Bradley Smith produced a superb display to come fifth in the Aragon MotoGP in the Spanish rain yesterday.

The Oxfordshire rider equalled his best finish with a determined display in a race dominated by the weather.

Starting from 11th on the grid, the Monster Yamaha Tech3 rider had slipped to 20th on the opening lap before gradually making his way back through the field.

With 14 laps to go, the 23-year-old was eighth as the rain started to fall, prompting him to make a pit-stop and change to the wet set-up.

Latest Sport news

And it paid dividends as Smith crossed the line in fifth, overtaking teammate Pol Espargaro late on.

Jorge Lorenzo won his first race of the season after championship leader Marc Marquez crashed.

Aleix Espargaro was second with Britain’s Cal Crutchlow in third.

“It was a great result today and I accomplished my ambition of getting into the top five although the conditions may have helped me in achieving this,” Smith admitted afterwards.

“It was a tough race and I could have finished even higher still had I not dropped back to 20th on the first lap.

“I am pleased to get fifth and now I look forward to the upcoming flyaway races where I will be doing my best to get into the top-six.”

OXFORD’S Jason Plato pulled off two carbon-copy passing moves on championship leader Colin Turkington to keep his slim Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship title hopes alive at Silverstone.

MG’s Plato pipped title favourite Turkington twice in succession in yesterday’s first two races.

Turkington took an all-important third place in the final race and leads the overall standings by 50 points going into the final meeting of the season.

  • Do you want alerts delivered straight to your phone via our WhatsApp service? Text NEWS or SPORT or NEWS AND SPORT, depending on which services you want, and your full name to 07767 417704. Save our number into your phone’s contacts as Oxford Mail WhatsApp and ensure you have WhatsApp installed.