Sepang MotoGP Reaction: Bradley Smith talks punishing podium

Bradley Smith produced a stunning surge from the fourth row of the grid to claim second in a punishing Sepang 125GP today.

With air temperatures reaching close to 40 degrees, the British teenager kept his cool to fight his way through from 13th on the grid to claim his third second place of 2008.

Smith produced several brilliant overtakes but by the time he climbed into second, he was already close to six seconds adrift of runaway leader Gabor Talmacsi.

The Polaris World Aprilia rider continued to push at an impressive pace as he easily cut adrift a large group dicing for third, but he could get within 3.4s of former world champion Talmacsi.

Although delighted to bounce back from disappointments in Japan and Australia recently, Smith’s joy was tainted by the fact that had he had not been so far down the grid, he might have mounted a bigger threat to record his elusive first win.

The 17-year-old, who closed to within five points of a top six world championship finish heading into next weekend’s final race in Valencia, said: “It was a big shame that I couldn’t fight for the victory. But obviously with a bad qualifying position, then the rain on Saturday, I was stacked so far back.

!But in the first two laps I took advantage of a fast bike and had to brake as late as possible and managed to close in on the podium. I was catching Gabor, I was getting there, getting there, but I just wasn’t close enough.

“I think he’d already gone four seconds up the road, so it was always going to be difficult. The team and me worked really, really hard to get the bike working for the end of the race, which is where we were strongest and we kept on pushing right to the end. It is second and I’m going to have to wait to Valencia for the first win, but for sure I’ll be trying there.”

It was a disastrous day for Smith’s British rivals. Danny Webb retired after his career best grid position came to nothing. Having failed to get his Aprilia engine fired up for the warm-up lap, Webb still managed to start the race, but he should have done so from the back of the grid. Instead he took his place in third, and he retired after a ride through penalty left him no chance of a points-scoring finish.

Scott Redding also retired as he fought on the fringe of the top 15. He’d suffered a nasty burn injury on his left elbow after a high-speed engine seizure this morning and rather than risk another crash as he pushed hard on a slowing Aprilia machine, he retired to ensure he’s close to full fitness for next weekend’s Valencia GP.