Bradley Smith admits he has little memory of the accident which took him out of this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix. The Briton slid off at turn 11 when rain started to fall during Friday's first practice session and hit Marc Marquez's bike which had also crashed moments earlier.
Smith fell victim to the lack of slippery surface flags at the scene, meaning he was unaware of the wet track ahead. The contact with Marquez's Suter resulted in a broken left collarbone, leaving Smith to curse his luck after what he believed to be a relatively minor fall.
“When I got to Turn 10 I saw yellow flags waving but I thought it was because of the crashes before me. I slowed down and the next thing I’ve seen the wet track and almost immediately I lost control of the bike. The initial crash was bad enough but then I hit Marquez’s bike quite hard and I think this is how I broke my left collarbone and also took a big hit on my chest. I didn’t really remember anything, so I had to watch a video replay to understand what happened.”
As well as the damage to his collarbone, Smith also suffered a bruised lung and the Tech 3 rider is unsure as to whether the injuries will prevent him from racing in the season finale at Valencia in two weeks.
“It is a big pity that I can’t race tomorrow because I am convinced I would have been very competitive this weekend. But at the same time I’m quite lucky because the crash yesterday could have been worse. Right now I feel a bit beaten up, but already I feel a lot better than yesterday. I’ve also got a bruised left lung and that is causing me quite a lot of discomfort. I would have flown home last night if possible but I can’t fly for 48 hours, so I’ll stick to my initial plan and head back to the UK tomorrow night after the race.”
“When I get home I’ll have more checks to make sure the recovery is going well but it is too early to decide if I can race in Valencia. The shoulder should be fine but we need to wait and see. Finally I’d like to thank all the medical staff at the Clinica Mobile and the Sepang International Circuit because they did a great job.”