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MotoGP Jerez: Smith pragmatic over Zarco replacement

Britain's Bradley Smith has taken a pragmatic approach to losing his factory MotoGP seat to Johann Zarco, saying he knew it was on the cards.

It would seem both he and Pol Espargaro - who has retained his ride - knew they were in a fight over the second bike and Smith's results meant the Spaniard gets to stay.

"I'm alright. I mean, let's not beat around the bush, simple thing is that you - you're not out of a job, but you're out of the team, which, initially, is always hard to swallow. But I'd be lying to you if you didn't know that it was on the cards," said Smith, speaking at Jerez.

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"KTM was always quite open and honest that they were going after a top rider. And that meant that the battle was between me and Pol for ride number two in the factory squad.

"He outperformed me on a strong basis last year. This year, in the opening three races, for whatever reason, things just didn't go quite as well as during the race weekends, so race-wise the results weren't that great."

What it means for Smith is anyone's guess but there are still seats to be filled in MotoGP, plenty in Moto2 and most WorldSBK contracts are also up this year.

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