Britain’s Bradley Smith put in what he called the best performance of his MotoGP career in Austin yesterday, coming home in sixth place and only ten seconds behind winner Marc Marquez despite forgetting to switch electronic maps which cooked his rear tyre.

The Monster Yamaha man was able to run with the likes of Marquez and Rossi in the early stages after taking a risk to sue an outside path around turn one but he then left it seven laps too long to switch to a second traction control map and cooked his rear. He still finished ahead of Cal Crutchlow on the LCR Honda RC213V.

“Being able to jump from eighth to fourth was pretty awesome. The risk of going around the outside at turn one paid off. I have been studying videos and riders get pinched on the inside so I went to the outside and it worked,” said Smith, speaking in Austin.

“I was sitting comfortably for the first five laps and then when Marc kicked past Andrea I just didn’t have that pace to go with them but I was concentrating so hard on staying with the group I forgot to hit some of my traction control maps so over heated the tyre a little.

“We knew the front tyre was a sensitive subject and for the firt five laps I thought the pace was a little slower than I could have gone. But then they pushed on and everyone sped up. Being in your best position for a long time, I was concentrating on not making mistakes.

“I was pleased with the outcome, I secured sixth, top satellite, ten seconds behind the leader which is my best performance so far of my MotoGP career, so I have to be happy with that. It was job done by me and the team. I had six seconds behind me so I followed Jorge home.”