Smith aims to keep good form going

Having taken 50 races to achieve his first GP win in Jerez Bradley Smith only needed to more rounds to repeat the feat and now his job is to maintain a continuously high level of form as the season continues.

Breaking his ‘win from pole’ duck on Sunday at the Gran Premio d’Italia Alice the English rider overcame another key psychological barrier (he qualified three times on pole last year and came away pointless twice) and his Italian victory has put him at the head of the 125cc standings with a 3.5 point advantage over his team-mate and rival Julián Simón.

The 18 year-old rode brilliantly at Mugello to fend off the threats of Nico Terol and Simón who joined him on the podium in second and third places respectively, Terol just two tenths of a second behind Smith.

Afterwards the Bancaja Aspar rider told motogp.com “The first race win in Spain felt great and this one did too but it was a lot more difficult. I had to push at 100% all the way through the race and sometimes I was on the limit, but that is necessary to win a World Championship race. I have to say congratulations to Julián and Nico because they rode so fast and they pushed me all they way until the final lap.”

“To win here at Mugello is fantastic and it is especially nice for my mechanics as they are Italian. Now we need to go to Montmeló and work as hard as we have done all season. We cannot get carried away, we start from zero there and if we can arrive in the race at the same position as today that’s fantastic. We have a good feeling, a good set-up at the moment and I just hope this form can continue in Catalunya and that we can have another fantastic battle with all these great riders there.”