Bradley Smith burst on to the world motorcycle racing scene as a baby-faced teenager in 2006 and was touted as the next Barry Sheene.

Smith signed for the high-profile Repsol Honda team in Spain and finished his debut season in 19th overall.

Since then his career progress has been mostly upward but of late there has been something of a downturn.

Smith moved to Aprilia in 2008 and completed a career in 125cc GPs which saw him finish in a high of second overall while still racing for the Italian manufacturer.

The move to the Moto2 class for the 2011 season was seen as a fresh start for the Oxfordshire rider.

Finishing the season in seventh, despite injury, has once again put his name to the forefront as team bosses looked around for a star of the future.

But it is in 2012 that Smith really needs to deliver.

He has signed for two more years with the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha team, the second of those a scheduled step up to the MotoGP class in 2013.

But far from being daunted by the succession, Smith has largely welcomed a clear career path being mapped out for him.

With a season at the French-based Tech 3 team now under his belt there is no reason why he cannot go on to establish himself as a challenger for the world title, if not yet the man to succeed Sheene who became the last Briton to win motorcycle racing's premier world title when he won his second successive 500cc world crown in 1977.

What Smith has to avoid doing is fall into the trap which has caught out fellow Briton James Toseland when he joined the same Tech 3 team in 2008.

Toseland, twice a World Superbike Championship winner, crashed his way through two seasons with Tech 3 before returning to World Superbikes where his career was cut short earlier this year because of a debilitating wrist injury.

Toseland has been followed at Tech 3 by fellow British rider Cal Crutchlow who has marked his debut MotoGP season with the rookie of the year award despite crashing off his semi-factory Yamaha as much as he was on it.

Crutchlow, and Smith after him, will be looking to emulate the success of Ben Spies.

After winning the World Superbike Championship the American joined Tech 3 before succeeding Valentino Rossi at the factory Yamaha team and has more than held his own there alongside 2010 world champion Jorge Lorenzo.

But before Smith looks to make his name and perhaps eventually become the successor to Sheene, first he must make his mark in the ultra-competitive Moto2 class.

In a season when everyone in the paddock will be looking for good news following this year's untimely death of larger-than-life character Marco Simoncelli, there could be no better time than for Smith to make his mark by becoming world champion in 2012.



By Roddy Brooks, Press Association Sport