Brad salvages points finish after mid-race crash at COTA
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing had good reason to view the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas with strong cause for optimism considering the increased competitiveness and continued progression with the current RC16 motorcycle. Brad Binder was among the fastest on track in Texas until he also had to recover from an error and still made the flag in 13th place.
The stifling heat of COTA on Saturday had blown away in a stiff breeze to be replaced by sunshine and colder temperatures for the Grand Prix distances on Sunday. Brad was making progress from the depths of the top ten as the group disputing positions for the top five began to close up and narrow. Unfortunately though he spun out through Turn 15 only a few laps after teammate Miller had departed the race. He was able to pick up the bike and rally to 13th for 3 valuable points.
After three of 21 rounds, Brad is 9th in the championship standings. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing will be able to go for trophies again at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto for the Gran Premio MotoGP Guru by Gryfyn de España in two weeks.
Brad Binder
“The whole weekend here in Austin has been a lot more positive than we might have expected beforehand, based-off our experiences here in the last years. I wasn’t super-happy yesterday but I managed 5th which was fantastic. Today I had high hopes but unfortunately I switched my line going into Turn 1 at the start and it was a big mistake on my part. I ended up getting caught in the chaos on the first lap. I tried my best. I struggled with the front tire up until a few laps before I crashed. At that moment I was confident and was started to push. Then it just snapped away from me on one of the little left-handers. Luckily, I was able to remount and we still got three points. As frustrating as today was we are not walking away empty-handed. For me it was also a lesson, especially from my mistake at the start. At Jerez we will go a hell-of-a-lot better.”