AXO rider Bradley Smith stormed to a richly deserved third place finish at Assen, having fought for victory throughout an exciting Moto2 race at the famous TT Circuit.

The 20-year-old made a flying start in tricky conditions as the unpredictable Assen weather dominated the 24-lap race. The race was declared wet and Smith excelled in the early laps.

After claiming his first Moto2 podium in wet conditions at Silverstone earlier this month, his wet weather riding skills were immediately on display and he needed just three laps to go from 10th on the grid to lead the field. Smith looked confident and assured at the front and held off intense pressure from Marc Marquez, Kenan Sofuoglu and Yuki Takahashi until lap 10, by which time the rain had started to fall again.

Smith was able to maintain his impressive pace, but he opted to settle for the podium rather than taking any unnecessary risks and the 16-points gained moved Smith into fourth position in the World Championship rankings, just four-points behind Simone Corsi.

Bradley Smith: “It was really hard work today because the conditions were so varied… you had no idea what to expect from one lap to the next. At the start of the race I felt really comfortable, especially on a wet track. But once it started to dry I started to suffer a little bit. When I was at the front and the track was pretty damp, that's when I felt at my best. We went very cautious with the set-up making sure we could get full grip if the rain came down. The racing line got bigger and bigger and I think we ran a set-up that was a little bit too soft for those conditions. When it started to rain again and I knew I had a chance of the podium I just did the sensible thing and took the 16-points.  It kept drying out and I found it more difficult, but to get that result was absolutely awesome. I love Mugello so hopefully I'll be very competitive there next weekend too."

In the meantime, the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour got underway in the thrilling scenery of the Olimpic Stadium in Rome, where the best 12 motocross free-stylers of the world performed their tricky jumps to the delight of 45.000 fans. AXO rider Max Bianconcini couldn’t make it to the podium, but fired the crowd up, as he was the only Italian rider to take part to this prestigious event.

Among the fans, many VIPs were there, such as the singer Grido, who, together with Tony Cairoli and his factory KTM, performed the super cool video Superblunt.

And more…an all AXO rostrum in Tongeren (Belgium) where Steve Ramon, Ken De Dycker and Davide Guarneri have left no room for their rivals, clinching the first, second and third step of the podium respectively in the fourth round of the MX Belgian Championship!