SCOTT SMART is expecting a bumpy ride when he brings his British Superbike to Croft this weekend.

But the Hawk Kawasaki rider, who currently occupies third place in the British standings behind Michael Rutter and championship leader John Reynolds, is under pressure to do well.

"It's very, very bumpy," he said of the track. "And that makes it hard to get a set-up that will work well over the bumps and in the fast and slow corners. It will be difficult to get a good balance to chassis to suit everything.

"We need to get a good basic set-up and have the gearing sorted so that when we come for the race we just need to make a decision on what tyres to use."

Smart says he has to win at least one of the two races this weekend after best friend Ian Curley grabbed glory on four wheels at Croft recently while in the Renault Clio Cup.

"In the first race they had here he got tapped at the first corner and barrel-rolled into the gravel trap but he came back to win the second race.

"It's quite weird because whenever he has a good year so do I. I'm one up on him at the moment because he has two wins and I have three.

"But he won here so unfortunately I now have to win - if I don't I'll get so much grief it's untrue."

Smart's Kawasaki ZX10R was new to the grid this season but has performed admirably.

"With the bike being a new bike it's turned out really well," he said. "We've only modified the bike in a limited way. We still have some standard road bike parts on it so we never expected to be as competitive as we have been.

"In the last few races we've certainly got some momentum up. We've won two of the last four so if we can take that kind of pace into the rest of the year then it looks pretty good."

The Hawk outfit is small compared to others on the grid and that makes the success so far even more satisfying.

"It's really good from our point of view," Smart said. "We only have three full-time staff members and even the team boss has a full time job.

"It's like a close-knit community where everybody mucks in to help. I help with the electronics and the ignition, the mechanics work on the chassis and the manager ties it all together.

"Sometimes it's hard and it's an 'all hands on deck' situation but there are pros and cons to a big team. For us to take the fight to a team with 20-odd full-time members of staff is satisfying."

Published: 11/08/2004