MALMESBURY'S Danny Kent secured his first podium placing of the season in the Czech Republic over the weekend at the circuit of Brno.

Kent pipped the top two in the Moto3 world championship standings, Alex Marquez and Jack Miller, for third spot at the end of a tightly-fought contest in which the top 16 riders were separated by less than two seconds at the finish.

Victory went to Alexis Masbou of France with Enea Bastianini of Italy the runner-up.

Following a tough start on his return to Moto3 racing in 2014, Kent has been building his pace back up on his Red Bull Husqvarna Ajo machine.

Qualifying in 12th on the grid in Brno, the 20-year-old gave himself a lot of work to do. However, Kent was locked in a crazy 16-rider battle for the win, with any mistake resulting in a serious drop down the leaderboard.

As the riders crossed the line for the final lap, Kent was in only seventh position. However, he timed his charge at the end of the lap to secure third by 0.013sec.

"It was a very good and very tough race, because there was a large group and on the first few laps I was struggling to overtake other riders," said Kent.

"I lost more positions than I gained and I ended up in 19th.

"Gradually I managed to overtake one or two riders per lap and moved up into the first group. With two laps remaining I was fourth or fifth and felt comfortable about fighting for the victory.

"But I had a scare and dropped back to ninth on the final lap. I had to push hard – I nearly crashed twice more – but in the end we have our first podium of the year.

"It is a very good result for me, for the team and for Husqvarna, who have always worked very hard. It was about time we got on the podium”