2014 Circuit of the Americas ResultsSpoiler Alert – 2014 MotoGP results from Circuit of the Americas listed below
Two words, one extremely talented rider – Marc Marquez.The 21-year-old Spaniard has done nothing but impress so far in 2014 MotoGP. The Repsol Honda rider put in an amazing performance at Losail’s Qatar, taking the win from Movistar Yamaha MotoGP’s Valentino Rossi by a mere 0.259 of a second. And the win arrived six weeks after breaking his right leg in a dirt-track training crash.And this momentum was carried in Austin’s Circuit of the Americas this weekend. Marquez lead every free practice session, qualified on the pole, and was quickest during the warm-up. When Sunday’s race arrived, the RC213V pilot was the favorite. And he proved why by dominating Austin MotoGP to take his second win for a perfect championship points lead after 2 of 18 rounds.When the 21-lap race got underway at the 3.426-mile circuit containing 20 corners, Yamaha Factory Racing’s Jorge Lorenzo jumped the start to take the lead. The two-time MotoGP Champion who crashed out of Qatar on the opening lap was followed by Repsol Honda duo of Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa, Pramac Racing Ducati’s Andrea Iannone, Ducati Team’s Cal Crutchlow, LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl, and Ducati Team’s Andrea Dovizioso.But Lorenzo had to drive-through the pit ahead of the second lap, giving the lead to Marquez. As for the Americans, Drive M7 Aspar Honda’s Nicky Hayden and NGM Forward Racing’s Colin Edwards began outside of the top 14.Marquez, who was the only rider on hard Bridgestone tires, immediately opened a 0.8 of a second gap on Pedrosa, showing perfect rhythm and nailing his race line. Behind, Rossi began picking off riders, taking Dovizioso on the second lap for sixth place, Bradl on the third lap, and Crutchlow on the fourth lap – an attack similar to what he did at Qatar.On the fourth lap, both Bradl and Dovizioso passed Crutchlow, who seemed to struggle with the GP14 that is competing under the Open option. With 17 to go, Crutchlow rode off his line, losing three additional positions.Up front, Marquez was over a second ahead of Pedrosa with 15 to go. Behind, while battling with Bradl with 12 to go, Rossi appeared to lose front grip on the Bridgestone, and fell back to sixth behind Dovi. On the same lap, GO&FUN Honda Gresini’s Alvaro Bautista crashed out. In the back, Lorenzo was up to 13th, running consistent fast laps.With 10 to go, Rossi was passed by the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha duo of Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith.The next rider to crash was Crutchlow, who lost the front end of his GP14 at turn seven.Up front, Marquez had nearly a four-second gap on Pedrosa, as Bradl passed Iannone for third. A turn later, Dovi did the same. With five to go, the huge battle was for third between Bradl and Dovi, who swapped the position a few times.With three to go, Edwards, who is retiring at the end of 2014 MotoGP, rode into the pits with technical issues at his home race. This caused a DNF for the 40-year-old Texan.Marquez would lead all 21 laps of the race to take the win. He suffered a huge wobble at the final corner, but saved the RC213V to finish 4.124 seconds ahead of Pedrosa. Taking the final podium position was Andrea Dovizioso, who finished 20.976 seconds behind, which shows the strength of the factory Hondas.Bradl finished fourth, followed by Smith and Pol Espargaro. Rounding out the top 10 were Iannone, Rossi, NGM Forward Racing’s Aleix Espargaro and Lorenzo. Hayden would finish 11th.With his win, Marquez now has a perfect 50 points after two of 18 rounds. He leads Pedrosa by 14 points. The series now breaks for a week before heading to Argentina’s Termas de Rio Hondo April 25-27.Photos by Ara Ashjian2014 Aragon MotoGP Results from Circuit of the Americas:
Pos.
Points
Num.
Rider
Nation
Team
Bike
Km/h
Time/Gap
1
25
93
Marc MARQUEZ
SPA
Repsol Honda Team
Honda
159.4
43’33.430
2
20
26
Dani PEDROSA
SPA
Repsol Honda Team
Honda
159.2
+4.124
3
16
4
Andrea DOVIZIOSO
ITA
Ducati Team
Ducati
158.2
+20.976
4
13
6
Stefan BRADL
GER
LCR Honda MotoGP
Honda
158.0
+22.790
5
11
38
Bradley SMITH
GBR
Monster Yamaha Tech 3
Yamaha
158.0
+22.963
6
10
44
Pol ESPARGARO
SPA
Monster Yamaha Tech 3
Yamaha
157.8
+26.567
7
9
29
Andrea IANNONE
ITA
Pramac Racing
Ducati
157.7
+28.257
8
8
46
Valentino ROSSI
ITA
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP
Yamaha
156.7
+45.519
9
7
41
Aleix ESPARGARO
SPA
NGM Forward Racing
Forward Yamaha
156.6
+47.605
10
6
99
Jorge LORENZO
SPA
Movistar Yamaha MotoGP
Yamaha
156.5
+49.111
11
5
69
Nicky HAYDEN
USA
Drive M7 Aspar
Honda
155.8
+1’00.735
12
4
7
Hiroshi AOYAMA
JPN
Drive M7 Aspar
Honda
155.6
+1’03.954
13
3
68
Yonny HERNANDEZ
COL
Energy T.I. Pramac Racing
Ducati
155.4
+1’07.333
14
2
17
Karel ABRAHAM
CZE
Cardion AB Motoracing
Honda
154.2
+1’27.972
15
1
8
Hector BARBERA
SPA
Avintia Racing
Avintia
154.0
+1’32.376
16
70
Michael LAVERTY
GBR
Paul Bird Motorsport
PBM
154.0
+1’32.543
17
9
Danilo PETRUCCI
ITA
IodaRacing Project
ART
153.6
+1’39.176
18
63
Mike DI MEGLIO
FRA
Avintia Racing
Avintia
152.9
+1’51.962
Not Classified
45
Scott REDDING
GBR
GO&FUN Honda Gresini
Honda
155.2
2 Laps
5
Colin EDWARDS
USA
NGM Forward Racing
Forward Yamaha
154.9
4 Laps
35
Cal CRUTCHLOW
GBR
Ducati Team
Ducati
152.4
9 Laps
19
Alvaro BAUTISTA
SPA
GO&FUN Honda Gresini
Honda
158.3
12 Laps
23
Broc PARKES
AUS
Paul Bird Motorsport
PBM
151.3
13 Laps
2014 MotoGP Point Standings (after 2 of 18 rounds):
This week Teejay chats to Tyler Poppe. Tyler works on the TV show Mayans MC–and yet he doesn’t ride an American V-Twin. Wassup with that?? Also, Arthur finds out from friend Mike Cardillo about his thoughts on the full-size version of the Kawasaki KLX 140R F trail bike.