Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) left his millions of fans gasping for breath on Sunday morning at the Chang international track in Buriram.
Binder almost built on the Springboks’ victory in the World Cup tournament in Paris when he raced ahead with only two rounds to go in the Thai MotoGP, but was placed third.
Binder, who was second in the sprint race on Saturday, was in the lead in the 20th and again in the 21st of 26 laps after passing the leader Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati) with brilliant chasing.
But Martin took the lead again from Binder in the second last lap and ended up clinging to his small lead.
Binder was second, just 0.114 seconds behind Martin across the finish line, but he was penalized one position after exceeding the track limit in the final lap. This resulted in Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo) being placed ahead of him in second position.
The Grand Prix was won by Martin, Bagnaia was placed second, Binder third, Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Ducati) fourth, Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) fifth and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Yamaha) sixth.
Martin, who was also first in Saturday’s blitz race, has shrunk the points lead between him and Bagnaia to just 13 points with just three races (as well as three blitz races) remaining in this year’s series.
Bagnaia (389 points) is still in front, followed by Martin (376), with Bezzecchi (310) third, Binder (249) fourth, Espargaro (201) fifth and Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) sixth (194).
