World Supersport debutant Kyle Smith is feeling confident ahead of his first outing at Australia’s Phillip Island circuit.
The 23-year-old from Fenay Bridge has completed his first test on the Pata Honda World Supersport CBR600RR machine and is now looking forward to this weekend’s opening round of the World Superbikes Championship series.
Smith stepped up to world championship competition after competing in last season’s European Superstock 1000 series, and has never ridden at the iconic 4.445km Phillip Island circuit.
However, Smith is satisfied with his first outings with his new team – recording a best time of 1 minute 34.482 seconds – and he is relishing the opportunity of riding the CBR600RR that won last season’s World Supersport championship in the hands of Dutch rider Michael van der Mark.
“I was happy with testing and we progressed a lot,” said Smith.
“The lap time dropped, which is good, and obviously you always want more and towards the end of testing we tried a bunch of stuff with the bike. However, we didn’t manage to make the little step forward that we wanted.
“I’d like to be a couple of tenths faster to be a little higher, but I’m happy with the progression we’ve made.
“I think we can be there in practice tomorrow, and we’ve learned an awful lot these last two days.
“It’s a new bike and a new track for me, but I think I can be faster again – there will definitely be a lot more of an attack mentality for the race weekend!”
