Photo: motogp.com
Bradley Smith is not one of the aliens and neither was he even close to receiving such a tag. A young rider who sometimes makes it look like he is struggling a bit, Smith enters the select club of record holders in the premier class.
And because this club is not exactly accessible to every rider, you can expect some of the biggest names to be on the list. Funny thing, the club Smith is already part of is the one including the riders with the longest succession of point-scoring finishes in the premier class, and his company there has only three names (besides his) that were active in the recent years.
These are Jorge Lorenzo, Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards. Other names on the list will definitely get your attention, because we're dealing with the likes of Eddie Lawson, Wayne Gardner, or Mick Doohan. That's right, old-school riders from the 500cc era, MotoGP Legends and all.
Mick Doohan leads the charts with a whopping series of 37 races in which he scored points, spreading from the Italian round in 1995 to the Indonesian race in 1997. Colin Edwards is next with 34 point-scoring races, while Wayne Gardner has 30.
Interestingly enough, Rossi is present three times in this chart, with his best performance being a stream of 28 such finishes, on par with Eddie Lawson's best score. The two are also tied in the next positions, with a score of 26.
Then it's a three-way split between Rossi, Lorenzo and Smith, with 25 races in which they earned points. The coolest thing is that Smith can, in this position, pass the two, because his successful streak is still ongoing, whereas Rossi's "lucky 25" ended at Aragon in 2011 and Lorenzo's at Catalunya in the same year.
This means that if Smith earns points in Argentina, he will equal Rossi and Lawson. Showing a consistent riding style, if he does not crash in the upcoming races, he has good odds of climbing even higher in this chart. And why not, even reach the top position this year.
We also remind you that Bradley Smith was recently confirmed as the first of the two KTM factory riders for 2017 and 2018, when the Austrian manufacturer will return to MotoGP.
These are Jorge Lorenzo, Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards. Other names on the list will definitely get your attention, because we're dealing with the likes of Eddie Lawson, Wayne Gardner, or Mick Doohan. That's right, old-school riders from the 500cc era, MotoGP Legends and all.
Mick Doohan leads the charts with a whopping series of 37 races in which he scored points, spreading from the Italian round in 1995 to the Indonesian race in 1997. Colin Edwards is next with 34 point-scoring races, while Wayne Gardner has 30.
Interestingly enough, Rossi is present three times in this chart, with his best performance being a stream of 28 such finishes, on par with Eddie Lawson's best score. The two are also tied in the next positions, with a score of 26.
Then it's a three-way split between Rossi, Lorenzo and Smith, with 25 races in which they earned points. The coolest thing is that Smith can, in this position, pass the two, because his successful streak is still ongoing, whereas Rossi's "lucky 25" ended at Aragon in 2011 and Lorenzo's at Catalunya in the same year.
This means that if Smith earns points in Argentina, he will equal Rossi and Lawson. Showing a consistent riding style, if he does not crash in the upcoming races, he has good odds of climbing even higher in this chart. And why not, even reach the top position this year.
We also remind you that Bradley Smith was recently confirmed as the first of the two KTM factory riders for 2017 and 2018, when the Austrian manufacturer will return to MotoGP.
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