An intense week end of racing saw AXO riders Bradley Smith and Steve Ramon taking fourth spot at the fourth round of the MotoGP World Championship held at a sunny and hot Mugello and at the seventh Gran Prix of the Motocross World Championship, which was hosted by the entertaining track of St Jean d’Angely, France.

Bradley Smith showed good speed by battling with the front group from the beginning to the end of the race, but the Briton was unable to get on the rostrum despite his involvement in the battle. Bradley claimed a new circuit record with a 1'58.009 on lap eight and will be looking to make a bigger mark in two weeks time when the series heads to his homeland.

Bradley Smith: "My chassis configuration worked perfectly, but what was missing was some power in the engine. The mechanics are working on giving me a more powerful engine, but we still haven't been able to find it. It was a strange race; getting the circuit record shows that I was able to get a good pace going and defend against slipstreams, but that isn't what wins races. I am happy even though it wasn't possible to get the podium, because I am finding a bit of form again and I hope that this continues at Silverstone. I gave my all, so I should be content. We will have to sit down and talk about how we can improve. This is the Aspar Team, world champions for a reason, so I am calm about finding a solution to any problems."

In Moto2, Julian Simon and Alex Debon could not ride their best due to an average start and eventually took the chequered flag in 9^th and 10^th respectively.

On the other side, in a sunny and then cloudy France, Ramon was one of a four-rider group jostling for the lead in an exciting first moto. Ramon stalked World Champion Antonio Cairoli and overtook the Italian before being pegged-back after two laps after failing to cut a path through a batch of backmarkers.

In the second sprint, Ramon was not able to mark the same kind of rhythm and circulated on the fringes of the top five to score fifth and miss the overall top-three by two points.

Steve Ramon: "Yesterday I said a podium would be difficult but in the end it was possible and I came very close. In the first moto I was riding well and had some good lines but the problem was the lapped riders: Cairoli was in front of me and I could follow him without too much trouble but the backmarkers were holding us up and I knew the others were coming close. I passed Cairoli and was feeling great on the bike, really smooth, but again the backmarkers played their part because I had about two or three in front of me around the back section and they would not move. Cairoli took advantage of that and passed me back. I was a bit angry about that and just had to accept it. I was happy with second place even though the win was my goal. In the second moto the start was not bad but I wasn't feeling as comfortable as in the first race and was struggling to come to the front. Overall it is good that I am up there again after the last few weeks; it was a pity not to be on the podium but I will look to the next one."

Good results in MX1 for Guarneri and De Dycker, too, who were sixth and seventh respectively at the end of the day, with Guarneri even claiming the holeshot in the final moto.

Good job guys!