MotoGP 2017: Marquez wins American Grand Prix as Vinales crashes

Repsol Honda's Marc Marquez wins for the fifth consecutive year at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas. Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa finish second and third, respectively.

Marc Marquez stamped his authority at the Circuit of the Americas yet again as he took his fifth consecutive premier class win at the circuit. Marquez race win at the American Grand Prix is also his first for the season. Movistar Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi finished second and Marquez's teammate Dani Pedrosa was third.

Although Marquez was on pole for the Americas GP, it was Pedrosa who got a holeshot in the beginning and led the race for most of the part. But, Marquez never lost sight of his teammate and made a quick move on him to take the lead in the second half of the race. Pedrosa fought back briefly but to no avail. Meantime, Rossi, who was running third at this point got into a scuffle with French rookie Johann Zarco and was handed a penalty of 0.3s. However, Rossi put up an impressive show from then on and passed Pedrosa in the closing laps for second place. Pedrosa settled for third spot owing to his deteriorating front tyre.

Cal Crutchlow managed to finish fourth as he pipped Zarco to fifth place in the closing stages. Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso was sixth, followed by Suzuki’s Andrea Iannone in seventh and Octo Pramac Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci in eight.  Jorge Lorenzo and Jack Miller completed the top ten.

As for Maverick Vinales, the winner of the first two races, he had a tumble in the second lap of the race while he was running fourth behind Rossi. Vinales’ fall has also opened the championship wide open yet again. Rossi currently leads the points table with 56 points ahead of Vinales at 50. Marquez’s win in COTA has moved him up to third place and he has 38 points in total.