[visordown.com] - MotoGP 2016 CotA race results

[Ninjette Newsbot]

REPSOL Honda's Marc Marquez blitzed the rest of the MotoGP field to win at the Circuit of the America's by over six seconds.

Marquez stole the show in America as he lined up on the grid in pole position, but it was Jorge Lorenzo who grabbed the lead into Turn 1 and then unfortunately running wide allowing Marquez to race ahead.

The field all made it through the opening corners without any crashes with Lorenzo in second and Valentino Rossi hot on his tail. Andrea Dovizioso also made a good start and used the power of the Ducati to slide into second down the back straight.

As Dovizioso came through, so too did Aleix Espargaro as the Spaniard finding himself in fourth at the start of the second lap after starting in ninth. Espargaro had gone against the norm and opted for soft front and rear, the extra grip giving him a clear advantage in the opening laps.

The third lap began with Rossi crashing out of the race at Turn 2 after losing the front mid corner whilst Marquez and Dovizioso ran away at the front with Lorenzo defending his third place position. Rossi’s crash ended a 24-race run of top five finishes.

Marquez continued to eke out an advantage as the action intensified further down the field with Maverick Viñales (Team Suzuki Ecstar) attempting to make up for a poor start.

Lap after lap, Marquez extended his lead and after only five laps his fourth straight win in Texas looked certain. The remaining two spots on the podium were wide open as Lorenzo snook past Dovizioso with Dani Pedrosa waiting patiently behind.

At the start of the seventh lap Pedrosa had a huge moment going into Turn 1 and unfortunately lost control of his Honda which then in turn ploughed into Dovizioso. Pedrosa was able to re-join, but shortly retired whilst Dovizioso's race was certainly over fortunately not due to injuries.

Showing true sportsmanship, not only did Pedrosa run to Dovizioso immediately after the incident, but the Spaniard also went to the Italian's Ducati garage to apologise and check he was OK when they both returned to the pits.

At Turn 11 on lap eight Cal Crutchlow was left having to jump over Bradley Smith's Monster Yamaha Tech 3 machine as both riders crashed shortly after each other. Both were able to remount and complete the race, but the leading four now had huge gaps between them, separated by at least three seconds.

All the crashes had promoted Iannone to a provisional podium in third place. The Team Suzuki Ecstar duo meanwhile continued to dice it out for fourth place, Viñales also running the softer rear but had opted for the medium front.

Chaos unfolded behind, but Marquez upped his pace to the 2:04s, almost half a second faster than Lorenzo’s laps. Each lap saw Marquez set a new fastest lap of the race which none of the top three were able to match.

The rhythm of the race continued as Viñales was now a second clear of his team-mate as all of the top seven riders were spread out on track.

As many had predicated, Marquez walked to victory and crossed the line 6.107s ahead of Lorenzo. For just the second time in his career, Lorenzo took a podium position at CotA as he ended the race second. Iannone rounded out the podium with a safe ride to third place.

Viñales secured his best ever premier class finish with fourth ahead of his team-mate Aleix Espargaro - a great day for Suzuki with a double top five.

Scott Redding, Pol Espargaro, Michele Pirro, Hector Barbera and Stefan Bradl completed the top ten.

Round 4 of the MotoGP World Championship takes place on the 24th April at the Gran Premio Red Bull de España.

Race results:

1. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team 43:57.945
2. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 44:04.052 (+6.106)
3. Andrea Iannone ITA Ducati Team 44:08.892(+10.947)
4. Maverick Viñales ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar 44:16.367(+18.422)
5. Aleix Espargaro ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar 44:18.656 (+20.711)
6. Scott Redding GBR Octo Pramac Yakhnich 44:26.906 (+28.961)
7. Pol Espargaro ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 44:30.057 (+31.112)
8. Michele Pirro ITA Octo Pramac Yakhnich 44:30.702(+32.757)
9. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Racing 44:32.537(+34.592)
10. Stefan Bradl GER Factory Aprilia Gresini 44:38.156 (+40.211)
11. Alvaro Bautista ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini 44:43.368 (+45.423)
12. Eugene Laverty IRL Aspar MotoGP Team 44:45.072(+47.127)
13. Tito Rabat ESP Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS 44:45.371 (+47.426)
14. Yonny Hernandez COL Aspar MotoGP Team 44:49.135 (+51.190)
15. Loris Baz FRA Avintia Racing 45:10.874(+1:12.929)
16. Cal Crutchlow GBR LCR Honda 45:17.197 (+1:19.252)
17. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 45:25.981(+1:28.036)

DNF. Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team
DNF. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team
DNF. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP




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