BRADLEY Smith signed off pre-season testing with an encouraging sixth fastest time at Sepang yesterday.

The Forest Hill rider was among an exclusive group to dip under the two-minute barrier in Malaysia on the final day of the second winter test.

His time of 1min 59.883secs was only two-tenths of a second from Cal Crutchlow in third place, while his Monster Yamaha Tech 3 teammate Pol Espargaro was only 11th fastest.

Smith, 24, was delighted with the result, ahead of the season-opener at the Losail International Circuit in Qatar on March 29.

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He said: “It was a good final day for me, especially to finish in the top six.

“We tested three different ideas, with two of them being definitely an improvement.

“It’s these little changes that can make a different in the race.

“I am pleased to say that I did a 1.59-lap time, which was my objective for this test and it’s positive that I could achieve this.

“Next we will go to Qatar, which is a completely different track, and see if we can use the base set-up we made here, at Losail.

“It was a good test.”