MotoGP Indonesia: ‘I don’t want to say an excuse’ - Aleix Espargaro ‘sorry because I ruined Brad Binder’s race’

Espargaro crashed out of the race after losing the front-end of his Aprilia at tur✅n 16 on lap two.
The fall came when trying to make a pass on Binder, w꧙hich resulted in Espargaro taking down the KTM rider.
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Apologetic post-race, Espargaro said🥀: “I felt very strong today and I was very fast. I tried not to lose the race because I saw that Jorge and Maverick were pulling strongly at the front.
“I felt like I could fight for the v🌼ictory so I tried to overtake [Brad] and made a mistake. There was no space so I had to brake on the dirty part and this is the problem.
“I’♐m very sorry to Brad and everyone at KTM. I’m very, very sorry. I tried to avoid it but I lost the front in a di൲rty part of the track.”
Espargaro was unlucky that his crash came when🍷 moving onto the dirty part of the track, however, the Spaniard didn’t want to use that as an excuse.
“It’s not that I want to say an excuse because I’m very sorry to Brad,” said Espargaro. “I ruined his race. It’s not his fault or it’s dirty 🐈or what💟ever.
“It’s myꦚ faultಌ, but you have to overtake and there is one line and the risk is there. I was surprised I crashed because I was braking well.”
While Espargaro w✤as forced to retire, Binder managed to keep going but finished last - 43 seconds down on race winner Jorge Martin.
“In the race I went with the hard front tyre because I thought it would be better for the race distanc꧂e,” said Binder.
“In the first two laps it was clear that it need💝ed a bit more time to come up, especially on the left side.
“Unfortunately, this track is quite difficult to overtake at and I was trying to get past Fabio𝓡. Then Aleix tr🐭ied to go past me and locked the front and I got collected.
“Was not really ideal and it was not a good day for us. I picked up the bike and t📖he pace was good even without the wings. I wasn’t the fastest but wasn’t the slowest. Tomorrow is our chance.”
Asked if he felt Espargaro should have been penali🌄sed, Binder called it a racing incident and felt as though it was ‘juꦰst unfortunate’.
Binder added: “To be honest the line at this track is so narrow and it's so hard 🥂to overtake. It’s racing at the end of the day. I was just unfortunate to be collected.”