lead and letting Bagnaia make up
some crucial meters in third.
Five laps to go, Binder again
went for the inside at turn eight,
but this time, he held the line to
take the lead, a lead he would hold
for another two and a half laps.
On the penultimate lap, Martin
gently edged Binder aside in turn
two to retake the lead, Bagnaia
waiting for any possibility of an
opening to jump the pair of them.
Bagnaia's front tire did hit Binder's
rear tire in the pass instigated by
Martin, but everyone, incredibly,
stayed upright.
VOLUME ISSUE OCTOBER , P59
Sunday Grand Prix
As processional as it may have
been, the Saturday Sprint race
was just a warmup for the barn-
stormer that was the Sunday
Grand Prix.
Martin once again led off the
line from Marini and Espargaro,
with Bagnaia making a much
better getaway for fourth head
-
ing into turn two. Binder was be-
hind Bagnaia, but not for long as
he scythed past the number one,
Espargaro and Marini to slot into
second place behind Martin on
lap five.
Bagnaia was looking at another
massive chunk of points lost as
he dropped to seventh, but that's
as far as the decline would go
as the number-one pushed past
Marc Marquez and Espargaro and
then set out after the top four.
Alex Marquez was running well
in third until he wasn't, losing the
front of the blue Ducati and slid
-
ing out of the race on lap 13. That
put Bagnaia up to third, and the
top three began to streak clear
with Martin leading the way.
With eight laps left, Mar-
tin, Binder and Bagnaia were
covered by a little over half a
second, while Marco Bezzec-
chi (Mooney VR46 Ducati) had
moved up to fourth ahead of his
teammate Marini.
By lap 20 of 26, Binder made
his move, throwing the KTM up
the inside of Martin's Ducati at
turn eight but immediately run-
ning wide and allowing Martin to
take the lead back.
Binder wasn't done yet and
had another lunge at Martin a
lap later at turn two but again
ran wide, giving Martin back the
RINS ABSENT AGAIN
After withdrawing from the Aus-
tralian MotoGP on Saturday due
to persistent pain in his right leg,
Alex Rins was absent once again
in Thailand after undergoing minor
surgery on Thursday. The Span-
iard underwent tests in Madrid,
which revealed a small hernia
near the fibula area, which more
than likely led to the pain he was
feeling. Rins' persistent leg injury
problems since June are a worry
for Yamaha, who is counting on
him to provide able backup for
Fabio Quartararo in 2024. On the
health of his future teammate, the
Frenchman said there is no rush
for Rins to return. "The health is
more important than the bike, so
I wish that he can be back 100
percent with the leg," he said. "I
don't know how bad is the surgery,
but to come back too early is never
really good. So to not be [at the]
Valencia test, for him and for us,
won't be a massive change. The
most important is that he is 100
percent."
Briefly...
Alex Marquez (73) was
running great in third in
the Sunday GP until he
crashed out early.
