MotoGP weekend that started with great promise ends in disappointment for Red Bull KTM rider.
A mostly miserable weekend for South Africans on the sports fields spilled over to the race track in Barcelona on Sunday afternoon.
All three South African riders, Brad Binder, his brother Darryn Binder and Ruché Moodley left the track empty handed after the Catalonia MotoGP. Brad Binder crashed out of the premier class race on lap eight, while Darryn Binder (21st) and Moodley (18th) finished their Moto2 and Moto3 races outside the points.
The weekend started very promising for Brad Binder when he set a new lap record at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya to top the time sheets on Friday. The Red Bull KTM gained automatic entry into Q2, but a technical issue meant he had to use his spare bike and could only qualify in 11th place.
Binder ran as high as fourth at one stage during the sprint race, but had to settle for sixth after finishing within one hundredth of a second behind fellow KTM riders Pedro Acosta and Enea Bastianini.
What could have been
After failing to make a decent getaway on Sunday, Binder left the track while running in 10th place. He was left to ponder what could have been after Bastianini and Acosta showed good pace on the RC16 in finishing third and fourth respectably.
ALSO READ: Brad Binder sets new benchmark around Kyalami
“Everything was working incredibly well. The bike was amazing…but braking into Turn 7 and as I cut back for the corner I must have touched the white line. It was enough to close the front,” Binder told the KTM website.
“[It’s] a bit of a pity because I felt really good. We have to take the positives of the weekend and I think with a ‘normal’ weekend we can be really strong again.”
Brad Binder still 11th
The four points Binder earned on Saturday saw him move up to 95 points in the title race. He remains 11th in the championship, 22 points outside the top 10.
Alex Marquez’s win in Barcelona means that his brother Marc Marquez can’t win the championship in San Marino next weekend yet. Marc (487) leads Alex (305) by 182 points at the top of the table.
After San Marino, MotoGP heads east for a four-week swing in Japan, Indonesia, Australia and Malaysia.
