Bradley Smith admits he is still coming to terms with his first-ever Grand Prix victory.

The 18-year-old Forest Hill motorbike racer broke his duck in sensational fashion, storming to an 18-second win in Jerez – his 50th race.

While a tremendous battle ensued for the other podium places, the television cameras chose hardly to show Smith in the latter stages, because he was so far clear.

“I think it was just meant to be my day,” he said.

“There have been races in the past where people have won by 15-20 seconds and you just wonder how it is possible.

“But for me to do that too – it’s just unbelievable.

“To keep seeing those seconds going up on the pit board every time I passed, words can't describe it.”

Smith’s success was all the more impressive as he had a gear problem for the final laps which meant he could not push as hard as he would have liked.

If his bike was working properly, there’s no saying how far the winning margin would have been.

“The bike went awesome, and I can't thank my team enough,” he added.

“I was able to get away and had an extremely fast pace for the whole race.

“In the last seven laps I had a fifth gear problem that cut the advantage, but I knew how to bring the bike home for the win.I knew that if nothing strange happened I would be out in front alone.

“I want to thank the entire team for their work since I joined, and it is so satisfying to see that our hard winter work has paid off.”

He added: “The bike was working so well, that I was just keeping my head down lap after lap.

“It was a freaky race and as the race went on, the wind was getting worse, so I was thankful I had a bit of a gap.”