VOL. 51 ISSUE 16 APRIL 22, 2014 P83
who are spending their hard
earned money to come and see
us race. I don't like to lock my-
self around. But when it's time for
my racing, it's time for me racing.
The 40 minutes before a session,
I'll completely come in here and
sit in my office and switch off on
the rest of the world and I'll con-
centrate on the job at hand. Also,
for me, I'm here to apply myself to
this job. I have the best job in the
world. I love racing motorcycles.
If I can't apply myself for the four
days I'm at a race and give my
absolute everything, then I might
as well stay at home. If you come
to a race meeting
to joke around and
play and pull wheel-
ies on scooters and
mess around with
your buddies, I think
you've got the job all
wrong.
Does that stuff
happen?
Yeah, it does.
More in the lower
categories than the
older ones. Obvi-
ously, you need to
do these types of
things and learn
from these types of
things, but you don't
see the best guys
messing around. You
don't see them smile
much, but that's how
much in the zone
they really are.
You seem to be more me-
thodical, maybe more pa-
tient, with making progress
with your riding and racing.
In other words, you warm into
things. True?
I'm a diesel! I'm a diesel en-
gine! I take a while to roll into it.
If I'm out for a two-hour bicycle
ride, the second hour is going
to be better than the first. It's just
the way I am. I like to understand
everything before I go and do
something. My dad always told
me that when I went out on these
tryout days that there was no
point to it because it always took
longer to see the best of Bradley
Smith in one day. It always took a
while for me to build up. With me,
the second day will be better, as
will the third day and the fourth
day. That's just how I am. I try to
not do that because it bugs me
to be a diesel engine and taking
a while to warm up to things, but
it's gotten me to where I am so I
don't think it's a bad thing."
Tell us about Tech 3. Is it
now your team?
Tech 3 is a great atmosphere.
I try to separate myself from the
team a little bit, just so nothing
is too friendly. I try and keep it
a very working-oriented envi-
ronment. I don't even have the
phone numbers of any of my me-
chanics. I mean I'll go out and
buy them dinner and I'll look af-
ter them, you know? When we're
here, we're together, but when
we go away I think it's better to
separate and not speak together
too much. The good thing about
this is that they feel that they can
shout at me, and I feel that I can
shout at them. Sometimes, I see
people shout at one another,
and if they've been good friends,
they might keep it inside. I have
enough of a good working rela-
tionship with my guys now that I
can shout at them and five min-
utes later it's forgotten about.
That's just the way it is. They
know I'm passionate and I know
that they're passionate. They can
shout at me when I mess up and
I can shout at them when they
mess up. The dynamic of the
Smith is now a
bonafide MotoGP star.
