Moto3™: Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) took a stunning win from pole at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit

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After a weekend of rain, wind and grey skies, Sunday finally dawned bright at Phillip Island, and Warm Up saw laptimes lower for the majority after a mixed Saturday – as the skies remained perfect blue above the Moto3™ grid lining up to race.

An original race saw crashes early on for some of the frontrunners – including key protagonists of the Rookie of the Year battle Joan Mir (Leopard Racing) and Nicolo Bulega (Sky Racing Team VR46) – with a crash at Lukey Heights then seeing John McPhee (Peugeot MC Saxoprint) highside out and collect a number of other riders – including Jorge Navarro (Estrella Galicia 0,0) and Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing Moto3). The red flag came out, with a re-started race set for a distance of ten laps.

Bastianini was unable to make the restart, but Navarro lined up once again for the new race – as did Fabio Quartararo, with the Frenchman once again starting form the back after having been disqualified from his P2 qualifying position due to a technical infringement. Having fought up into second before the red flag, the Leopard Racing rider then faced the prospect of doing the task all over again.

The restart saw Binder and Locatelli escaping at the front, before the South African 2016 Moto3™ World Champion began to pull away, leaving Locatelli in a lonely P2. Further back, the battle for third saw riders heading into Doohan Corner eight wide, with the classic Moto3™ freight train creating a 16 rider battle to complete the podium.

Quartararo was unable to repeat his heroics from before the race start, and there were further crashers who then were out of podium contention – including Jorge Navarro after a touch from Bo Bendsneyder (Red Bull KTM Ajo), and Turn 4 casualty Niccolo Antonelli (Ongetta-Rivacold) – with Brad Binder’s younger brother Darryn (Platinum Bay Real Estate) then seeing the penultimate lap of the race become a duel for the podium with Aron Canet. Canet just took the honour with a slipstream over the line, with Darryn Binder still taking his career best finish in P4.

The top five was completed by Livio Loi (RW Racing BV GP), ahead of Jorge Martin (Pull&Bear Aspar Mahindra) and Darryn Binder’s teammate Marcos Ramirez. Hiroki Ono (Honda Team Asia) and Jules Danilo (Ongetta-Rivacold) were P8 and P9, with Bendsneyder locking out the top ten.

Third down to tenth was covered by just over seven tenths of a second in the incredible battle – with Fabio Quartararo in P12 still within a second of the podium.

With DNFs for so many of those in the top echelons of the points standings, Binder stretched his lead in the Championship – although already crowned Champion – with Bastianini and Navarro not scoring in the fight over P2, and all three riders locked in the battle for Rookie of the Year – Mir, Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing Moto3) and Bulega – also all unable to see the flag.

Another incredible battle will see Moto3™ take over Sepang International Circuit next weekend, as the slipstream specialists take on the incredible final straight, Turn 15 and main straight combination – with a new track surface and some new cambers.

MICHELIN® AUSTRALIAN MOTORCYCLE GRAND PRIX

Moto3 Race Classification 2016.

Pos.	Points	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Km/h	Time/Gap
1	25	41	Brad BINDER	RSA	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	163.0	16’22.009
2	20	55	Andrea LOCATELLI	ITA	Leopard Racing	KTM	162.0	+5.937
3	16	44	Aron CANET	SPA	Estrella Galicia 0,0	Honda	161.4	+9.594
4	13	40	Darryn BINDER	RSA	Platinum Bay Real Estate	Mahindra	161.4	+9.642
5	11	11	Livio LOI	BEL	RW Racing GP BV	Honda	161.4	+9.680
6	10	88	Jorge MARTIN	SPA	Pull & Bear Aspar Mahindra Team	Mahindra	161.4	+9.750
7	9	42	Marcos RAMIREZ	SPA	Platinum Bay Real Estate	Mahindra	161.4	+9.996
8	8	76	Hiroki ONO	JPN	Honda Team Asia	Honda	161.3	+10.115
9	7	95	Jules DANILO	FRA	Ongetta-Rivacold	Honda	161.3	+10.142
10	6	64	Bo BENDSNEYDER	NED	Red Bull KTM Ajo	KTM	161.3	+10.358
11	5	7	Adam NORRODIN	MAL	Drive M7 SIC Racing Team	Honda	161.3	+10.447
12	4	20	Fabio QUARTARARO	FRA	Leopard Racing	KTM	161.3	+10.569
13	3	24	Tatsuki SUZUKI	JPN	CIP-Unicom Starker	Mahindra	161.3	+10.682
14	2	65	Philipp OETTL	GER	Schedl GP Racing	KTM	161.2	+10.979
15	1	6	Maria HERRERA	SPA	MH6 Team	KTM	160.8	+13.763
16		12	Albert ARENAS	SPA	Peugeot MC Saxoprint	Peugeot	160.7	+13.821
17		77	Lorenzo PETRARCA	ITA	3570 Team Italia	Mahindra	158.4	+28.297
18		3	Fabio SPIRANELLI	ITA	CIP-Unicom Starker	Mahindra	156.3	+42.036
19		48	Lorenzo DALLA PORTA	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	KTM	155.0	+50.454
20		14	Matt BARTON	AUS	Suus Honda	FTR Honda	150.2	+1’23.446
Not Classified
		19	Gabriel RODRIGO	ARG	RBA Racing Team	KTM	161.2	1 Lap
		9	Jorge NAVARRO	SPA	Estrella Galicia 0,0	Honda	161.1	1 Lap
		43	Stefano VALTULINI	ITA	3570 Team Italia	Mahindra	158.1	2 Laps
Not Finished 1st Lap
		23	Niccolò ANTONELLI	ITA	Ongetta-Rivacold	Honda		0 Lap
		8	Nicolo BULEGA	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	KTM		0 Lap
		16	Andrea MIGNO	ITA	SKY Racing Team VR46	KTM		0 Lap
		17	John MCPHEE	GBR	Peugeot MC Saxoprint	Peugeot		0 Lap
		36	Joan MIR	SPA	Leopard Racing	KTM		0 Lap
		21	Francesco BAGNAIA	ITA	Pull & Bear Aspar Mahindra Team	Mahindra		0 Lap
		89	Khairul Idham PAWI	MAL	Honda Team Asia	Honda		0 Lap
		33	Enea BASTIANINI	ITA	Gresini Racing Moto3	Honda		0 Lap
		4	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	ITA	Gresini Racing Moto3	Honda		0 Lap
		58	Juanfran GUEVARA	SPA	RBA Racing Team	KTM		0 Lap
		84	Jakub KORNFEIL	CZE	Drive M7 SIC Racing Team	Honda		0 Lap

Moto3 World Standing 2016.

Pos.	Rider	Bike	Nation	Points
1	Brad BINDER	KTM	RSA	294
2	Enea BASTIANINI	Honda	ITA	164
3	Jorge NAVARRO	Honda	SPA	143
4	Nicolo BULEGA	KTM	ITA	129
5	Joan MIR	KTM	SPA	124
6	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	Honda	ITA	122
7	Francesco BAGNAIA	Mahindra	ITA	120
8	Romano FENATI	KTM	ITA	93
9	Niccolò ANTONELLI	Honda	ITA	87
10	Andrea LOCATELLI	KTM	ITA	85
11	Jakub KORNFEIL	Honda	CZE	83
12	Philipp OETTL	KTM	GER	77
13	Aron CANET	Honda	SPA	76
14	Fabio QUARTARARO	KTM	FRA	68
15	Jorge MARTIN	Mahindra	SPA	66
16	Bo BENDSNEYDER	KTM	NED	59
17	Jules DANILO	Honda	FRA	58
18	Livio LOI	Honda	BEL	55
19	Khairul Idham PAWI	Honda	MAL	54
20	John MCPHEE	Peugeot	GBR	48
21	Andrea MIGNO	KTM	ITA	47
22	Juanfran GUEVARA	KTM	SPA	40
23	Hiroki ONO	Honda	JPN	36
24	Gabriel RODRIGO	KTM	ARG	22
25	Darryn BINDER	Mahindra	RSA	17
26	Tatsuki SUZUKI	Mahindra	JPN	16
27	Adam NORRODIN	Honda	MAL	14
28	Stefano MANZI	Mahindra	ITA	13
29	Lorenzo DALLA PORTA	KTM	ITA	12
30	Marcos RAMIREZ	Mahindra	SPA	9
31	Maria HERRERA	KTM	SPA	7
32	Albert ARENAS	Peugeot	SPA	2
33	Alexis MASBOU	Peugeot	FRA
34	Karel HANIKA	KTM	CZE
35	Lorenzo PETRARCA	Mahindra	ITA
36	Fabio SPIRANELLI	Mahindra	ITA
37	Stefano VALTULINI	Mahindra	ITA
38	Maximillian KAPPLER	KTM	GER
39	Matt BARTON	FTR Honda	AUS
40	Davide PIZZOLI	KTM	ITA
41	Tim GEORGI	KTM	GER
42	Danny WEBB	Mahindra	GBR
43	Enzo BOULOM	KTM	FRA
44	Marco BEZZECCHI	Mahindra	ITA
45	Shizuka OKAZAKI	Honda	JPN
46	Gabriel MARTINEZ-ABREGO	Mahindra	MEX

Credits : Photos and content courtesy of MotoGP.com

Moto3™: Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) took a stunning win from pole at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit

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MICHELIN® AUSTRALIAN MOTORCYCLE GRAND PRIX

Moto3 World Standing 2016.

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