It was a very bad Sunday afternoon for the Red Bull KTM motorcycle racing team when their two factory riders, Brad Binder and Jack Miller, both fell in the San Marino MotoGP in Misano.
At least there was a bit of good news when the 37-year-old veteran Dani Pedrosa finished fourth on his Red Bull KTM.
Binder, who started seventh, moved up to fourth within two rounds. He also set the fastest lap time in the second round, but with 19 of the 27 laps remaining, his bike slid out from under him in the 14th turn and he fell.
He immediately jumped up, ran to his motorcycle and started racing again, but lost far too much time. He ended up finishing 14th.
More adversity followed when Miller was taken out by Michelle Pirro in the fourth turn in the next round.
The MotoGP was won by Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati) after he was also first in Saturday’s sprint race.
Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Ducati) was second, despite a hand injury he sustained in last week’s big fall in the Catalan MotoGP.
Hats off to Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo) who was third on Sunday. He had to race through the pain threshold after falling last week and racing Binder over both of his legs.
Pedrosa was close on his heels in fourth, with Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) fifth and Miguel Oliveira (RNF Aprilia) sixth.
Bagnaia (283 points) is still leading the championship standings, but Martin (247) has moved up to within 36 points of him with his two wins over the weekend.
Bezzechi (218) is third and Binder (173) remains fourth.
