Bradley Smith undertook a solid effort as he battled the wet conditions at the Silverstone track to finish his home Grand Prix in 7th position. The 20 lap race began in chaotic conditions, as after the race was declared dry, rain started to fall on the warm up lap which caused the start to be stopped due to a red flag being shown. All riders switched to their wet bikes and when the GP began, Smith jumped forward as the lights went out and pushed to remain with the factory MotoGP riders. At the close of the first lap, the 24 year old was running in 6th position however, one lap later he was shuffled back to 9th. Nevertheless, the young Briton remained focused and moved up two places at the close of the third lap. He was firmly in his race rhythm as he aimed to continue his climb, but he was overtaken by his teammate at the midpoint of the race and bumped back to 8th. Yet, Smith carried on fighting and with the five laps remaining, he was running in 7th position. He continued his work and after guiding his Yamaha YZR-M1 around the slippery 5.9 kilometre Silverstone circuit, he sped across the finish line in the same position.
Meanwhile on the opposite side of the Monster Yamaha Tech3 Team pit box, Pol Espargaro suffered bad luck despite a fearless effort as he fell on the 15th lap at the British Grand Prix. The young Spaniard undertook a rocket start and muscled his way up one place to finish the first lap in 4th and running right with the factory MotoGP bikes. However, he then unfortunately slipped back to 10th on the 4th lap after making contact with another rider which caused him to run off the track. Yet, he remained focused and brilliantly powered onwards as he climbed back through the field after riding at a notable pace. He jumped past his teammate to clinch 7th on lap 10, yet his luck ran out and he fell at the third corner with less than a quarter of the race distance left to run. The 2013 Moto2 World Champion will now seek to bounce back with a strong finish at Misano in a fortnight's time.
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