We don’t often report on Moto GP events but this one was clearly an exception. 20 year old South African Brad Binder made history this weekend after becoming the first South African to win a Moto3 category race in 35 years (with the previous one being Jon Ekerold) at last weekend’s race in Jerez, Spain.
After qualifying for first Binder’s KTM was found to have a non-homologated ECU software forcing him to start at the back of the grid. By the third lap however, Binder was in the reach of points after gaining 20 positions in the two previous laps. by lap four he had claimed fourth place.
The leading trio continued to battle each other at the front while Binder closed in on the top 10. Six laps into the race, it didn’t take him much longer to catch up to the trio (less than a third of the race to be exact). With 15 laps to go he had the task of chasing down a 3,7 second gap from the lead.
The gap was drastically closed down by almost half due to the top trio fighting for the lead; by the 14th lap Binder had claimed third position, second position not long after and finally the top spot by the 18th lap on the sixth turn. For Binder, this wasn’t enough because by the end of the race he managed to win with a 3,4 second lead ahead of second place extending his championship lead over Jorge Navarro by 15 points.
Results:
1. Brad Binder RSA Red Bull KTM Ajo (KTM) 41 m 29,882 s
2. Nicolo Bulega ITA SKY Racing Team VR46 (KTM) 41 m 33,218 s
3. Francesco Bagnaia ITA ASPAR Mahindra Team Moto3 (Mahindra) 41 m 33,323 s
4. Jorge Navarro SPA Estrella Galicia 0,0 (Honda) 41 m 33,395 s
5. Jakub Kornfeil CZE Drive M7 SIC Racing Team (Honda) 41 m 43,610 s
6. Joan Mir SPA Leopard Racing (KTM) 41 m 43,815 s
7. Romano Fenati ITA SKY Racing Team VR46 (KTM) 41 m 43,875 s
8. Enea Bastianini ITA Gresini Racing Moto3 (Honda) 41 m 43,934 s
