Grand Prix of The Americas
Qualifying was very dramatic, with Marc Marquez's bike faltering on the start/finish straight, meaning he had to run back for his spare bike, yet he still managed to take pole by over three tenths of a second, from the Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso. The GP15 was showing promise again, and that was confirmed at the start of the race, when Dovizioso took the lead into turn one, from Marquez and Lorenzo.
Dovi held a the lead for the early part of the race, but Marquez slipped past on lap 5 and lead the race from then on, leaving Dovi to battle with the Yamaha of Valentino Rossi, his team mate Anrdrea Iannone and the other Yamaha of Jorge Lorenzo. Dovi and Rossi fought tooth and nail, Rossi initially getting the better of the GP15 but Dovi fought back late on and took 2nd place, with Rossi having a tyre issue, and Lorenzo charging in the closing laps to steal 4th from Iannone in the last few laps.
Bradley Smith took a fine 6th place for the Tech3 Yamaha Team, Cal Crutchlow a slightly disappointing 7th, with the Suzuki pairing of Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Viñales and the Pramac Racing Ducati of Danilo Petrucci rounding out the top 10.
Grand Prix of Argentina
Austin wasn't the greatest of races, however Argentina provided one of the best Moto Grand Prix's of recent years. A late change of mind by Marc Marquez at the start of the race meant that he started on the hard rear tyre. Now you'd have thought that would be fine, except this was the Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo, a track that took a lot of punishment out of the tyres, so much so that Bridgestone had to bring a spcecial 'hard-hard' rear tyre for the race. The Yamaha's of Rossi and Lorenzo, which had qualified at the lower end of the top 10, started on that, the Repsol Honda of Marquez didn't.
Aleix Espargaro was the sensational starter, taking the lead into turn one after qualifying his Suzuki 2nd, but id din't last long, with Marquez soon taking the lead. The early order was Marquez, Crutchlow and Dovizioso, who soon got past Cal, along with his team mate Iannone.
Rossi however,started to make progress through the field, going past Espargaro, Lorenzo, Crutchlow, Iannone and then Dovizioso, who decided to follow Rossi around. With 15 laps to go, Rossi began chasing the softer tyre shed Marquez, who had built up a lead of over 4 seconds. The fun was begining.
Rossi began an incredible charge to close down the race leader, and with two laps to go, he made his move at the end of the back straight. Rossi dived down the inside and took the lead, but exiting the corner, they touched. No biggie, they got away with it, but as they powered away and Rossi took his line, Marquez rode against the back wheel of the Yamaha, and down he went. Rossi rode on but Marquez was down and out, promoting Dovi's Ducati up to 2nd, with his team mate Iannone up to 3rd. The incident was investigated, but both riders were clear of any blame pretty quickly.
Rossi took the checkered flag to win the race, with Cal Crutchlow diving down the inside of Iannone at the last corner to take 3rd place, his first podium of the year and first for LCR Honda. Iannone rounded of a good day for Ducat with 4th, Lorenzo came home a very lonely 5th, never having the pace to fight like Rossi did. Bradley Smith was again a strong 6h, Aleix Espargaro brining the Suzuki home in a great 7th, followed by his brother Pol on the other Tech3 machine, with Scott Reddings Honda and Maverik Viñales Suzuki rounding out the top 10. Just like in Qatar, we had witnessed a great race. Here's hoping the next one, in Jerez, is just as exciting. Until next time folks. Ciao.
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