Marquez secures dominant victory at Austin

Marquez stormed to his first victory of 2015 in dominant fashion, easing clear of factory Ducati rider Dovizioso and Yamaha’s Rossi as the Italian duo became embroiled in their own battle for second.

It was Dovizioso who seized the intiative at the start with Marquez and Rossi close behind, while Cal Crutchlow had a terrible start, the LCR Honda rider dropping back to 10th position from fifth on the grid as Bradley Smith vaulted up to fourth with an audacious outside move at the first corner.

But Marquez never looked like he would be caught after taking the lead from Dovizioso, meanig the main action would be between Rossi and Dovizioso for second and third after Rossi dropped away from the rear wheel of Marquez and back into the clutches of Dovizioso. 

Jorge Lorenzo was off the pace at the beginning of the race, dropping back to fifth place, and it wasn’t until the end of the race that the Yamaha rider was able to improve a little to end up with a fourth place finish after coming out on top of a battle with Andrea Iannone.

The second factory Ducati in the hands of Iannone made up plenty of places to finish fifth following a strong performance by the Italian, while Smith ended up in sixth after dropping back behind Lorenzo and Iannone after his superb start.

Factory Suzuki rider Aleix Espargaro took an eighth place finish, the Spaniard also making a great start and only to drop off the pace nearing the end of the race, while his teammate Maverick Vinales had a brilliant race to finish ninth. The final place in the top 10 was taken by Pramac Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci.

The were a number of crashes,  the most notable coming on the very first lap when Scott Redding, who had qualified a superb sixth, lost the front of his Marc VDS Honda machine, which then struck the Tech 3 Yamaha of Pol Espargaro.