Oxfordshire's Bradley Smith recorded his sixth top-ten finish of his rookie season when finishing eighth in the Japan MotoGp at the Motegi yesterday.

The result all but seals an end-of-season tenth place ranking for the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 rider.

The race was won by Spain’s Jorge Lorenzo , who kept alive his hopes of catching Championship leader Marc Marquez.

Smith led the team’s charge after he made another one of his super fast reactions off the line to rocket from 13th on the grid into the top six.

A mistake by Valentino Rossi in the hard-braking zone saw Smith move into the top five and he then rode magnificently to keep his teammate Cal Crutchlow at bay.

Smith then slipped back to finish in eighth.

“I’m pleased with the eighth position,” he said.

“I knew it would be a tricky race starting from 13th, but fortunately I made a good start and I was trying to push at my maximum right from the off so that I was able to follow Bradl during the first laps.

“We definitely made some improvements on a full fuel load and it helped me a lot to find a good rhythm.

“I saw Valentino making a mistake at the beginning of the race, so I knew he might come back and I just tried to follow him when he passed me.

“Today was probably the smallest gap to the other satellite riders so far and that makes me happy.

“I’m pleased with the progress we made during the season and this tenth place seems to be safe and now I’m just looking forward to make a good race in Valencia (on November 10) to end the championship on a high.”