Strong start at iconic Indianapolis

Posted on Aug 17, 2013 by Monster Yamaha Tech 3

The second half of the 2013 MotoGP World Championship got underway at the world famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway yesterday, with Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider Bradley Smith making an impressively fast return from a well deserved summer break.

Refreshed and raring to go after spending the three-week break relaxing in America, rookie Smith enjoyed an outstanding return to action at the legendary Brickyard venue today and after impressing with 10th position in FP1, he shone again in the second 45-minute session.

Smith capitalised brilliantly on the improved track conditions to shave a massive 2.2s off his best time from this morning and a personal best of 1.40.240 moved him into eighth on the combined rankings.

Smith was just over 0.7s off the fastest pace and less than 0.2s behind nine-times World Champion Valentino Rossi’s factory YZR-M1 machine in sixth position.

Bradley Smith 8th 1.40.240 – 41 laps
“It is great to be back on my Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine again and I definitely felt the benefit of a good summer break with some good training out there today. I feel quite comfortable on this track and I don’t really have too many issues. Our base setting is in the ballpark but we can always make improvements and I am confident we can take some steps tomorrow. We know the track is going to continually improve now for the rest of the weekend, so it will be a case of adapting as the conditions change. But to be eighth is a great start for me and hopefully I can maintain that tomorrow to ensure I go immediately into QP2.”