Bancaja Aprilia's Bradley Smith will ride in the Sepang MotoGP 125cc race tomorrow despite breaking a bone in his foot during a crash in qualifying earlier today.

The British youngster was pushing hard as he believed he was capable of setting a pole position time but his Aprilia spat him out of the seat and Smith fractured the fifth metatarsal in his right foot. His earlier time was still good enough for a front-row start.

"The crash was totally unexpected. I was riding hard because I knew I had a chance of setting pole and just before the end of the session the bike threw me out of my seat coming out of the final corner," said the Oxfordshire teenager.

"It was a shame because it meant we couldn't improve any further although third place on the grid isn't a bad start. The doctors say I have a small fracture of the fifth metatarsal on my right foot but that won't stop me from racing tomorrow.

"I'll strap it up for warm-up and see how it feels but if it's too painful I'll have an injection and I'll be fine. Our pace is good enough to fight for the win so I hope a little incident like this doesn't prove to be a handicap."
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