VOLUME 57 ISSUE 43 OCTOBER 27, 2020 P99
IIIMY OWN RACE:
42 ALEX RINS
2ND MOTOGP
"Obviously I was hoping to win again
today, but another podium is an awe-
some feeling anyway," said Alex Rins.
"It was really hard to do ba le with
Franco today, he was very strong and
he got a good start. I was happy with
my re choice, but I did feel a li le bit
of drop part way through the race, I
knew that I had a decent gap on Joan,
so I kept things smooth and went for
second place."
36 JOAN MIR
3RD MOTOGP
"My feeling was good today, but on
the last laps today, I wasn't able to
make up the difference—I had the
same speed as Alex and Franco, but I
couldn't manage to go quicker to close
the gap," said points leader Mir. "That
was a bit of a shame, but it's always
hard to start further back on the grid,
and I lost some me while overtak-
ing other riders. But anyway, I'm glad
to have been able to collect points
today, and I'm sa sfied because my
target was the podium; I knew that
was needed to keep a hold on the
championship lead, so I'm happy that
I achieved that."
BINDER AT FAULT
After the race, the FIM penalized
Brad Binder for "riding in an ir-
responsible manner causing the
crash." The crash in question
happened in turn two right after the
start. The pack suddenly got really
crowded and Binder ran into the
back of Jack Miller with both riders
going down. As a result, Binder has
been issued a "long lap penalty"
which will be honored at next week's
race. "I had quite an okay start, and
as I went up the inside of turn one, I
then changed direction like a regular
lap and got bunched up," Binder
said. "It was a big mistake on my
behalf and I'm so sorry to wipe out
Jack's race. I want to apologize not
only to my team but also to his."
COVID CONCERNS
Racing in a time of a global pandem-
ic is a risky business. At the Teruel
GP, Moto3 rider Riccardo Rossi
became the latest paddock figure
confirmed to catch the Covid-19 vi-
rus. As a result, he did not race. The
Teruel province, where the Motor-
land Aragon Circuit is located, will go
into strict lockdown on the Monday,
October 26, after Spain saw more
than 20,000 new infections on
Thursday. The news is leaving many
riders nervous about their health and
the chances of finishing the cham-
pionship. "I'm really worried about
that honestly, because it's something
that is difficult to control," said Joan
Mir. "After this race, I will go home
[to Andorra] like normal, but then at
Briefly...
