BINDER’S DOUBLE

CELEBRATION US GOOD’

SOUTH Africa’s Brad Binder celebrated more than just his birthday yesterday after securing his first Moto2 victory at the Austrain Grand Prix.

In what proved to be a chaotic race, according to motorsport.com, Binder held his nerve to lead from second on the grid, finishing 0.330 seconds ahead of Alex Marques of Marc VDS. For his efforts, Binder, celebrating his 24th birthday, received a standing ovation from the Austrian fans as his Red Bull KTM Ajo team also enjoyed a home victory.

Binder staved off repeated overtaking attempts, especially from Australian Remy Gardner of Kalex, for the majority of the race, keeping his cool under extreme pressure to claim his first chequered flag in Moto2. It was the South African’s third podium of the season after he secured two consecutive second-place finishes at the Dutch TT and German GP, respectively, earlier this race calendar.

As reported by motogp.com, the MotoGP-bound Binder was pushed hard throughout the race by Gardner, and later Marques, after initially breaking away from the chasing pack at turn 1 on the first lap to lead by just under one second. Gardner, however, quickly closed down the gap, in part due to pole-sitter Tetsuta Nagashima of SAG crashing out and by lap 13 made his first earnest attempt in overtaking Binder at turn 1 but ran wide in doing so. He would again attempt an overtake at turn 1 with 10 laps remaining, but once again found himself running wide as Binder held onto his resolve.

With sevens laps to go and now racing wheel to wheel, Gardner took the lead for the briefest of moments at turn 3 but the ever cool Binder held the inside line, pushing the Australian onto the outside to retake the lead.

A desperate Gardner then ran wide on turn 1 a lap later and as he rejoined the track, clipped the rear-wheel of Marques and crashed out.

It was now the turn of Marques, currently leading the championship, to put pressure on Binder but the Spaniard was unable to force an error in the closing stages of the race – Binder crossing the line by the tightest of margins to claim an impressive victory and send the Red Bull Ring into raptures.

‘ADRIAN WILL DO

LIVERPOOL goalkeeper Adrian’s Premier League experience can help him seamlessly slot into their starting line-up if first choice Alisson is out for a long spell with a calf injury, defender Virgil van Dijk has said.

“I think he’s at that kind of age, that stage of his life and career that he can come in and slot into the team pretty easy,” Van Dijk said.

| Reuters