Bradley Smith was left to reflect on the success of his first-lap gamble after shining in the Red Bull GP of Americas in Austin, Texas.

The 24-year-old, from Forest Hill, near Oxford, stormed up the field from tenth to fourth, before dropping back to finish sixth as Spain’s Marc Marquez took the honours.

Smith said: “The risk I took to go around the outside of the pack at turn one paid off.

“I have been studying previous races and saw how other riders got pinched on the inside, so I decided to gamble.”

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