Zoom Bradley Smith

Former Red Bull MotoGP Academy rider Bradley Smith took a well-deserved second place at the Gran Premio Cinzano di San Marino e della Riviera di Rimini on Sunday, dedicating the result to his Polaris World mechanics after a hot, sweaty weekend at Misano.

Smith reflected on the 125cc contest saying, “It was an important race for me and the team after a couple of disappointing results and we have bounced back. They worked so hard and all I can say is, this is for them!”

Revealing the tactics he had used after he crossed the line five seconds behind 125cc World title holder and race winner Gabor Talmacsi, Smith explained, “I knew that I would have to push hard in the first ten laps to get a gap otherwise there would be a lot of fighting, so I just tried to stay behind Gabor and go with him. When he made the mistake I tried to push and to go for the victory but he had better pace than me and was keeping maybe 10% in his pocket. Obviously I am a little bit disappointed because I always want to win.”

Although Smith is still in search of his first career victory, having led races on several occasions this season, he was taking all the positives from another exciting single cylinder battle. He stated, “At the end of the day today I was fighting with the World Champion. He is the best in the world so I took a lot of experience from this race and I will use it at Indianapolis which is a new track for everybody. ”

Having finished tenth in the championship last season with now the disbanded Repsol Honda 125cc team, his latest result puts him within five points of the top five - in seventh position in the standings - in a highly competitive category.

His Polaris World employers have set him what now appears to be a more than plausible target of finishing in the top six before making an announcement on his 2009 contract, though Smith himself appears to be content to stay put.

He commented, “I want to stay in 125cc next year because I think I still need more experience and I am trying to learn and understand all the time. We have to wait and see, hopefully in the near future we will be able to say something but at the moment we have to wait.”

© DORNA / CAPSIS International