MotoGP: Bradley Smith looking to make an impact on lack of British riders at the top

MotoGP star Bradley Smith believes the reason there is a lack of British talent in MotoGP is down to the fact that there is a lack of investment into motorcycle racing. Smith has made the decision that if there is anything he wants to do after his career, it’s do something about it. 

The biggest issue for any rider trying to make it in the sport at the moment is finding the budgets to pay racing teams. What makes it even harder for British riders, is the lack of support and help to be able to pay these budgets. 

“I think now is actually a much more difficult situation, finding those budgets is a little bit more complicated. There’s a massive difference between when I came through the entry level and now. I think just the amount of budget and the amount of interest that was around, that’s an important thing. I got super lucky and I’m not afraid to say that, I came through at a golden time where Dorna was looking for a talented British rider to put in 125s and the BBC for then to take the coverage of 125s and 250s they had to have a reason. I just was riding a wave at the perfect time and I fitted the bill that probably happened to 3 riders in the last 15 years, so that’s how lucky I’ve been. I took that opportunity with both hands and I got where I have” Smith explained. 

“As lucky and as great as my career has been, it’s kind of scary to think I got to where I am in racing and there’s been no corporate British sponsor the whole time I’ve been there. The closest we got was RSF Foundation with Graham Sharp, he came in for those years and did a tremendous job trying to create something there, but in terms of anything else its very tricky.”

Smith is joining together with ex Moto2 rider Claudio Corti to create a riding school and race team in what they’re calling ‘Project 109’. The racing team is aiming at the Spanish Superbike series (ESBK) for the 2021 season. They will be competing in the national Supersport 300 and 600cc categories. 

“Project 109 kind of started as an idea after training with R3s, and then it started to grow in terms of saying well since we’ve got these training bikes we could be of assistance to young riders’ careers. Then we started looking into the coaching and the schools, and then started to grow into thinking about having a team in the Spanish ESBK championship. It’s been a snowball affect the last two months where it’s been one idea to the next and while I’ve got the time to focus on it I’ve just been full gas every day.”

Bradley made it clear that he wants to use this opportunity to give back to the sport, give opportunities for up-and-coming riders, and try to do it in an affordable way for the riders. 

“I want to find a different way at coming at this and show that there is a sport worth investing in. In the first year, I’m not going be able to put the sponsors together to offer free rides to anybody but at some point, it would be nice to basically lower this cost price to the riders. It’s scary, I’m looking at the 300s and even into European Talent Cup (ETC), they’re supposed to be entry level racing and we’re looking at €35-40K for 300s, €45-60K for ETC, and for 600s we’re looking at €70K and higher, it has me head scratching as to how these guys continue to do it. Obviously, it’s an investment for talent but at some point, there needs to be a little bit.” 

Not only does Smith aspire to create a team with achievable budgets and free rides, himself and Corti are looking to provide a new pathway for these riders to make it to world championship racing.

“Most people want to go race prototype motorcycles and they only want to go prototype motorcycles. The thing that scares me is that when they get to 15/16 years old and they’ve paid their €200k to ride a year in moto3, they then don’t make it and they’re just dropped on the sky. They then have to then restart their career on national Superstock 600, and then maybe they can start getting themselves back. Let’s say someone like Max Cook is in that situation at the moment where he’s top 10 inside of CEV this year, but has now gone to Stock 600 to try and rebuild a career over in England.” 

“I think maybe that the 300 to 600 route could be a bit more diverse and it’s bit less of a drop. I think your range of opportunity is a bit wider. You could potentially jump into World Superbike or even a competitive national championship that maybe you’re not being paid to ride motorcycles, but there’s a little bit more national interest and bit more budget around”

Project 109 also has aspirations to move with its riders to bigger and better things. Smith is open to see what the future can bring to the project.

“The aspirations are already to look at something like CEV Moto2, because that then gives our 300-600 riders somewhere to go. Obviously, World Supersport is always an option, and it would be nice to also put them across to Moto2. We’re seeing a lot better jump from 600cc riders to Moto2 right now then from before with 600cc to 250cc. I think Jake Dixon and Sam Lowes are good examples of that. Jake obviously also did Superbike, but it shows they can make that transition.” “Because we know how peaky the mountain is and how difficult it is to be that one person out of however many thousands, we’re trying to be a little bit smarter. We’re coming from a voice of experience and trying to come from different angle that gives you an A-road to branch off at.”