BRADLEY Smith revealed his head was spinning after realising a lifelong ambition by riding a factory bike for the first time in MotoGP testing.

After six years with Monster Tech 3 Yamaha, the star from Forest Hill got a first chance to work with his new KTM team this week.

Two days of testing at Valencia concluded yesterday.

As a new outfit, the Austrian manufacturer are playing catch-up on the rest of the field, which was reflected in the timing sheets for him and teammate Pol Espargaro.

But for Smith it was a big moment in his career.

“The dream of a factory ride has finally happened and I ended the first day with KTM with my head spinning and full of optimism,” he said.

“The good thing is Pol and I went in a similar direction and had positive feedback from it.

“We didn’t try too much with the chassis. It was a case of trying as much with the electronics and trying to understand the character of the engine.

“The sound confused me the most – you don’t really know where you are or what the traction control is doing – but it improved with every run.

“To be just over one and a half seconds off the front considering this bike still hasn’t done half the kilometres of anything else out there is impressive.

“Pol and I are working on the same things, complaining about the same things, and doing the same lap times, which is really positive.”

Smith completed 52 laps on the first day of testing, finishing 20th out of 26 riders.

He improved his time in yesterday’s second session by almost 0.3secs for a quickest time of 1min 32.538secs.

It kept the 25-year-old 20th in the field, but he again completed more than 50 laps of the Spanish circuit.

Smith said: “There was so much to take in, but I’ve been positively pleased despite how many things feel so different.

“The engine is different, the chassis is tubular steel, and we’re running different suspension – but it feels like a bike, and it has a similar character on the Michelin (tyres) and reacts in the same way and logically.”