VOLUME ISSUE OCTOBER , P71
Miller came home for a solid
fourth in the Sprint, his best re-
sult in eons. He finished ahead
of the man who serenated the
crowd at his wedding, Johann
MOTOGP SPRINT RACE
Martin qualified on pole with
a new lap record of 1:43.198
ahead of Bagnaia and Jack
Miller, the Aussie using the new
KTM carbon fiber chassis to try
and revitalize his season.
Spaniard Martin would rocket
off the line and take the lead
into turn one from Miller and
Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM)
with Bagnaia dropping to fourth
ahead of Marc Marquez (Repsol
Honda) and Marco Bezzecchi
(Mooney VR46 Ducati).
Binder eventually disposed of
Miller and set off after Martin,
getting to within a second of
the purple Ducati but no more
as Martin controlled the pace
and eventually pulled away to a
1.3-second win.
Bagnaia likewise would get
past Miller late in the race, but it
was too little, too late. His fourth
place saw him lose another
five points to Martin, and with
Bezzecchi finishing in sixth, it
properly signaled the title race is
now a two-horse affair.
33 BRAD BINDER
2ND/DNF MOTOGP
"Overall, I think we had a posi-
tive weekend here in Japan," Brad
Binder said. "We were fast in all ses-
sions and to bring home a podium in
the Sprint yesterday was fantastic,
but unfortunately today it was tricky
with the weather conditions, and we
came in after the first lap for the bike
swap. I started to feel good in the
rain and with good pace, but I had a
small lock going into turn three and
that was it. Thank you to my team for
their hard work. We'll try and make
up for it next time around."
MYOWNRACE
MotoGP Sprint Race
For 300-horsepower
MotoGP monsters,
conditions like this
don't sound like a whole
lot of fun.
