Brad Binder claimed his second MotoGP Sprint victory of the season following an epic battle with his Red Bull KTM team-mate Jack Miller at Round 4 in Jerez.
Binder made his move past Miller on the penultimate lap and managed to edge ahead to win the Spanish GP Sprint, with Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia capitalising on a mistake by Miller on the brakes on the last lap to snatch second place.
Pole man Aleix Espargaro crashed out of fifth place, while KTM test rider and Jerez wildcard entrant Dani Pedrosa was an excellent sixth on the Red Bull RC16 as three KTMs finished inside the top six.
The race was re-started over 11 laps after a pile-up on the first lap at Turn 2, with factory Yamaha rider Franco Morbidelli making contact with Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez.
Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi had nowhere to go and hit Morbidelli’s stricken Yamaha, with his VR46 Ducati then catching fire.
Augusto Fernandez (GASGAS Tech 3 KTM) was also caught up in the melee, although none of the riders involved were hurt in the incident and all four were eligible for the restart.
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Miller made a lightning start from the front row to take the lead before the red flag stoppage, but he was unable to repeat the feat in the restart, with Binder – fourth on the second row – powering ahead.
Miller was tucked in behind with Jorge Martin next on the Pramac Ducati ahead of Bagnaia and Espargaro, who was shunted back to fifth.
On a frantic opening lap, Martin picked off Miller for second place at Angel Nieto corner, while 37-year-old Pedrosa was seventh at the end of the first lap behind RNF Aprilia’s Miguel Oliveira.
Miller went second on Martin at Dani Pedrosa corner on the second lap to pursue Binder, but Martin reclaimed the position briefly before Miller hit back again as they traded blows.
Bagnaia then dived under Martin at the final corner to plunder third as Binder and Miller led a sensational KTM one-two.
On the third lap, Miller took over at the front into the final turn, passing Binder on the brakes.
Spaniard Espargaro’s race ended when he crashed out of fifth place at Turn 9 into the gravel on lap six, promoting Oliveira up to fifth ahead of Pedrosa.
With three laps to go, Binder dived through on Miller on the brakes but went wide, allowing ‘Jackass’ to cut back again as they continued to lead Bagnaia and Martin.
Undeterred, Binder used the slipstream on the back straight to pass Miller on the penultimate lap and again went wide. However, he was able to pull his KTM back underneath Miller to lead on the penultimate lap.
Binder quickly opened a small gap over Miller as he began the final tour, with Bagnaia now closing on the Aussie.
Under pressure, Miller went wide allowing Bagnaia into second, but Binder had now completely broken the tow and was clear in front.
The hard-riding South African held firm and closed out his second Sprint win of the season to clinch KTM’s maiden MotoGP victory at Jerez by 0.428s from Bagnaia.
Miller had to settle for third in the end, 0.680s down on Binder, with Martin fourth.
Oliveira held off Pedrosa for fifth and Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) finished seventh ahead of Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati), Bezzecchi and Luca Marini (VR46 Ducati).
Marquez (Gresini Ducati), Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda) and Repsol Honda’s Joan Mir were among the fallers.
Fabio Quartararo struggled to 12th on the Monster Energy Yamaha, ending an incredible run of results at Jerez, while Texas winner Alex Rins was 13th for LCR Honda.
HRC World Superbike rider Iker Lecuona, Marc Marquez’s replacement in the Repsol Honda team at Jerez, was 18th of the 19 finishers ahead of Jonas Folger, who continues to fill in for the injured Pol Espargaro on the GASGAS Tech 3 KTM.
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