Brad Binder’s reaction to Acosta fall: ‘It's not just me…’

Brad Binder suffered a similar scare to fellow KTM rider Pedro Acosta, a lap before the rookie crashed out of Sunday’s Japanese MotoGP.

“A tough race today. In the beginning when I wanted to push on with the boys, I kept losing the front,” Binder said after finishing in sixth position.

Acosta, who had crashed while leading the Saturday Sprint, was holding second place - between Francesco Bagnaia and Binder - when he slid off at the final corner on lap 3 of 24.

“The lap before he [Acosta] crashed, I closed the front in the same corner,” Binder revealed.

“And the next lap I saw him go, so I thought, ‘It's not just me, so I’ve got to really try and nurse it a little bit’.

“And then after the about 6-7 laps it was more under control.”

But while the front grip stabilised, rear grip had evaporated by the closing stages.

“With probably about 6-7 laps to go, the centre of the tyre was completely [worn] already, so it just spinning the whole way down the straights,” said the South African.

“It was really difficult to be clean and consistent because I was missing so much grip.

“But I think everyone struggled [with that] today. If you see how big the gaps were.

“In general, everything else was OK. Not the race I wanted by any means, but I tried my best and that's all we had today.”

Although Binder failed to finish the Sprint due to a technical issue, Acosta’s double Motegi DNF means Binder has retaken fifth in the world championship by two points from his future team-mate.