OXFORDSHIRE star Bradley Smith stormed to the top of the MotoGP 125cc championship standings after a sensational victory in yesterday’s Italian Grand Prix of Alice in Mugello.

The 18-year-old, from Forest Hill, near Wheatley, had a dream weekend, claiming pole position on Saturday with a new lap record, before fighting back after an error to pass the chequered flag in front.

However, Smith, riding for the Bancaja Aspar team, was forced to battle hard for victory – unlike when he secured his maiden success in Jerez earlier in the month.

On that occasion, Smith built up a huge lead and passed the line a mammoth 17 seconds ahead of his nearest rival.

But yesterday he was a mere 0.3 seconds ahead of Spaniard Nico Terol as he claimed glory.

Although the morning sun had dried most of the overnight rain, patches of the track were still very slippery.

And it was on one of these wet areas that Smith briefly lost control of the bike which saw him drop down the field early on.

However, he fought back well to regain the lead.

He, Terol and teammate Julián Simón then pulled clear of the pack in the second half of the race, before Simón lost touch.

But Smith kept his cool – despite giving his fans a scare at the penultimate corner when nearly going off – to claim his second success inside a month.

And he was naturally delighted at both the victory, and going three-and-a-half points clear of Simón at the top of the standings.

“I had Terol and Simón right on my rear wheel and I couldn’t shake them off for a long time,” Smith said.

“It looked like I was going to break away, but then I nearly went down on one corner on a wet patch so I had to be careful.

“The last lap I was pushing very hard and had a couple more dodgy moments, but to finish first again is just superb, especially after such a good weekend.

“We've got two wins now, we're leading the championship and that is all the motivation we need to keep working hard.

“Hopefully, we can score another good result for the team in Barcelona in the next Grand Prix.”