MotoGP: Who needs rain tires? Smith places second without pitting
Lost amid all the chaos of the San Marino Grand Prix was the fact that Bradley Smith never pit to change onto wet tires, and thus never had to pit again to change back to slicks when the circuit dried out.
One can be forgiven for missing it as the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider fell from first to 21st within a handful of laps, something you would usually associate with happening when a rider makes a late pit stop.
However, in this case it was simply due to the British rider running 30 seconds off the pace on slick tires during the wet portion of the race.
“I missed the first lap to enter in the pits when Marc and Vale and Jorge came in and then the next lap it seemed to rain a little bit less so once I’m two laps already behind, you know, I thought OK, I’m in it for the long-haul now,” explained the 24 year old.
Fortunately, Smith’s gamble paid off, and the rain eased off.
“I knew that with these track conditions and with the temperature we’ve had all weekend that the track would dry but I didn’t know how fast this circuit would dry … but, you know, when you’re on slicks, you can actually feel where the grip is and where it isn’t.”
As the rest of the field came in to pit, Smith found himself moving up the order until he eventually brought his bike home with a second-place finish, one spot behind race winner Marc Marquez and one position ahead of fellow countryman Scott Redding.
It was the first time two British riders (Smith and Redding) had been on the MotoGP podium together since Barry Sheene and Tom Herron stood on the first and third steps respectively at the 1979 Venezuelan Grand Prix.
Click HERE for the full race results from the San Marino Grand Prix
