BRADLEY Smith decided a cautious approach to practice at Phillip Island was best for his recovering knee.
The Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider, from Forest Hill, only completed seven laps of the first session at the Australian MotoGP yesterday, before sitting out the second.
Despite the latter practice session being red-flagged due to heavy rain, Smith had planned not to ride after only returning from a seven-week lay-off at the last round in Japan.
The 25-year-old said: “I didn’t want to create any more stress or risk making my injury any worse.
“I also want to keep a bit of extra power for the race on Sunday, which looks like it could be dry.”