BRADLEY Smith endured mixed emotions as the Czech MotoGP heralded a positive result for his Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team,but not for the Oxfordshire rider.

A technical problem forced the 26-year-old, from Forest Hill, to retire with only two laps to go.

But the Austrian team were still able to celebrate Pol Espargaro’s ninth-placed finish – their first top-ten in MotoGP – in tricky, changeable conditions, which saw a wet track quickly dry out.

Smith said: “We had a long bike change after lap two, but so soon after the start it doesn’t give the crew a lot of time (to change the bike settings).

“But then later on, the race wasn’t going in its best direction only for the bike to have a problem, so I decided it was better to save the bike and stop.

“What I do want to do is to congratulate the whole team on their first top ten – it’s a huge amount of work from everybody.”

Smith completed a full day of testing at Brno yesterday and now heads to the Red Bull Ring for this weekend’s Austrian MotoGP.