Oxford Bradley Smith admitted a wrong tyre choice didn't help his cause as he took a bruising before finishing seventh in the 125cc race at the Nickel & Dime British Grand Prix at Donington.

Smith overcame a tough preparation, which included one big crash, for his home grand prix.

His big spill in qualifying was followed by another prang in the warm-up held in atrocious conditions. He had three accidents in all.

The 16-year-old showed great maturity and kept his composure in the 27-lap race on a drying track and after a slow start from the third row of the grid made his way back towards the leading group and among the fallers.

He was involved in a tremendous battle for seventh with Italian Raffaele De Rosa.

The pair constantly swapped positions in the last few laps, but it was Smith who crossed the line in front on the Repsol Honda after a testing time.

He said afterwards: "I am disappointed after a tough weekend at my home grand prix but at least I picked up points in seventh place.

"First there were the crashes and then the drying track in the race. We made the wrong tyre choice and the leaders got away and it was only towards the finish I was able to get on the pace."

The former Wheatley Park schoolboy's accident in the qualifying session on Saturday was certainly spectacular.

He was thrown high into the air at Coppice corner. He crashed onto the tarmac and then slid into the gravel trap where he was able to walk away.

He was taken to the medical centre where he was passed fit and finally qualified ninth fastest, which enabled him to start from the third row of the grid for round eight of the 125cc Championship.

"I was thrown high and then slid along the track, but despite some bruising I was OK and was fine for the race," he explained.

It proved to be a long night for the Honda team because Tito Rabat and he had three bikes between them and Rabat crashed in the morning while Smith had an accident in the afternoon.

Another 16-year-old, Danny Webb, showed similarly impressive composure to Smith.

Webb started from the back of the grid, but fought back to 25th place riding the De Graaf Grand Prix Honda.