BRADLEY Smith was content with another point-scoring finish – but knows there is still plenty of work to do.

The Forest Hill rider came 14th in Sunday’s Grand Prix de France at Le Mans for a second successive top 15 finish this season.

It proved to be another positive weekend for Smith, who is out to secure a MotoGP ride for 2019 after it was revealed earlier this month his place in the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team would be taken by Johann Zarco next year.

The 27-year-old started from the sixth row in France and battled with Marc VDS’s Franco Morbidelli late on, but had to be content with 14th.

He now hopes he can continue his improvement at a two-day test in Spain, which begins this morning at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Smith said: “I was pleased with the race.

“I lost a bit of time at the beginning with the battling on the opening laps.

“I was keeping stable with the guys by mid-race and then struggled to get back to them.

“Fourteenth is another points-scoring position and I was having a good fight with Morbidelli at the end.

“We improved another 15 seconds over our race distance last year, so again KTM is making gains but the competition keeps getting higher and higher.

“Heads down now and thoughts towards the two-day test in Barcelona.”

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