A KTM rider winning a MotoGP premier class race by over five seconds from a privateer Yamaha and the dominant championship leader nowhere near the podium. It was a result no one could have predicted as 24-year-old Brad Binder gave KTM its first premier class win in MotoGP at the Czech Grand Prix in Brno. The action packed race gave plenty of winners and losers to discuss.
Winners
Brad Binder - The first South African to ever win in MotoGP’s premier class was also the first rookie in the class to win since Marc Marquez in 2013. A faultless ride by the man many tipped to be a star in MotoGP came on a day when KTM appeared to have the best bike in race conditions. Proof of that was how much confidence Binder had on the RC16’s front end under braking as he passed everyone in front of him. His win was also proof of how the fortunes of manufacturers can change depending on which circuit MotoGP races on. Neither of the opening two rounds in Jerez gave us any indication of Binder and KTM winning this comfortably.
Franco Morbidelli - Due to the lion’s share of the attention going to Johann Zarco on Saturday and Brad Binder on Sunday, Morbidelli was a bit of a forgotten man. He really shouldn’t be, however. Especially on a day when Petronas Yamaha teammate and championship leader Fabio Quartararo was nowhere near podium contention. Morbidelli’s ride to second was slightly fortuitous due to Zarco’s penalty, but still mighty solid. He was clearly the strongest of the Yamaha riders, and that too on a bike that wasn’t the latest spec factory bike unlike the one Quartararo, Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales were using.
Johann Zarco - Arguably the rider of the weekend along with Brad Binder, the Frenchman gave MotoGP fans a case of deja vu as he was a factor at the sharp end of the grid. A controversial long lap penalty took away any chance of second place, however. Much to the delight of neutral MotoGP fans, though, the Frenchman danced on the line of legality while taking the penalty and managed to keep third place.
Alex Rins - The Suzuki rider's picture should be in the dictionary under the definition of perserverance. The Spaniard ride to fourth place is even more impressive if you take into account him dislocating and fracturing his right shoulder in the opening round of the season. And it wasn't even a distant fourth place finish. He was less than two tenths of a second away from stealing a podium from Johann Zarco. Under normal circumstances, a factory rider stealing a podium from a privateer like Zarco would be unpopular among neutral MotoGP fans. However, knowing what Rins has gone through this season, he would have been rightfully lauded.
KTM - The Austrian manufacturer made its MotoGP premier class debut at the 2017 Qatar GP. Their riders qualified 22nd and 23rd and finished 16th and 17th. Fast forward to 2020, a year that has already thrown up many surprises, and KTM looked good enough to take a 1-2 in the Czech GP. KTM are better known for their off-road motorsport exploits but it appears they have finally figured out how to win at the top level on tarmac too. Their only regret will be Pol Espargaro being taken out in an incident with Zarco that denied them a 1-2 finish. Still, expect plenty of cans of Red Bull being mixed with more potent fluids to celebrate Binder’s win.
Losers
Pol Espargaro - Let’s forget about who was at fault in the incident with Johann Zarco as it seems like the officials got it wrong by penalizing Zarco in what appeared to be a racing incident. Espargaro is a loser because of losing out on at least a podium, if not second place or even a win. In his last season with KTM, the Spaniard must have been keen to give the Austrian manufacturer its first victory. There is still time to win depending on which circuit suits the RC16, but Espargaro will look back on this race with regret.
Fabio Quartararo - Things change in motorsport so quickly. Quartararo looked totally untouchable at the opening two rounds in Jerez but was dropping down the classification at the end of the Czech GP. He still gets nine points for his seventh place finish and increases his championship lead but that was only because of the miserable race his closest rival had.
Maverick Vinales - Fourteenth place? Really?! That’s the best Vinales could manage after his two second place finishes in Jerez? The Spaniard appears to be an enigma and not in a good way. He still remains second in the championship standings but has never looked anywhere close to challenging for a win in any of the three rounds so far.
Factory Ducati team - Andrea Dovizioso 11th and Danilo Petrucci 12th. That is not what one expects from a team that was challenging for the championship as recently as a couple of years ago. There is clearly something the works Ducati team are doing wrong because Johann Zarco took pole and second place in a year old bike while Jack Miller was ninth for the Pramac Ducati team.
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