John McPhee ends DutchGP with solid points in sixth; Darryn Binder seventh

An intense battle throughout the DutchGP ended with PETRONAS Sprinta Racing’s John McPhee sixth, unfortunately Moto3 team-mate Darryn Binder was demoted three positions for exceeding track limits and ended the Assen race seventh.

An issue off the line for McPhee saw him drop from 11th to 15th on the opening lap, placing him inside a second group of riders on track. Putting in a series of fast laps, the Scot moved back inside the top-ten and re-joined the leading pack on lap 8. John joined the podium fight five laps later, but was shuffled back to sixth shortly after. Slightly adrift of the race leaders, McPhee crossed the line seventh but was promoted to sixth following team-mate Binder’s penalty. He goes into the summer break 13th in the championship with 37 points.

A steady start for Binder from eighth on the grid saw him lose one position in the opening corners, but he was quick to recover and was firmly inside the podium fight by lap 4. An intense battle for the podium places ensued over the course of the 22-lap race, which Darryn kept himself a part of. With three laps to go a slide going through Turn 15 dropped him to seventh, but an impressive final lap saw him cross the line fourth. Unfortunately a penalty for exceeding track limits on the last lap demoted him to seventh, putting him sixth in the riders’ standings (69 points).

McPhee and Binder will now enjoy a near six-week break before action resumes with two back-to-back races in Austria, the first of which being the Grand Prix of Styria (6-8 August).

John McPhee
6th (+1.510)

It’s been a fairly solid day. In Warm Up we found something that we have been looking for, which has been making me miss a little bit of feeling. So it was good to find that. We made the most of that going into the race and managed to improve the bike. After a bad start to the race, I managed to fight my way back and I felt strong. This track managed to break the riders up a bit and I really enjoyed the battle today. It’s a shame that in the final laps we didn’t have enough to be able to attack and get past the guys ahead. P6 going into the summer break is okay and I’m really excited for the second half of the season. I think it could be a strong one for us.

Darryn Binder
7th (+1.338)

Warm Up was good this morning and I felt ready for the race. It started off really well and I was in the front group fighting for the podium all race. I was feeling really comfortable but had a moment going through Turn 15 late on, which made me lose some positions. I fought as hard as I could in the final two laps to try to get back to the podium. I managed to cross the line fourth but unfortunately, after exceeding track limits on the final lap, they dropped me three places. There’s nothing I can do, I tried my best and I’m going into the summer break feeling positive.