Podium for Bradley
At the weekend, 16-year-old Bradley Smith finally ended the drought by being the first Briton to attain a podium position in MotoGP in 17 years by coming third in the 125cc race at the French round in Le Mans. The last rider to achieve this was Robin Milton when he finished second at Australia's Philip Island in 1989.
Following a second grid place in qualifying, Bradley managed to hold station in fourth place until luck denied Mattia Pasini again. For most of the race, Smith provided a slipstream tow for Lukas Pesek, who eventually passed him to get second place. Throughout the 24-lap race round the 2.59 mile Bugatti circuit the Repsol Honda rider fought with the race leaders.
"It's been fantastic weekend and I've not been out of the top three during practice, qualifying and now the race," said Smith, who only started road racing when he broke his leg in a Motocross accident. "I managed to stay with the top guys but they race so hard throughout the race.
It was Smith's best result in only his second full season of grand prix racing. The result moves him up to eighth in the world championship.
After starting the race in second on the grid, both he and Pesek pulled away from the chasing pack to close in on leader Pasini and Sergio Gadea in the closing stages of the race. When Pasini broke down towards the end of the race, Smith was left to battle it out with Gadia and Pesek. The British rider demonstrated immense maturity by settling for third.
Another Briton, 16-year-old Danny Webb, finished 27th on his Le Mans debut, riding the De Graaf Honda.