in 1996. Honda, winner of the last five events in a row, has signed former MotoGP champion Casey Stoner for this year's line-up.

The full interview with Bradley Smith can be viewed on the Bridgestone Motorsport website.

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Gaz said:

Agreed Arrib, and one that I still so miss being out of the roster nowadays.

Used to love the coverage of the bikes down the hill and into Spooner before firing up the hill into the right/left. So many memories of the 500cc era riders there

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AntG said:

I've heard some riders say "safer" circuits have led to more reckless riding and that in the old days the threat of hitting a concrete concrete wall if they got it wrong made riders think before they did something stupid, nowadays there's some circuits that have asphalt runoff areas so if they overdo it they run off the track and rejoin the race at full throttle sometimes barging into the path of other racers as they rejoin. So they've got rid of one danger and replaced it with another.

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Jumkie said:

Casey needs to murder somebody in a car "accident" while texting before he can be considered a "hero". Like Bruce Jenner did.


Edit: crap, that wasn't funny. Actually tragic. .... Bruce deGenederate.

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JPSLotus said:

This is true of car racing as well.

I've told many of the safety ....... that the reason you saw an uptick in reckless riding has a lot to do with there being little in the way of any punishment for engaging in .... racing behavior.

If you have endless tarmac runoff, you have no fear of running wide or anything else.

The safer cars became, the easier it was to run guys off the track or try and not blink because well, if you crash, you'll probably walk away just fine.

Motor racing works better when there is danger involved IMO. Sure people may die, two guys just got killed in one of the support races yesterday for WSBK at Laguna Seca. Sad yes, but .... happens. The risk is intriguing to watch, and it shows you how good the riders/drivers are when getting it wrong can result in a legitimate bad outcome.

Better to die doing what you love than to die in some nursing home from dementia.

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JPSLotus said:

Yeah it was funny more because everyone is holding up Bruce as a hero even though he pretty much committed a homicide, but has gotten away with it seemingly since he's such a "role model".

....... attention whore if there ever was one.

He learned well from the Kardashians.

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Arrabbiata1 said:

Whenever I think of a JPS Lotus I recall a poster of Ronnie Peterson that I had on my wall as a kid.

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Jumkie said:

AntG, good takes (I hope I can express approval, Jesus I'm shell shocked still). I guess your right about Adriana, honestly I never really paid much attention. I probably should have asked how Casey met her, I just erroneously assumed she had been an umbrella girl, dumb of me really). I agree about the safer track unintended effect, I know I've heard a racer or two say this, in fact Casey said this very thing. If memory serves, he said he wasn't king on run offs because it seemed to give license to others to take greater risk. And if I may say. I've mentioned it myself in reference to a few riders, in particular Murder Mac's dive bombs that didn't result in crashes because the paved run off saved him (though I'm assuming he knew it going in) hence the dive bomb.

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JPSLotus said:

Ronnie was the man.

One of the fastest drivers in history...was one of the greatest team players ever. He was faster than Fittipaldi, but he stuck to team orders even though he could have blown him away any time he liked. He did the same thing during the 1978 season. Mario Andretti said Ronnie could have beaten him any time he wished, but he stuck behind him because Colin asked him. Then of course Monza happened. Stupid ....... doctors. :-/

Only weakness he had was he couldn't setup a car worth a ..... He needed both Fittipaldi and Mario. But he would copy their setup and then go faster than them...Fittipaldi used to rage about it lol.

Love this picture from Zandvoort 1978 of the Lotus 79's.

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Gaz said:

If memory (and reports) serve right, he made the comments in a safety meeting regarding the concrete on the operhaps inripple strips that had been that was artificially turfed. The comments (again all from memory) were made at a safety meeting and subsequent media conference where he explained why he would give up attending the meetings as he felt that many of the his points were not acknowledged.

Further, if memory serves right this all occurred prior to the Shoyu Tomizawa incident but was reported after the event and Stoner (as is usual when he speaks) got pilloried by fans and some media alike.

But yes, he is not the only rider to have mentioned that by making circuits safer, you do not make rider behaviour safer.

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Dr No said:

"Stupid ....... doctors."
Really? How come?

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Jumkie said:

Well yes, common knowledge, No? But it doesn't work for motorcycle racing. I think they should penisize anybody who uses the runoffs like this with a 30 sec penisalty. Like say the loss from actual gravel (well sorta). That way when MurderMac uses it to dive bomb, he goes into it knowing if he screws up, it will cost him the position.

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Jumkie said:

Well yes, common knowledge, No? But it doesn't work for motorcycle racing. I think they should penisize anybody who uses the runoffs like this with a 30 sec penisalty. Like say the loss from actual gravel (well sorta). That way when MurderMac uses it to dive bomb, he goes into it knowing if he screws up, it will cost him the position.

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