It wasn’t a bad day for Brad Binder, who, after starting from the last place on the grid, finished well within the points, in eighth. However, the KTM rider recalled that he did not have a good Saturday, which did not help him.
In statements to the press, the rider made the following assessment of his day: ‘Sunday much better than Saturday. We managed to take a step forward today [compared to the Sprint race] and already in Warm Up I felt more comfortable: the bike was running a bit better and stopping better than yesterday. Today, starting from last, the goal was to have a race with zero mistakes, I couldn’t, but at least we gained some positions and it was good to finish eighth, especially after starting last. Sixth place was right there, so I wanted more, but at the end of the day I think we put ourselves in a very difficult situation by qualifying last and we managed to get through the weekend, so we have to try again next weekend [of races]’.
The way Binder started the race was, once again, the best point for him: ‘My saving grace was the start, because my bike is a rocket at the start and I used that to my advantage. After that, I tried to pass some guys at the beginning of the race, I went off track twice in the same corner, went off, came back in but lost some time. I knew I had to have a clean race and, except for going off in the same corner, everything went well. It was important to finish the race, get some data and understand what we need to move forward’.
Asked about what he learns about his bike when coming from behind, the South African added: ‘Well, of course lately when we go to the race there is less grip than the rest of the weekend. Whether this is due to the Moto2 and Moto3 rubber on the track is something I’m not sure about, but the level of grip decreases with each race and that puts us in trouble because we have difficulty getting the exits right and a bit of contact on entry and when we have that rubber it makes everything very complicated at the beginning’.
And it was a good learning experience for what is to come: ‘It was good to realize that again today and when the line got cleaner things started to look more normal. It’s good to learn for the future’.
