Famous five for Marquez, Rossi title lead
Marc Marquez made it a famous five wins in a row at the Grand Prix of the Americas in Texas as a dramatic third round of the MotoGP World Championship saw Maverick Vinales slide out.
The race had been billed as a battle between Repsol Honda's Marquez and fellow Spaniard Vinales on the Movistar Yamaha after the pair locked horns throughout practice and qualifying, with Marquez narrowly clinching pole.
However, Vinales dramatically fell at Turn 18 while holding fourth place, ending his perfect start to 2017 and ruling out the prospect of a third victory in succession.
He also relinquished his lead in the MotoGP World Championship, with team-mate Valentino Rossi moving to the top of the standings courtesy of a hard-earned second place. Rossi now leads the series by six points from Vinales, with Marquez 18 points behind Rossi in third.
Movistar Yamaha rider Rossi swooped in the closing laps to pick off Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa, who had earlier pressured team-mate Marquez for the lead. The Doctor put the hammer down to try and open a gap over Pedrosa after he was hit with a time penalty of 0.3 seconds buy Race Direction.
The Italian was deemed to have gained the advantage after running off the track when rookie Johann Zarco went up his inside on the Monster Tech 3 Yamaha machine. Replays of the incident seemed to confirm that Rossi was left with little choice other than to pick his M1 up and run wide, but in the end it mattered little as he sealed second place by 2.1 seconds from Pedrosa.
Marquez, who won by three seconds at the flag, was celebrating his first win of the season as he maintained his incredible unbeaten streak at the Circuit of the Americas on the factory Honda.
He chased after Pedrosa at the beginning of the race, who set a hot pace at the front. When Marquez did make a pass to take the lead, Pedrosa hit back straight away and he refused to allow Marquez to dictate matters at the front.
Pedrosa refused to bow out without a fight and caused more than a few problems for Marquez, who eventually managed to make a break for it.
Rossi remained poised in third place and began a late charge, quickly reeling in Pedrosa and making his move before opening up an immediate gap as he closed out second place.
Frenchman Zarco faded into fifth place as he fell into the clutches of LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow, who grabbed fourth place by three tenths.
Andrea Dovizioso completed the top six on the factory Ducati GP17, more than seven seconds behind Crutchlow and Zarco, with Andrea Iannone taking seventh place on the Ecstar Suzuki, 1.4 seconds behind former team-mate Dovizioso.
Danilo Petrucci slotted into eighth place on the Pramac Ducati ahead of factory rider Jorge Lorenzo, who showed early promise in the race, briefly taking fourth from Vinales before dropping backwards on the GP17.
Aussie Jack Miller was tenth on the EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda ahead of rookie Jonas Folger (Monster Tech 3 Yamaha), and Britain's Scott Redding in 12th on the second of the Pramac Ducati machines.
A host of fallers included Loris Baz, and Sam Lowes, whose Aprilia team-mate Aleix Espargaro pitted with tyre issues.
Alvaro Bautista also fell but re-joined the race on his Aspar Ducati and claimed a point in 15th place.
Pol Espargaro pitted on his smoking KTM, with team-mate Bradley Smith crossing the line in 16th place, 1, 22.090s behind race winner Marquez.
Americas MotoGP:1.Marc Marquez2.Valentino Rossi3.Dani Pedrosa4.Cal Crutchlow5.Johann Zarco6.Andrea Dovizioso7.Andrea Iannone8.Danilo Petrucci9.Jorge Lorenzo10.Jack Miller11.Jonas Folger12.Scott Redding13.Tito Rabat14.Hector Barbera15.Alvaro Bautista16.Bradley Smith17.Aleix Espargaro
Sam Lowes
Pol Espargaro
Loris Baz
Maverick Vi?ales
Karel Abraham
