Bradley Smith produced another outstanding performance for AXO in the Spanish Moto2 Grand Prix, held at Jerez, as the British rider expertly mastered treacherous conditions to claim a fantastic fourth position.

Making only his second start in the ultra-competitive series, Smith adapted himself superbly to the tricky conditions as the light rain that fell persistently throughout the morning continued for the entire 26-lap race.

Smith made a super fast start from fifth position on the grid and the British rider wasted no time in seizing an opportunity to claim the lead on the first lap. He was quickly passed by Simone Corsi and Thomas Luthi but continued a brilliant early charge to remain in the top three until lap seven when eventual winner Andrea Iannone came by.

With Luthi and Iannone breaking away at the front, Smith continued to exert intense pressure on Corsi for the final podium place with ten laps remaining before he became engaged in an exciting fight for fourth with Stefan Bradl.

Bradley Smith: “I thought ninth was a great result in Qatar, so fourth just feels fantastic and I want to thank my Team because the bike was working brilliantly in really difficult conditions. The step we made with the set-up in the wet conditions from the Warm-up was huge and I felt much more confident in the race. In those conditions you need to concentrate so hard that the race feels like a lifetime but I just decided to attack from the start. I was a bit shocked to lead but I felt comfortable because it's not the first time I've been at the front of a Grand Prix. I realized pretty quickly I didn't have the pace to match Luthi and Iannone when they came by but that's down to my inexperience and a bit of confidence to push like they were in the rain. If I could run the race again though I'm sure I could have stayed with Corsi and battle closer for the podium. It was great to fight with Bradl and once he came by I relaxed a little bit and picked up my pace again. When he made that late mistake I just decided to attack and push as hard as I could and fourth is an amazing result when you consider how tough this class is and how difficult the conditions were. I've still got a lot to learn to be fighting closer for the podium but I'll take this fourth with both hands and look forward to the next race in Estoril with a lot of confidence and optimism.”

Julian Simon took sixth after a difficult race and the Spanish rider was able to avoid a crash on the final corner on the day of his 24^th birthday.

In the meantime, AXO rider Ivan Lazzarini made it to the podium as he finished third overall after a constant recover in all the three motos. The HM Honda Racing man collected a 6^th, a 5^th and a 4^th position to claim his first podium spot of the season in the opening round of the Supermoto World Championship, held yesterday at Busca, Italy.

Good job guys!