BRADLEY Smith picked his way through chaos at the first corner to again deliver points for Aprilia.

The rider from Forest Hill, who came 15th in the opening MotoGP race of the season a week earlier, finished 12th at Jerez.

Just as in the first round, he was the only one to score points for the Italian outfit, with Aleix Espargaro crashing out on the ninth lap in Spain.

Smith, the team’s test rider who is continuing to deputise while Andrea Iannone contests a ban, struggled for pace in qualifying.

The 29-year-old needed his wits about him at the start as he was involved in contact which forced him to slow down.

While it saw Smith lose contact with the pack, he steadily climbed the leaderboard as other riders, including his teammate, dropped out of the running to score four points.

He said: “In this second race, we made some progress, especially in managing to contain the gap with the rider ahead of me.

“Unfortunately, I lost a lot of time on the first corner, having to slow down a lot to avoid the fallen riders.

“I made the smartest choice, without taking pointless risks.

“It was a pity because I would have liked staying in the group.

“One of the positive aspects is certainly the fact that we were able to finish both races without any serious problems.

“I know that the guys already have some solutions ready to solve some of the issues that came out during these two weekends.”

The season continues at Brno in the Czech Republic on August 9, the first of three races in as many weeks.