Source: MotoGP

Honda’s Marc Marquez has capped off a dominant weekend by claiming a commanding win at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas, host of the second round of the MotoGP World Championship.

The Spanish rider made a strong start, though a bizarre incident for championship challenger Jorge Lorenzo saw the Yamaha rider in the lead early, blasting through the stationary grid with the red lights still illuminated.

The factory Yamaha rider was immediately issued with a ride through penalty, handing the race back to Marquez who guided his Repsol Honda to a comfortable victory, his second in a row and second consecutive achievement at the sweeping American circuit.

He now leads the standings by a comfortable 14 points from teammate Dani Pedrosa, who registered another podium placing in second, crossing the line 4.124 seconds shy of Marquez.

While a Honda victory seemed a foregone conclusion, the final podium place was anything but. Pramac Racing Ducati’s Andrea Iannone seized the early advantage and was holding his own as a multi-rider pack scrapped for a place in the top five.

Iannone would eventually fade, his position on the podium eventually taken over by factory Ducati pilot Andrea Dovizioso who fought his way forth from ninth on the grid.

LCR Honda MotoGP’s Stefan Bradl was another in line for a podium, eventually settling for fourth after an entertaining back and forth battle with Monster Tech3 Yamaha rider Bradley Smith who was fifth and the first Yamaha home.

Pol Espargaro ran sixth from Iannone, with Valentino Rossi a mysterious eighth on the factory M1 after struggling for pace from the mid-point.

Aleix Espargaro was the top Open class ride in ninth, and Lorenzo was a lonely figure in 10th after what would have been a torturous race playing catch-up from his start line error.

Broc Parkes was unable to build upon his round one points finish, racing solidly from the outset but ultimately retiring from the race with a technical issue hindering the progress of his Paul Bird Motorsport machine.

2013 Moto3 World Champion Maverick Vinales realised his goal of winning a Moto2 race in just his second appearance, taking the chequered flag from Marc VDS Racing’s Esteve Rabat and Technomag carXpert’s Dominique Aegerter in what was an incident-packed race.

Six riders were caught up in a turn one crash, and a host of other high-speed incidents would result in seven retirements from the race.

Another brilliant performance from Australia’s Anthony West saw the QMMF Racing Team machine battle from a grid position of 19 to ultimately finish seventh, collecting solid points in the process.

West is placed a handy seventh after two rounds, with Rabat maintaining his hold on the championship by seven points from Vinales and third-placed Mika Kallio.

Another standout race for Australia came in the Moto3 class, with polesitter Jack Miller racing to a second consecutive win for Red Bull KTM Ajo Motorsport.

Miller raced confidently, exploiting the strengths of his KTM until the latter stages where he switched his focus to preventing a slipstream being found by following riders.

He won the race by 0.069 seconds from SKY Racing Team VR46’s Romano Fenati, with SaxoPrint-RTG rider Efren Vaquez coming home a close third.

The second victory from as many rounds sees Miller extend his points lead to 18 over closest challenger Vazquez, with Fenati a further eight points in arrears.

Fellow Aussie Arthur Sissis endured another torrid race for Mahindra, crashing out on the first corner and leaving with another non-result.

The championship continues at Argentina’s upgraded Termas de Rio Hondo on 25-27 April.

2014 MotoGP World Championship
Round two – Circuit of the Americas, USA

MotoGP race results:
1. Marc MARQUEZ
2. Dani PEDROSA +4.124
3. Andrea DOVIZIOSO +20.976
4. Stefan BRADL +22.790
5. Bradley SMITH +22.963
6. Pol ESPARGARO +26.567
7. Andrea IANNONE +28.257
8. Valentino ROSSI +45.519
9. Aleix ESPARGARO +47.605
10. Jorge LORENZO +49.111
DNF. Broc PARKES (AUS)

MotoGP championship standings (after round 2 of 18):
1. Marc MARQUEZ 50
2. Dani PEDROSA 36
3. Valentino ROSSI 28
4. Andrea DOVIZIOSO 27
5. Aleix ESPARGARO 20
6. Andrea IANNONE 15
7. Stefan BRADL 13
8. Nicky HAYDEN 13
9. Bradley SMITH 11
10. Pol ESPARGARO 10
20. Broc PARKES (AUS) 1

Moto2 race results:
1. Maverick VIÑALES
2. Esteve RABAT +4.009
3. Dominique AEGERTER +7.323
4. Mika KALLIO +8.590
5. Simone CORSI +9.934
6. Thomas LUTHI +16.987
7. Anthony WEST (AUS) +17.561
8. Alex DE ANGELIS +18.948
9. Marcel SCHROTTER +19.720
10. Ricard CARDUS +24.552

Moto2 championship standings (after round 2 of 18):
1. Esteve RABAT 45
2. Maverick VIÑALES 38
3. Mika KALLIO 33
4. Thomas LUTHI 26
5. Simone CORSI 22
6. Dominique AEGERTER 16
7. Anthony WEST (AUS) 16
8. Sandro CORTESE 11
9. Sam LOWES 10
10. Ricard CARDUS 10

Moto3 race results:
1. Jack MILLER (AUS)
2. Romano FENATI +0.069
3. Efren VAZQUEZ +0.172
4. Alex RINS +7.182
5. Jakub KORNFEIL +7.264
6. Alexis MASBOU +20.107
7. Francesco BAGNAIA +20.381
8. Danny KENT +23.981
9. John MCPHEE +24.032
10. Karel HANIKA +24.222
DNF. Arthur Sissis (DNF)

Moto3 championship standings (after round 2 of 18):
1. Jack MILLER (AUS) 50
2. Efren VAZQUEZ 32
3. Romano FENATI 24
4. Alex RINS 24
5. Jakub KORNFEIL 21
6. Alex MARQUEZ 20
7. Alexis MASBOU 19
8. Francesco BAGNAIA 15
9. Miguel OLIVEIRA 14
10. John MCPHEE 12
NC. Arthur Sissis (AUS)

Click here for detailed results