South Africa: Brad Binder Battles His Way to Fourth in Holland

26 June 2023
Scrolla (Johannesburg)
By Lucky Maree

Brad Binder is known to be one of the best performers off the start -- but this time he was just unbelievable.

Starting from fifth place on his KTM, on the second row of the grid, he launched past three Ducatis to be in first place going into turn one.

But was it too good to be true?

The odds seemed stacked against him. Somehow at the Assen circuit with its long seeps and tightness, the bikes are never perfectly upright and the track is hard on the tyres anyway. The sweltering temperature in the Netherlands during the day didn't help either.

And Binder, who is known for his incredible speed, is also known to be a little harder on the tyres than the other riders. To stay ahead for 26 laps was always going to be a tough ask.

Binder's KTM teammate Jack Miller dropped the bike on the second lap going into turn one. Fabio Quartararo and Maverick Vinales were involved in a massive crash on the third lap, possibly being caught out by the hot track surface.

Binder surrendered the lead to Francesco Bagnaia early on, but that didn't mean that the race was over. Binder stayed right on his rear wheel, matching him lap after lap. Far from falling away, with 15 laps to go, it appeared that Binder was getting stronger.

With 10 laps to go Marco Bezzecchi forced Binder back to third but once again Binder stayed with the man in second place.

Somehow Binder held on to take the last place on the podium to the great delight of his team.

But the joy soon turned to heartache. Binder got a time penalty for a last-lap track limits infringement -- an exact repeat of the penalty he got in the sprint race on Saturday, dropping him back to fourth.

"I'm extremely sorry for my team," he said after the race.

"I took away two podiums from them. They've done a great job, put in a huge effort and I'm sorry to mess it up like that."

Realistically, Binder is out of the championship hunt, but he is certainly making a serious statement for next season.

Result

Assen MotoGP

1 F Bagnaia (Ducati)

2 M Bezzecchi (Ducati)

3 A Espargaro (Aprilia)

4 B Binder (KTM)

5 J Martin (Ducati)

 

Read the original article on Scrolla.

Tagged:
Copyright © 2023 Scrolla. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.

AllAfrica publishes around 500 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.