Bradley Smith returned home to his native Oxfordshire at the weekend to meet Prince William, The Duke of Cambridge and win the most prestigious sporting award in the county.
“I was more nervous meeting the Prince than I was before the start of a MotoGP™ race because he’s a cool character but with such a great presence,” Smith confessed.
“It was a proud moment meeting him on the Yamaha stand and he asked me all about MotoGP™ and when the first race is next year. He was really interested in the off-road bikes because he’d been riding in Africa with Riders for Health a few years ago.”
Smith, who now lives in Andorra, returned home on Friday especially to receive the Oxfordshire Sports Award in front of family and friends just a day after celebrating his 23rd birthday.
“I’m very proud to be an Oxfordshire boy and I will never lose that accent,” he revealed. “To be honoured by people in the county where I grew up and where our family home still is makes it so special. Wherever I’m racing in the world I know the people of Oxfordshire are behind me and I will never forget that.
“There were some other very worthy people chasing the award and to win for the second time is not only great for me but also for MotoGP™ and motorcycle racing in general, especially with the likes of Scott Redding and Chaz Davies winning their respective local awards in the last couple of years. This year has been a massive learning curve for me and has really set me up for 2014 and coming home to receive this award is the perfect ending to my first MotoGP™ season.”
Smith finished tenth in his rookie MotoGP™ season, riding the Monster Tech3 Yamaha. He scored more championship points than any British rookie rider in the 65-year history of grand prix racing. The Yamaha rider secured 13 top ten finishes and three top six in the 18-round championship. Smith was second fastest behind World Champion Marc Marquez at the end-of-season test in Valencia.
He has already started training for next year’s 19-round championship, ahead of more pre-season testing at Sepang in Malaysia at the beginning of February.
