2013 and 2014 MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez raced at Austin MotoGP Circuit of the Americas like he owned the place. He had been a winner here on previous three occasions in 2013, 2014 & 2015 and on Sunday, he was already a Pole-man, when he waited at front row for the lights to go off. Marquez’s only error came at the start, when he allowed Yamaha Movistar rider Jorge Lorenzo to briefly overtake him early in the race but Lorenzo’s lead did not for last long. Marquez regained superiority without wasting much time and never relinquished the lead for 21 laps of Austin’s MotoGP. Marquez’s dominance was evidenced by second-placed Lorenzo following a full 6 seconds later. Ducati’s Andrea Iannone took the third podium place alongside Marquez and Lorenzo. For the second successive race, Iannone’s Ducati teammate Andrea Dovizioso was involved in a crash with a fellow rider and lost his podium chance. At Argentina, it was Iannone and on Sunday, Dani Pedrosa entangled with Dovizioso and the race ended for the Italian at that point. The legendary Italian, Valentino Rossi also crashed out and his streak of 24 consecutive race finishes came to an end.
On Sunday, Spain’s Marc Marquez didn’t leave his stranglehold on Austin MotoGP at the Circuit of Americas and produced yet another dominating performance to keep his superiority intact. After winning the pole in Saturday’s qualifying ahead of Yamaha duo of Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi, Marquez looked full of confidence as he settled on his Repsol Honda bike at the front row. But Marquez failed to make a good start and allowed Lorenzo to get past him. However, Lorenzo couldn’t do it cleanly and overshot the corner and Marquez got his lead back. One more time Lorenzo overtook Marquez on Turn 11 but the Yamaha rider’s anxiety got the better of him as he ran wide and not only surrendered the lead back to Marquez but dropped to the sixth place. Ducati’s Dovizioso also challenged Marquez before Lap 5 but the adventure was short-lived as even Lorenzo improved and took the second place from Dovizioso. However by this time, Marquez had broken away from the bunch and remained totally unchallenged until the end.
Behind Marquez, a lot happened on Sunday. For the first time since 2014 Aragon MotoGP, Valentino Rossi crashed out of the race but the crash was attributable to machine problem and not Rossi’s riding skills. The Italian’s clutch kept slipping before completely giving way. Rossi lost the front-end and crashed out at Turn 2 on 3rd Lap. It was unfortunate because, until Sunday, Rossi had finished 24 consecutive races and always ended within the top five. The seven-time MotoGP world champion and ninth overall, Rossi looked a certain winner in 2015 but strange things happened before Lorenzo emerged as the ultimate winner.
The worst fate beckoned Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso. At Argentina, his podium chances were spoiled by teammate Iannone and at Austin, it was Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa, who lost control during braking at Turn 1 after 6 Laps and rammed into Dovizioso’s Ducati. The race was instantly over for the hapless Dovizioso but Pedrosa rejoined the riders and continued for several laps before bowing out himself. Other riders, who also crashed out were Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith.
However, Marquez rode majestically to finish a fourth-time winner at the Circuit of the Americas at Austin with Lorenzo behind him. Andrea Iannone was third, followed by Suzuki riders Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro. Pramac Ducati’s Scott Redding was sixth ahead of seventh-placed Pol Espargaro on Tech 3 Yamaha. The 8th, 9th and 10th places were taken by Michele Pirro (Pramac Ducati), Hector Barbera (Avintia Ducati) and Stefan Bradl (Aprilia). With three races of the season gone, Marquez leads with 66 points, Lorenzo is second at 45 while at 33 Rossi stays at the third spot. It was a landmark finish for Marquez, who has never been beaten in USA, having won 10 races in different bike categories since 2011.
