Britain's Bradley Smith has said that beating the four Ducati Desmosedicis in Sunday's Austin MotoGP race is his target but reckons that passing on the Circuit of the Americas is going to be tough.

The Monster Yamaha man did a chunk of laps on a scooter yesterday and believes that using the superior corner speed of the YZR-M1 will be the key to good result at a track he says will be very difficult to learn.

"There are so many line choices here. I'm not sure what we will be using until we get out there but every corner has three different ideas. Nothing leads on to a long straight apart from one corner so everything is short and sharp," said Smith, speaking to bikesportnews.com at Austin.

"MotoGP bikes wheelie a lot so I am not sure if you're going to benefit from preparing the exit all the time. I think here we will be chasing the speed in and gain the time there - gain two bikes lengths in and they can only get one back on the exit.

"It's not as flowing as it looks, it's more stop/start and, unfortunately, difficult to pass. There are a couple of places where you can dive up the inside but if you get stuck behind a slower rider here, it will be difficult to make a move.

"My expectations are the same as Qatar. My rivals haven't been here. The top guys have but that is not where we are aiming. The closer I can be to the Ducatis the better. We should be ahead of the Ducatis because we have more data than them as we can take information from Jorge and Valentino.

"My first session I just want to go round. The more laps I can do the better it will be - even not stopping in the first session is a good idea. Just continue to do laps as the track will only get better. We won't be chasing times, just knowledge."