Aprilia's Bradley Smith was left with very little grip in yesterday's Jerez MotoGP after his tyre temperature went 'off the charts' early in the race.

The Oxfordshire rider bowled his way up to 11th on the opening lap of the encounter but quickly began to slip back as a lack of clear air saw temperatures go sky high. He eventually grabbed one point for 15th place.

"The goal today was to do all 25 laps of the race in order to gather fundamental data on the reactions of this new bike," said Smith.

"I started very well, but staying in the slipstream of a lot of other riders straight away created quite a few problems for me.

"The tyre temperature and pressure was off the charts and I didn't have much grip at all. This will have to be our main focus for our work next weekend.

"We don’t have any experience with this bike, but every time we go out, we learn something new and I have full confidence in the guys at Aprilia."