In the first of his exclusive columns for Crash.net, 15-year-old British schoolboy Bradley Smith reviews the Turkish Grand Prix at Istanbul, his third race as a 125cc grand prix rider for the Repsol Honda team...Jerez was my first grand prix, it was incredible to see 132,000 people there on race day, then we went to Qatar with a completely different culture, and now after race three in Turkey I'm feeling a bit gutted because of the smallest of spills that would otherwise have let me continue.
Frustratingly, the foot peg was broken and I couldn't get back on. Something was just missing at Turkey though. In the race it felt like I was really pushing in terms of pace, and sliding the bike around, and that didn't happen in the previous two races. I upped my aggression for the race - as opposed to the lack of aggression I was giving it in Jerez and Qatar - but the placings didn't quite shake out. It's all part of the experience of course, and I'm not going to dwell on it.
Racing with the new guys I'm with this year is a little similar to the Spanish Championship where I finished second last year. But of course in Spain I was at the front and out of trouble with a brilliant clear view ahead! So to be back in the non-stop hit and run part of the pack means you have to be aggressive. I really got the bit between my teeth at the start in Turkey, picking off four of them at turn 2, but then dropped some other places before the end of the lap. How did that happen?!
The Istanbul Park track didn't feel that quick because it is just so wide. You could go through the quick right hander at Turn 11 and still have space on your left hand side. It's the F1 track syndrome of having massive run offs to be safe, but it saved de Angelis in 250...
I struggled a little to learn the track, but it's the type of lap that takes a while to learn anyway. Just how I'd imagine it hard to learn Suzuka. It was not easy because the track wasn't in any of the MotoGP playstation games I had either! Before China I'm going to have to invest in some F1 games as they'll have Shanghai in there to have a go at...
Alberto Puig comes down to help us in our garage quite a bit, but he lets Raul (Jara) do his thing because Raul is really my mentor. Alberto knows that Raul knows what he's doing so he lets him guide me. When something is necessary Alberto says it, but when it's not, he just points me at Raul. When Alberto says something it's not very long, but it is certainly to the point. There are no ifs, buts, and maybes with him!
The travel thing has been all over the place so far, but it's good to get the bad luck out of the way early on to hopefully leave us a little luckier later on. The trip back from Jerez took forever with delays and mess ups… but I'm learning that it's part of it… The way back from Qatar was quite a wander. I had a good isle seat on the plane, but there was this big Military guy behind me who didn't let me put my seat back, and it was freezing cold near the air conditioning! Fortunately it was a night flight so we were pretty wacked out after race day.
The weekend between Turkey and China will see me at home in Oxfordshire. I hope to get the forks back for my Supermoto so I'll be out and about. As long as I'm out on a motorbike that'll be good. I've also got to catch up on some school work too. I'm interested in Media Studies at school so I'm working hard on some assessment work where I'm making a short film.
China and Le mans back to back are going to be very difficult with regards to the body clock having a bit of a bashing so I'm keeping my fitness up and sleep in so I can get on top of what is going to be a very busy schedule. It's ironic that for my first year it is apparently the hardest schedule for years, but it's the same for everyone.
Head down and throttle open it's going to be.
Bradley Smith
