Smith and Espargaro geared up for the final show down at Valencia

Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team riders Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro will arrive at the Ricardo Tormo circuit prepared and ready for the Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valenciana where they aim to close the year with two strong results. After a demanding triple flyaway header, the MotoGP paddock returns to Spain for what promises to be a thrilling end to the 2015 racing season with the 4 kilometre circuit being an incredible stage for the action. The track, which features eight left as well as five right corners, is situated in an amphitheatre that allows the roaring crowd to view every section of the circuit where many memorable battles have been fought in previous years.

Bradley Smith heads to Spain fully primed for the fight as he targets another top six result in order to confirm his status as the leading satellite rider of 2015 as well as 6th in the World Championship standings. The young Briton comes off the back of a superbly executed 4th place finish in Malaysia and as he has positive memories of a previous victory at the Valencia circuit, he confidently seeks to close the year on a high. Meanwhile, Pol Espargaro aims to give his all and fight to a solid finish in his home country, despite still being in pain due to the injury he sustained at the previous round. The young Spaniard unfortunately hurt himself during the warm up at the Malaysian GP and suffered a cervical fissure and sprain. Yet, he brilliantly powered through the pain and persevered to 9th. He will be intending to make amends this weekend, despite not being fully healed, and he hopes to repeat his performance from last year, where he completed the race in 6th and as the leading satellite rider.

Bradley Smith

Championship: 6th, 171 points

“Next up is the season finale and I can’t wait to get going at Valencia where I fully intend to close this incredible year with a good result. My main objective is to complete the 30 lap sprint inside the top six so that I can clinch 6th in the championship standings and finish as the leading satellite rider. This will be super for me and the Tech3 Team and a testament to how hard we’ve all worked in 2015. I’ve had some strong performances at Valencia, which includes winning my last 125cc race, plus after achieving three decent results in the fly away GP’s, I am fully confident of doing a good job this weekend. The event is bound to be a memorable one and we definitely need to hit the ground running on Friday. The layout of the track doesn’t provide too many chances to overtake, so a solid qualifying performance will be crucial in order to be in a promising position for Sunday. Having said that, the weather there is always unpredictable and so we need to be ready for any circumstance. As far as I know the event is sold out and the grandstands will be packed, which will be great to see, therefore I am really looking forward to the last challenge of the year.”

Pol Espargaro

Championship: 10th, 103 points

“I am looking forward to racing in front of my home fans at the Ricardo Tormo circuit, which is a track that I really enjoy riding on and one that always has an amazing atmosphere. However, I am under no illusions that this round will be easy, especially because I am nursing the neck injury from the Malaysia GP. I am still in pain and to be honest, that race was one of the toughest that I have ever had to ride. It marked a tricky end to the flyaway events, which were all quite challenging and for sure, I would have liked to finish those three races further up the order. However, we never gave up and pushed nonstop so now we will focus on Valencia and I am confident of riding to a solid result. Last year, I completed the GP in sixth, which was a positive way to end the season and even though this may be a bit tricky to repeat due to the competition as well as my injury, it is what I will be hoping for. Having said that, the fans support will really help me and motivate me even more. There will be thousands there and I will do my best to give them a good result to remember the race by. I know that we can conclude the year positively and I will fight through the pain and do my absolute best at Valencia with my Yamaha YZR-M1.”