MOTOGP: Smith to miss two races, Lowes to step in

Bradley Smith has been ruled out of the next two MotoGP races, including his home round at Silverstone, due to injury.

The British rider suffered knee ligament damage in a crash during practice for the Oschersleben 8 Hours event last weekend, and he will be replaced by World Superbike rider Alex Lowes, who recently tested for Tech3 at the post-Czech GP test.

Smith will also miss the San Marino GP at Misano, which comes just a week after this weekend's British round.

A statement from Smith's Tech3 team said: "The Tech3 team wants to thank the Yamaha Official World Superbike Team for their cooperation in allowing Lowes to ride and would also like to wish Bradley Smith a quick and full recovery."

Lowes was part of Yamaha's victorious factory entry at the Suzuka 8 Hours this year, and he sits 11th in the World Superbike standings at the moment. He ended the Brno MotoGP test slowest of the 12 riders to take part, 4.1 seconds off the pace set by world champion Jorge Lorenzo after suffering a small crash.

Smith will leave Tech 3 at the end of this season to join KTM's new MotoGP program, along with his current teammate Pol Espargaro.

Originally on Autosport.com