Brad Binder wins second Sprint race

Brad Binder has tied Francesco Bagnaia on two MotoGP Sprint wins in 2023 after a brilliant overtake on the penultimate lap against Jack Miller.

Starting from pole for the first time since Argentina last season, Aleix Espargaro made a good start but was passed by the fast‐ starting duo of Jack Miller and Brad Binder.

Espargaro then lost out to Francesco Bagnaia for P3 but not before a massive crash at turn two involving champi‐ onship leader Marco Bezzecchi, Franco Morbidelli and Alex Mar‐ quez.

Morbidelli initiated contact with Marquez which resulted in both riders going down, before Bezzecchi was collected by Mar‐ quez' Gresini Ducati, leading to the Italian being violently thrown over the top of his ma‐ chine.

After overtaking Miller on lap 1, Martin was attacked by the Australian into turn six before the pair swapped position an‐ other two times.

Miller eventually came out on top before Bagnaia relegated Martin down to fourth.

Not content with second posi‐ tion to his teammate, Miller then pounced at the final corner on lap three as he led for the first time.

After crashing again, although this time Alex Marquez was at fault for his fall, the Ducati rider’s former Honda teammate Takaaki Nakagami also went down on lap four ‐ turn nine.

Still in fifth following his trou‐ blesome first lap, Espargaro then went down at turn nine after losing the front‐end of his Aprilia.

After attempting a move on Oliveira for fifth, Pedrosa had to remain in sixth as the Portuguese rider remained strong in his de‐ fence.

Further back, Joan Mir suffered another fall which was his third of the weekend so far.

With two laps to go, Binder, who was climbing all over the back, finally got through in spec‐ tacular fashion.

Sliding his KTM into turn six, the South African nearly lost the front before staying ahead of Miller.

Bagnaia then seized second place away from Miller on the final lap after a mistake from the KTM rider at turn six.