BRADLEY Smith declared himself pleased with eighth place in the Australia MotoGP at Phillip Island yesterday.

The Monster Yamaha Tech3 rider, competing in only his second race after a seven-week lay-off with a knee injury, made his way through the field late on.

After starting his 100th race for the satellite team in 14th, the Forest Hill rider slipped to 18th.

But once the 25-year-old got into a rhythm, he moved up the field and into the top ten, before making up two places on the last lap for eighth.

Smith said: β€œI have to say the result is very positive.

β€œIt was definitely a lot of hard work and in the last few laps, I was fortunate enough to find some opening gaps which allowed me to finish in eighth.”