{"id":31807,"date":"2025-07-30T06:16:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T06:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/31807\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T06:16:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T06:16:11","slug":"mat-oxley-thinks-brad-binder-is-no-longer-ktms-golden-boy-due-to-one-gnawing-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/31807\/","title":{"rendered":"Mat Oxley thinks Brad Binder is no longer KTM\u2019s \u2018golden boy\u2019 due to one gnawing problem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Brad Binder has been a part of the KTM family since his 2015 Moto3 season, but he is enduring a difficult 2025 MotoGP campaign and might no longer be their \u2018golden boy\u2019.<\/p>\n

The South African has risen through the ranks with KTM<\/a> since he joined the Ajo outfit for his fourth full season in the lightweight class. Binder<\/a> also won the 2016 Moto3 title for KTM Ajo before moving to Moto2 with them in 2017 and to MotoGP in the factory KTM crew in 2020.<\/p>\n

Binder even became the first KTM rider to win a premier class Grand Prix with his triumph in the 2020 Czech GP<\/a> at Brno on just his third race on the RC16. But the 29-year-old has since enjoyed just one more victory at the 2021 Austrian GP<\/a> and nine Grand Prix podiums thus far.<\/p>\n

KTM have also only seen Binder score 68 points over the first 12 rounds of the 2025 MotoGP season<\/a> to rank 12th in the standings. He is also just the third-highest-scoring KTM rider, with Pedro Acosta sitting in seventh with 124 points and Maverick Vinales of Tech3 in 11th on 69.<\/p>\n

\"KTMPhoto by Hazrin Yeob Men Shah\/Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesMat Oxley thinks the Michelin front tyre is why Brad Binder is not KTM\u2019s \u2018golden boy\u2019<\/p>\n

Binder lamented his braking problem in the 2025 Czech GP<\/a> after the KTM rider only finished eighth on MotoGP\u2019s first race at Brno since 2020. Likewise, Binder bemoaned problems with his front brake in the 2025 Italian GP<\/a> as it made attacking \u2018absolutely impossible\u2019 at Mugello.<\/p>\n

Yet Mat Oxley<\/a> thinks the rear tyre that Michelin<\/a> introduced during the 2024 MotoGP season and the problems that Binder has continued to have adapting to it are the root causes of his issues at KTM this term. The KTM RC16 has never suited Michelin\u2019s super-grippy rear tyre.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Everything to know about Brad Binder from career stats to wife<\/a><\/p>\n

Before Michelin introduced the rear tyre currently in use, KTM could rival the likes of Ducati for at least podium finishes. But the RC16 has forever struggled to utilise the extra grip, with Binder et al often facing chatter problems, vibrations or the rear-end pushing the front-end.<\/p>\n

Oxley said on the Oxley Bom MotoGP Podcast: \u201cIt\u2019s so weird because if you think a couple of years ago, Binder was just KTM\u2019s golden boy. He was the first guy to win a MotoGP race on a KTM with that very strange Czech Grand Prix in 2020, when the track was like it was wet.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201c[He is a] massive talent, super guy, but he just hasn\u2019t been able to adapt. And, to me, it\u2019s this rear tyre that came in last year. A lot of riders haven\u2019t been able to adapt to that.<\/p>\n

\u201cHim and Acosta all through last year [were] saying it\u2019s the old rear pushing the front again. Just lose the front, lose the front, lose the front, lose the front [and] lose the front.<\/p>\n

\u201cEventually, that is going to gnaw away at your self-confidence, and I think that\u2019s where Binder is now. He\u2019s still crashing a lot. He\u2019s up there in the crashes list [with 13]. So, there you go. That perfectly describes [it].\u201d<\/p>\n

Brad Binder needs to find a \u2018Plan B or C\u2019 as the KTM rider lacks creativity\"KTMPhoto by Mirco Lazzari gp\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Binder would sit sixth in the standings without any Ducati bikes on the 2025 MotoGP grid<\/a> on 149 points, with works KTM teammate Acosta second with 241 points to Marco Bezzecchi of Aprilia on 271. Tech3\u2019s Vinales would be fifth with 154 points if there were no Desmosedicis.<\/p>\n

But the Ducati GP25 on which works ace Marc Marquez leads the actual standings with 381 points and the GP24 on which Gresini racer Alex Marquez sits second on 261 can still utilise the Michelin rear tyre more than the KTM RC16. So, Peter Bom feels Binder needs a \u2018Plan B\u2019.<\/p>\n

Binder continues to impress with his bravery, which has never been in question. But Bom is adamant that Binder needs to find an alternative solution to improve his results, having so far finished at best P6 in the Spanish GP and P7 in the Argentine GP during rounds five and two.<\/p>\n

Bom added: \u201cBrad is not afraid to push. The determination is there. [He probably thinks] when we line up, \u2018I\u2019m probably going to win this one. Why not?\u2019 Even when he was dead last in qualifying, I love that. He has balls. What he lacks is being creative.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has one way of riding the bike. If the bike likes that, you won\u2019t ever see him back. He will be under the shower when you finish second. But when the bike doesn\u2019t like that, he doesn\u2019t have a Plan B or C.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brad Binder has been a part of the KTM family since his 2015 Moto3 season, but he is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31808,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,13844,27485,29822,29823,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-31807","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-motosport","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-brad-binder","11":"tag-ktm-factory-racing","12":"tag-mat-oxley","13":"tag-michelin","14":"tag-motor","15":"tag-motor-sports","16":"tag-motosport","17":"tag-motosports","18":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31807","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31807"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31807\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31807"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31807"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31807"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}