Marc Marquez has handed a
championship lifeline in MotoGP Grand Prix of Americas, with his fifth
consecutive victory in Texas made all the more sweeter by the fact that the winner
of first two races of the season in Maverick Vinales crashed out.
After victories in Qatar and
Argentina, hopes were high that Yamaha rider Vinales could challenge Marquez,
the only man to win around the Circuit of the Americas in MotoGP having won all
four previous races since the track was added to the calendar in 2013.
Marquez himself was coming off
crashing out of the lead in Termas de Rio Hondo two weeks’ ago, leaving himself
with a 37-point deficit in the process to Vinales, but the reigning world
champion has clawed back vital ground ahead of the start of the European season
after Vinales crashed out in America on the second lap of the race.
Marquez has cut the gap to Vinales
to just 12 points as a result, but finds veteran Valentino Rossi out in front
on 56 points after bagging his third consecutive podium finish, despite
being handed a bizarre time penalty for a clash with Johann Zarco. Marquez
got off the line well but it was his Repsol Honda teammate, Dani Pedrosa, who
led into turn one from Marquez and Rossi, with Vinales dropping to fifth before
overtaking Ducati’s Jorge Lorenzo.
No comments:
Post a Comment