Brad Binder was one of three riders perfectly positioned to capitalize the original start of the Cota MotoGP, and chose Slick correctly.
But after the start was delayed by many people in wet tires due to a dramatic last minute dash into the pit lane, South Africa had nothing left to show it in the restart.
Unlike Enea Bastianini (Seventh) and Ai Ogura (ninth), he retrieved a top-10 finish, but the binder’s Grand Prix was disappointed when technical issues forced him to retire from fifth place.
“It’s a chaotic start! No one knows what’s going on.”
The rest of the original grid was suddenly lined up on the course, with Slicks, Binders, Bastianini and Ogra at least for a podium finish.
However, the confusion caused by other riders abandoning the wet bikes and returning to the pits and forcing the direction of the race to delay the start of safety grounds for bikes, riders, team members and guests to cross the pit lane.
“It was a chaotic start! No one knew what was going on,” said Binder, No. 16.
Due to the reboot, the ride penalty was not taken over, and the binder was back to the square one so that all riders fit the slick.
From the sprint struggle to the grand prix charge
However, after struggling 12th in the sprint, South Africa was much more competitive in the Grand Prix.
Binder was fifth and on KTM’s best-resulting course of the year, his RC16 was stopped on technical issues after six laps.
“I really got away and fought everyone before,” recalls Binder.
“We took the time to see where we could push with the track wet patches, and after about half the race distance, we felt we could push.
“I raised another position, but then there was an electrical problem and I had to stop.
Brad Binder retires from Americas Motogp
“Unfortunately, the top five were guaranteed.
“But anyway, we took an important step and the bike was wearing a hat on my team because there were far more ways I wanted it.”
When Binder retired, Bastianini appeared in the top KTM in 7th place. Pedro Acosta retired after crashing, and Maverick Vinales was able to climb from the start of the pit lane until the 14th.
“We can’t be satisfied with the end result or what happened, but we’re hiding some of the progress we’re making,” said Aki Ajo, KTM team manager.
“Brad has had far more feedback from his bike after making some changes to the setting. This is more positive and I want to see how it works in Qatar. We should have made the top five with him… We’re in the right direction.”
Despite the first non-scoring weekend of the season, the binder remained KTM’s top rider at the World Championships, although he placed 11th in the ranking.