JOHANNESBURG - South Africa’s Brad Binder rued his decisions this past weekend at the Red Bull Ring but remains optimistic of his chances to appear on the MotoGP podium again in the coming weeks.
Binder started the Styria Grand Prix 13th on the grid, and managed to ride his way to sixth spot before Maverick Vinales was forced to jump from his Yamaha in a life-or-death decision after his brakes failed.
The subsequent crash, which saw his bike smash into the barriers and erupt into flames, red flagged the race.
After a brief halt in proceedings, Binder found himself in prime position to push for another podium at the restart.
That push, however, never materialised with the 25-year-old rookie making uncharacteristic, and perhaps inexperienced mistakes during the closing stages of the GP. Nevertheless, Binder was pleased with his and Red Bull KTM’s performance.
“To get up to sixth was already great. I felt really, really good,” Binder said after the race.
“Unfortunately, with the red flag and the restart I didn’t make the best decision with the tyres and really struggled to stop, even running off at Turn 1, but I was able to come back to eight.”
A race that came to a very abrupt end! 💥
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) August 23, 2020
Thankfully @mvkoficial12 was able to walk away from this scary get off unscathed! 🙌#AustrianGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/NbU63tHZSv
Despite his misadventures, Binder remained positive and admitted he was looking forward to next month’s double header in San Marino at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.
“All-in-all we should be happy,” said Binder.
“I gave my best out there and the bike was fantastic. The team worked really well and I’m super-excited for the next race. I think we can do a good job at Misano.”
Binder remains fourth in the riders’ world championship - 21 points behind early pacesetter Fabio Quartararo of France.
MotoGP, meanwhile, takes a short hiatus and will return on September 13 giving Binder plenty of time to contemplate his mistakes, learn from them, and push towards greater things.
@IOLsport