2018 MICHELIN AUSTRALIAN MOTORCYCLE GRAND PRIX - PART 3 - JUST BIKES

2018 Michelin Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix - Part 3

Moto2 Race – Binder’s Win

Before the 25-lap race got underway, a stall on the grid forced Schrotter to give up his front row start and line up at the back of the grid. When the lights went out, Vierge made the cleanest start, taking the holeshot from Dominique Aegerter (Kiefer Racing KTM), while polesitter Pasini was out on the second lap after crashing at turn 4.

Champion-in-waiting Bagnaia was as high as sixth in the opening couple of laps, but soon slipped outside the top ten, while Gardner was holding down ninth.

Having scored his first Moto2 podium at Phillip Island last year, Binder demonstrated his affinity with the track by taking the lead from Vierge on lap 4. With Iker Lecuona (Swiss Innovative Investors KTM) in third and Aegerter fourth, this quartet began to put a gap on the rest of the field. However, after a clash between Vierge and Lecuona into turn 2 on lap 7 that put the latter into the gravel, the gap closed and the experienced Lorenzo Baldassari (Pons HP40 Kalex) joined the leading pack. Despite losing places, Vierge was soon back up to second and took the race lead on lap 12.

Gardner was as high as sixth on the same lap, but his home race came to an end shortly after when he crashed at turn 10 trying to avoid a collision with Mir. Although he was able to remount, bike damage forced Gardner to retire on lap 14. Turn 10 would later claim Andrea Locatelli (Italtrans Racing Team Kalex) and Baldassari.

While all this was going on, Staring was keeping his nose clean at the back of the field and actually claimed a couple of places.

As the race ticked over into the final laps, a group of six led the way, made up of Baldassari, Vierge, Binder, Mir, Luca Marini (Sky Racing Team VR46 Kalex) and Augusto Fernandez (Pons HP40 Kalex).

Vierge was in front at the start of the penultimate lap, but came into turn 4 way too hot, running wide and giving up the lead to Binder and second place to Mir. The latter was itching to notch up his first Moto2 race win and lined up Binder out of turn 12 on the final lap to try and slipstream him to the flag. Had the finish line been another hundred metres down the road, Mir may have succeeded, but he just ran out of real estate. Binder won by 0.036 seconds, with the South African later commenting that the frantic race reminded him of his Moto3 days.

Mir’s move failed, but Vierge’s slipstream pass on Fernandez was successful, with the Dynavolt rider beating his Spanish compatriot to the line by less than one one-hundredth of a second to take the final podium position.

Staring was the last rider home, while the championship contenders, Bagnaia and Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo), placed twelfth and eleventh, respectively. This changed the championship table by only one point in Oliviera’s favour, but like Martin in Moto3, Bagnaia wrapped up the Moto2 championship at the following round in Sepang.