Gutsy ride sets Brad Binder up for strong finish to MotoGP season

Top 10 finish still within reach for Red Bull KTM man as curtain falls on his premier class career. It wasn’t the result he wanted, but another gutsy ride by Brad Binder earned him another top 10 finish in the main race of the Malaysia MotoGP at the weekend. The Red Bull KTM rider, who also finished seventh in the sprint race, left Sepang with a decent haul of 10 points. This was enough to saw him move up to 118 points in the championship standings and take 12th place from Luca Marini (117). With only three rounds left before he moves to the World Superbike Championship, Binder will be out to catch Fermin Aldeguer (125) and Enea Bastianini (134), who are in 11th and 10th place in the title race respectably. The lowest Binder has finished in his first six premier class seasons was 11th. Brad Binder had some fun “I had some fun battles but I thought I had the pace to do much better today,” Binder, who qualified in 15th place in Sepang, told the KTM website. “From about four laps in I started losing the front and that meant understeer in the long corners. It was really tough until the rear started to fade and then I could brake pretty good. “After four laps I saw we were in trouble and I had to be smart to bring it to the end.” Marquez closes in on title The show moves to Qatar this week, where Marc Marquez eyes an eighth premier class crown. Marquez (399 points) stretched his lead over Jorge Martin, who threw in the towel in Sepang due to a broken wrist, to 44 points. If Marquez can outscore his Spanish countryman by 30 points in Qatar, he will clinch the title with two rounds to spare in Portugal and Valencia. Ruché Moodley’s struggle for form continued in Sepang where he could only finish in 19th place in the Moto3 race. The teenager still only has a solitary championship point to show for efforts this season.