Bradley Smith.

*Apologies to mods as not in racing thread but felt the lad deserved his own mention.*

Young Bradley(Paul Scholes clone)Smith is the only British rider with a chance of representing us with any kind of distinction this year as he commences his world championship career this weekend.

You need to appreciate the esteem in which this young fella is held when he has been given a dream ride with the Repsol Honda team in the 125 class. He has been given the nod over 100's of aspring Italian and particularly Spanish lads who normally receive the favour due to Repsol being from Spain.

Get behind him and don't just watch the big boy race this season,you may well be a big fan of his in a couple of seasons.

Couldn't agree more.

[fizzwheel]

Its a fantastic opportunity for Bradley.

I'll certainly be supporting him this year and Chaz Davies as well

I really do hope this isn't just a sop from Dorna to keep the British television market and that the boy really does do good.

Dorna really got behind Shane Byrne but at the end of the day he wasn't good enough and is now back in BSB without even a season in WSBK on his way back.

James Ellison is also looking distinctly slow next to a Carlos Checa (Chucker?) who has been ridiculed mercilessly over the last 2 seasons and was/is generally considered past it.

Curium..If Dorna were just going to pay lip service to the British tv companies, I do not think he would have been getting a bike that is a real contender? He could have just been palmed off with a 2005 bike?

Shakey was not allowed to show his best IMHO as after all he was not exactly riding a race winning potential bike.

James has got a tough act to stay with Carlos who does not deserve the cruel nick name as it is more a play on his surname than anything. Let's not forget that he had a BIG crash a few years ago that nearly killed him and that I imagine takes a while to get out of the system.

Contradicting myself a little,Carlos did injure himself early on last season but when he got back he was riding very well indeed,not finished by any stretch of the imagination. He was looking very smooth during the IRTA practice a couple of weeks ago.

Originally Posted by curium

I really do hope this isn't just a sop from Dorna to keep the British television market and that the boy really does do good.

Dorna really got behind Shane Byrne but at the end of the day he wasn't good enough and is now back in BSB without even a season in WSBK on his way back.

James Ellison is also looking distinctly slow next to a Carlos Checa (Chucker?) who has been ridiculed mercilessly over the last 2 seasons and was/is generally considered past it.

This is no Dorna thing, the boy is good! I think he won the final 3 rounds of the Spanish 125cc championship. He has struggled with the bike this year in testing, posting times well below the leaders, but he has only just turned 15! At that age I was still sniffing glue and riding my skateboard! Albert Puig wouldn't have selected him for the ride if he didn't see the potential.

Just a shame that Chaz Davis didn't get a similar oppurtunity at the start of last season when he was on fire!