Racing to a world title
South Africa’s Brad Binder cuts a fast line as he shows his class and style in wrapping up the Moto3 title with four races to spare at the Motorcycling Aragon Grand Prix in Spain yesterday. The Potchefstroom rider, who didn’t win a race in his first four years of Moto3, has been the dominant rider this year, with five wins, and is now the third motorcycle grand prix world champion from South Africa, after Jon Ekerold and Kork Ballington.
MADRID: KTM rider Brad Binder secured this year’s Moto3 title with four races to spare, with a second-place finish at Aragon yesterday.
The South African started the weekend 106 points clear of Enea Bastianini and 111 ahead of Jorge Navarro, knowing that beating – or even probably finishing – them would wrap things up.
Having qualified seventh, Binder was in the thick of what became a four-rider fight for the lead throughout 20 laps, with Navarro, Bastianini and Fabio di Giannantonio.
He led on several occasions, including after a bold, fourthto-first move into the final corner with four laps to go.
Bastianini led at the start of the final lap, as Binder moved up to second at the first corner, but he was shuffled back down to fourth by Di Giannantonio at Turn 9. But he was soon back into third, then slipstreamed down the back straight and into the lead entering the final corner.
While Binder ran wide and Navarro snuck through to win by just 0.030 seconds, second place was enough for Binder to secure an unassailable 106point championship lead with only 100 still up for grabs.
The win was Navarro’s second of the campaign, while Bastianini was third.
Binder claimed six podium finishes but no wins across his first four seasons in Moto3, but this year he has been the dominant force in the division with five wins. He won the first time at Jerez, from the rear of the grid after his KTM was found to have run an unhomologated ECU in qualifying, and again at Le Mans, Mugello, Silverstone and Misano.
With the result, Binder becomes just the third motorcycle grand prix world champion from South Africa. He is the first since Jon Ekerold won the 350cc title in 1980, which followed Kork Ballington winning the 350cc and 250cc titles in both ’78 and ’79.
The 21-year-old will stay with Ajo Motorsport next year, but will move up to Moto2. – Autosport