Padgett’s Honda rider Jakub Smrz had a tough opening MCE British Superbike round at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit over the weekend. The former World Superbike racer failed to make it in to the top ten in both races and even though he was pleased with the progress he has made, there are still some issues that need to be resolved.
“It was very difficult weekend and we didn’t have much testing, so we set the bike up at Brands, and the bike was good and not bad to ride. We still have a few issues to solve and the main one is looking at the tyres and how best to use them with the bike. I was fast in the beginning, but with the tyres at the end I found it hard going into turns and exiting corners. The results were not so good, but lucky for us all the information we got this weekend was quite promising," said the Padgett’s Honda rider, speaking to bikesportnews.com.
Smrz will experience the Thruxton race circuit for the first time this week, and is not thinking to far into the future. The Czech Republic rider is solely concentrating on the next race. “I have heard it is not an easy track, but it is fast and I like fast tracks. I have no idea about Padgett’s future; I didn’t talk to anyone this weekend. I just wanted to concentrate on racing.”
But the Padgett’s Honda teams MCE British Superbike future is still uncertain, as they are still looking for a big sponsor to take them through for the rest of the season. But Clive Padgett and his team will be at Thruxton on Friday for the next BSB round this week.
“It is important to let Jakub learn the track at Thruxton because he has never been there before, it is very wide, open and flat, but he has made a lot of progress. He has never ridden the bike before in the dry until Friday, and in the first free practice we didn’t go out, so we lost one practice session. I think it was a positive weekend and we are not disappointed, sure we want to be on the podium, and last year at Brands we were fourth. Jakub has some circuits to learn, but the guy has done good," added Clive Padgett.
