Alvaro Bautista recovers from crash to take a point in Texas

Marc Márquez did the only thing he knows how to do at the Circuit Of The Americas today: win. This is the fifth time the MotoGP World Championship has visited this track and the Spaniard has five poles and five wins to his name.

With series leader Maverick Viñales crashing out early in the race, the gap between the two is reduced to twelve points in a championship that now has a new leader, with Valentino Rossi taking second today to move to the top of the standings. The Italian returns to Europe with a six-point lead over his team-mate and eighteen over Márquez. Dani Pedrosa made the podium today for the first time since San Marino last year, with Cal Crutchlow and Johann Zarco completing the top five as the top Independent riders.

It was a bittersweet weekend for Pull&Bear Aspar rider Álvaro Bautista, who started his 125th MotoGP race from nineteenth on the grid after some practice issues with his Ducati.

Bautista battled his way up to thirteenth in the race before a crash at the midway stage saw him lose forty seconds, although he was able to continue and pick up a single point in fifteenth.

15th Álvaro Bautista:
“I don’t know why I crashed. I was on the same line and going through the corner in the usual way. It is a shame because it hasn’t been a good weekend for us, but with the pace we found we could have been fighting for a top ten finish, close to the factory guys. Now we need to get our feeling back at Jerez, and see if in front of the home fans there we can be competitive again like we have been in the previous Grands Prix.”

Source: Aspar