Bradley Smith · Biography

In 2013 Bradley Smith moved up from Moto2 to the premier class with Monster Yamaha Tech3, the French team he had already raced for in the intermediate category. Born on 28 November 1990 in Oxford, England, the British rider spent eight seasons in MotoGP between 2013 and 2020 with Tech3, the Red Bull KTM factory squad and Aprilia, after five years in the 125cc class. He made 244 Grand Prix starts, with 3 wins and 29 podiums, and was the first rider to stand on the podium in 125cc, Moto2, MotoGP and MotoE.

Early years and 125cc

His father raced motocross and the family ran a practice track, so Smith had his first motocross bike at six. He switched to road racing, finished fourth in the Aprilia Superteens series in 2004 and in 2005 was runner-up in the Spanish 125cc championship, one point behind the champion. Repsol Honda gave him a 125cc world championship ride in 2006. He finished nineteenth with 20 points, took eighth at Motegi and was named rookie of the year. In 2007 he scored his first podium, third at Le Mans, and ended the year tenth. A move to Polaris World Aprilia in 2008 brought three pole positions, four podiums and sixth overall.

Wins with Aspar

Riding for Bancaja Aspar, Smith won his first Grand Prix at Jerez in May 2009 and added a second victory at Mugello. He took nine podiums and finished runner-up in the 2009 125cc world championship with 223.5 points, behind Julián Simón. He stayed with the team in 2010, won the Valencia round and finished fourth with 223 points and six podiums.

Moto2 and MotoGP with Tech3

Tech3 signed him for Moto2 in 2011. He took three podiums, including second place at Silverstone, and finished seventh; in 2012 he was ninth, with fourth at the Italian Grand Prix as his top result. His MotoGP debut in 2013 on the Yamaha M1 brought tenth place, 116 points and three sixth-place finishes. In 2014 he earned his first MotoGP podium, third at Phillip Island, and finished eighth. 2015 was his most productive year in the class: second at the San Marino Grand Prix at Misano and sixth overall with 181 points. That summer he also won the Suzuka 8 Hours with Pol Espargaró and Katsuyuki Nakasuga for Yamaha. An injury in practice at the 2016 Czech Grand Prix kept him out of the next three races, in which Alex Lowes replaced him, and he ended the season seventeenth.

KTM and Aprilia

In March 2016 KTM confirmed him as the first rider for its new MotoGP factory team. Alongside Pol Espargaró he spent 2017 and 2018 developing the RC16, finishing 21st with 29 points and then 18th with 38. KTM replaced him with Johann Zarco for 2019. Aprilia took him on as test rider that year, with four wildcard starts, and he also made a one-off Moto2 appearance at Silverstone for Petronas Sprinta. In 2020 he raced the full MotoGP season for Aprilia Racing Gresini in place of Andrea Iannone, scored 12 points and handed his bike to Lorenzo Savadori for the last three rounds.

MotoE, endurance and Bagger racing

In the first MotoE World Cup in 2019 Smith rode for One Energy Racing and finished second overall with 88 points and four podiums in six races. He returned to the electric series in 2022 with WithU GRT RNF, but an injury in April of that year, in an FIM Endurance World Championship race at Le Mans with Moto Ain Yamaha, cost him the opening rounds and he placed eighteenth. The same year he stood in for an injured rider at Ten Kate Yamaha in World Supersport at the Argentine round. In August 2026 he entered the FIM Harley-Davidson Bagger World Cup at Silverstone as a wildcard with the ParkinGO Team, won Race 1 by 0.112 seconds from Archie McDonald and finished fifth in Race 2.