Marquez continues his Circuit Of The Americas winning streak.
- Matt White (@Mattwhiteracing)
- Apr 12, 2016
- 2 min read
Marc Marquez made it four wins from four at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas with a display that left the rest of the field wondering which way he went.
Jorge Lorenzo made the best start but ran wide at turn one letting Marquez take the lead – and he was never headed.
Just like in all of the free practice sessions and qualifying, Marquez was in a class of his own.
Lorenzo managed to work his way to second to take his 99th career podium in the top class, but by this point the horse aboard the Repsol Honda had bolted.
In fact, his winning margin – 6.1 seconds – was made not just by his pace, but also because his main rivals were tripping up behind him.
First Valentino Rossi crashed at the second turn on lap 3, tucking the front whilst running in 5th place.
Next to go were both Dani Pedrosa and Andrea Dovizioso. The Spaniard out-braked himself at turn one and ploughed into the hapless Dovizioso, who had also been taken down last weekend on the last lap by his team mate, Andrea Iannone. Pedrosa was able to rejoin the race but no such luck for the Ducati man.
Next to fall a lap later were Cal Crutchlow and Bradley Smith, in separate incidents at turn 11 on lap 8. Both also remounted, but were unable to get back into the points. Smith said afterwards that oil on the track had been the cause of both the British riders’ falls.
Iannone had managed to pick his way through the carnage to run a lonely third, his first points of the season. He finished ahead of both the Suzukis of Maverick Viñales and Aleix Espargaró, with the former looking impressive, again finishing ahead of his teammate.
Next up was top-finishing British rider Scott Redding on the Pramac Ducati. The 23-year-old Gloucester youngster finished sixth.
The top ten was completed by Pol Espargaró’s Yamaha (7th), Michele Pirro (deputising for Danilo Petrucci) on the second Pramac Ducati (8th), Hector Barbera (9th) and Stefan Bradl on the first of the Aprilla’s (10th).
Marquez now leads the championship after back to back wins by 21 points ahead of Lorenzo with Rossi 3rd, 33 behind.
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