By Dan Moakes
August 26 2013

Three Spanish riders were still at the top in the MotoGP World Championship, but injuries to his rivals meant that rookie Marc Márquez went in front after winning in Germany, where Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo did not race. Would there be another twist in North America?

The United States Grand Prix is held at Laguna Seca, but the only GP class to make the trip is MotoGP itself, meaning that Moto2 graduates are new to the circuit. Only five of the current riders have won at Laguna in the past, including Pedrosa, Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi. US rider Nicky Hayden is a double winner of the GP, whilst compatriot Colin Edwards has won there in Superbikes. Márquez, though, would be one of the track rookies, along with the likes of Bradley Smith.

Having not raced at the Sachsenring one week earlier, both Pedrosa and Lorenzo were back for this event, but certainly not at full fitness. The Pramac Racing Team were without both their originally contracted riders, with Ben Spies still not back and Andrea Iannone remaining an absentee after his crash in Germany. Their usual fill-in rider, Ducati tester Michele Pirro, was also missing for this one, replaced by Moto2 regular Alex de Angelis - who had been eighth overall in the 2009 MotoGP season, and has previously scored points three times in the Laguna race.

In qualifying, the fastest trio of riders were all Honda-mounted, with factory man Márquez second on the grid in the Repsol colours. On the front row for the first time this year, Álvaro Bautistá was third for the GO&FUN Gresini team. But the man of the moment, as he had been at home in Germany, was LCR rider Stefan Bradl, taking his first pole position. The last all-Honda front row had been at the end of 2011. Pedrosa’s Repsol machine would start from seventh position.

It was an all-Yamaha second row, with the two works riders, Rossi and Lorenzo, joined by the Tech 3 team leader, Cal Crutchlow. Valentino was fourth, then Cal and Jorge. Smith’s Tech 3 machine would start ninth, behind the lead Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso, with Hayden tenth on the other red bike - in the wake of the news that he would be leaving them after his fifth season on board. The de Angelis customer Ducati took fourteenth slot.

As ever, the leading CRT entrant was Aleix Espargaró, in P11, followed immediately by Power Electronics Aspar team-mate Randy de Puniet. Avintia team riders Héctor Barberá and Hiroshi Aoyama were respectively in P13 and P21, and from fifteenth onwards there was Colin Edwards, Danilo Petrucci, Claudio Corti, Yonny Hernández, Karel Abraham, Michael Laverty, and with Aoyama heading Bryan Staring and Lukáš Pešek.

In hot, dry weather, the race start saw Bradl lead away ahead of Rossi, and with Bautistá quickly losing out to both Márquez and Lorenzo. Then it was Pedrosa and Crutchlow. In fourth, Lorenzo looked threatening behind Márquez on the first lap, whilst the first two just had a bit of a margin over the two Spaniards. Laverty crashed from P15, so that eighth man Dovizioso headed Hayden, Espargaró, Smith, de Angelis, Edwards, Corti, Barberá, Petrucci, de Puniet, Hernández, Abraham, Staring and Pešek.

The early fastest laps were exchanged by Bradl and Márquez, as the German rider left Rossi to cope with the Repsol man on his tail. The famous Corkscrew, or turn 8A, a plunging right-hander immediately after a left kink on the brow, saw some dramatic action between Valentino and Marc. The younger man went to the outside for the left-hander, cutting across the kerb and then through the dirt on the inside for the right, to get alongside and then out ahead of the 2008 winner. Thereafter, Márquez chased after Bradl as Rossi could not match his pace.

The early stages saw a few retirements, including both the Aspar riders. Firstly, de Puniet’s bike was emitting smoke as it gave up on him, and Espargaró’s exit involved a crash at the final acute left of turn 11. Smith was soon out with mechanical trouble, whilst Corti made repeat visits to the pits with his own difficulties. Meanwhile, there were two men out front, but with Bradl’s lead over Márquez being reduced. From a margin of around 1.4s, there was only 0.2s in it at half-distance; it seemed like only a matter of time before there was a change.

Rossi continued in third position, speeding up so that he increased the gap back to Bautistá and the rest: Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Crutchlow. However, the two leaders were never really in danger, and indeed Álvaro would close back in during the second half of the race, mostly being right in touch with the leading Yamaha. Turn 1 is a fast left kink leading down to the Andretti Hairpin, and that kink was where Pedrosa went inside Lorenzo to take over fifth position, leaving Jorge with the close attentions of Crutchlow behind.

Bradl’s extended spell in the lead ended when Márquez found space on the inside for turn 11, and from there he would continue to pull away for his third MotoGP win, his second in a row, and indeed his second at a track in the USA. Stefan maintained a strong second place, for his first podium result in the premier class, and with Rossi keeping third place just ahead of Bautistá. Pedrosa had not been able to get close enough to challenge, but equally was clear of any threat from behind, where Lorenzo managed to stay in front of seventh man Crutchlow.

Eighth place had been disputed by the red works Ducatis of Dovizioso and Hayden, with Andrea elbowing back ahead on the inside line through turn 1, after Nicky had passed at turn 11. Closer to the finish, Hayden had got the move done, arriving on the inside for turn 8 and staying ahead to the flag. In the absence of Espargaró, the CRT leader this time was Barberá, who got past de Angelis on the full prototype machine to take tenth. The shuffle behind saw Edwards take P12, from Petrucci, Abraham, Hernández, Aoyama, Staring and Pešek.

With another victory, 20-year-old Marc Márquez was in an even stronger position in the championship compared to his battle-scarred compatriots, Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo - both off the podium for the third event in a row. The achievement of Márquez made him the youngest back-to-back winner in the premier class since Freddie Spencer at the beginning of 1983. Meanwhile, Valentino Rossi had the distinction of becoming the oldest rider to secure three consecutive podium results in the premier GP class, the accolade previously held by Phil Read for his 500cc performances in 1975. What records will fall next time out?

Standings after nine races: Márquez 163; Pedrosa 147; Lorenzo 137; Rossi 117; Crutchlow 116; Bradl 84; Dovizioso 81; Bautistá 71; Hayden 65; Espargaró 52 •• CRT leader: Espargaró.
Honda 201; Yamaha 188; Ducati 83; ART 54; FTR-Kawasaki 31; Ioda Suter-BMW 18; PBM-ART 3; FTR-Honda 2.