MotoGP 2016 COTA Results

Bruce Allen
by Bruce Allen

Marc Marquez: Lone Star in the Lone Star State

On a nice spring afternoon outside Austin, Texas, Repsol Honda supernova Marc Marquez, looking much the way he did in 2013 and 2014, put on another clinic, winning the Grand Prix of the Americas from pole for the fourth consecutive year. The win makes Captain America 10 for 10 in premier class tilts run in the United States.

Marc Marquez is undefeated in MotoGP races on U.S. soil.

I used to think that bingo was the only game in which one could be bored and anxious at the same time. Today’s race – a procession, punctuated by life-threatening crashes – felt like an evening in the church basement.

Yamaha rider and defending world champion Jorge Lorenzo knew, sitting next to Marquez on the front row at the start, that his only chance for a win today would occur on Lap 1, by getting in Marquez’s business, throwing the young Catalan off his rhythm, and trying to get away. So determined was he to accomplish this that he narrowly avoided running off the track at Turn 1 and again at Turn 11, running ragged with cold tires, too much fuel, and no rhythm of his own. It didn’t work, and Marquez took the lead he would never relinquish.

Jorge Lorenzo knew his best shot at a win was to try and get ahead early.

The front group included Valentino Rossi, Ducati’s hard luck Andrea Dovizioso and factory Honda afterthought Dani Pedrosa. Rossi got caught in traffic and fell back to around 6th, where he and Pedrosa jousted for a short while. At Turn 3 of Lap 3, Rossi lost the front at speed and slid well into the gravel, removing around a dozen sponsor logos from his leathers, his day over. Our crack research staff tells me this is the first time in the last 25 races that Rossi has finished outside the top five.

While Marquez was disappearing, Lorenzo took firm control of second place, having gone through on Dovizioso on Lap 5. Lap 6 saw Ducati Maniac Andrea Iannone go through on Suzuki #2 Aleix Espargaro into 5th place. Pedrosa was dogging Dovizioso in the battle for third place on Lap 6 when the broadcast switched to his front camera. Seconds later, Dovizioso’s bike filled the frame just in time to get poleaxed by Pedrosa, as the Spaniard lost the front in Turn 1 and his suddenly riderless bike creamed the Ducati. How Pedrosa’s Honda missed Dovi’s left leg is a mystery. The Italian’s day was over, but Pedrosa climbed back aboard his RC213V and turned a few more laps before calling it a day.

“I’m really sorry, Andrea. I didn’t mean to take you out… I thought you were Nicky.”

Everyone Please Take Three Steps Forward

With Dovizioso and Rossi out and Pedrosa trailing the field, the remaining riders behind Lorenzo received promotions of three spots. Kind of like going from private to lieutenant in ten minutes. Iannone, running relatively cautiously after the debacle in Argentina when he took out teammate Dovizioso in a painfully stupid move, was, suddenly, contending for a podium. The two Suzukis, experiencing their own rebirth of sorts, found themselves contesting fourth place in a battle Maverick Vinales would eventually win over Aleix Espargaro.

Maverick Vinales’ fourth-place finish was not only his personal best but also the highest finish for a Suzuki in MotoGP since 2008 when Chris Vermeulen and Loris Capirossi both scored podium finishes.

Octo Pramac Ducati’s Scott Redding was winning The Battle of Britain, enjoying life in 6th place while Cal Crutchlow, on the LCR Honda, and Bradley Smith, on the Tech 3 Yamaha, were slugging it out for seventh. On Lap 8, Crutchlow, in an unforced error that was undoubtedly somebody else’s fault, slid off the track into the runoff area. Scant seconds later, with Smith apparently rubbernecking at Crutchlow’s misfortune, the Tech 3 rider fell, his careening bike missing the back of Crutchlow’s ankles by mere inches. Both men remounted the remnants of their bikes and were the last two riders to see the checkered flag.

A Moment of Reflection

If the racing gods were fair, Andrea Dovizioso would have been on the podium instead of Andrea Iannone. Still, things could have been much worse.

I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that Andrea Dovizioso and Cal Crutchlow are incomprehensibly lucky to be walking around tonight. This is the second week in a row that Crutchlow narrowly avoided a disaster he didn’t even realize was happening. Such is the nature of MotoGP, with objects moving at speeds uncontemplated by our Creator or the slow crawl of evolution (take your choice), lives hanging precariously in the balance. Some riders, like Crutchlow and Dovizioso, may be lucky enough, or blessed enough, to tell stories about these things to their grandchildren one day. Others, like Marco Simoncelli and Shoya Tomizawa, will never have grandchildren to hear them. When a Jorge Lorenzo gets irritated by the stupid antics of an Alvaro Bautista and talks about risking his life every time he climbs aboard, he’s not just whistling “Dixie.”

The Big Picture

If you had suggested at Sepang during winter testing, when Marquez was lapping 1.5 seconds behind Lorenzo, that he would be leading the championship by 21 points after three rounds he probably would have suggested that you get your head examined. Yet here we are. The other anomalies in the top ten include Tech 3 Yamaha’s Pol Espargaro sitting fourth despite seeming to be having a difficult year, swarthy Ducati pilot and underachiever Hectic Hector Barbera sitting sixth, and Ulsterman Eugene Laverty sitting ninth. Laverty’s euphoria from last week was short-lived, as he went from a highly fluky fourth place to four points in a week. Still, not bad for a guy on a two-year-old Ducati.

Cal Crutchlow would later blame the following paragraph for his crash.

Okay, so I’ve never been a big fan of Cal Crutchlow, who has always, in my opinion, talked a better race than he rides. He so rarely mans up and takes the blame when things go wrong. So I may be forgiven for enjoying seeing him sitting in last place, 0-for-2016 after three rounds. Looking forward to the article on the MotoGP website – it should appear tomorrow or Tuesday – in which he explains who was to blame for today’s crash and how he skillfully avoided getting shattered by Smith’s unguided missile. As they say in Coventry, hard cheese old boy.

And another thing. Jack Miller, the Great Aussie Hope, so cool and fast he was allowed to skip second grade, was declared out of today’s race after two more heavy crashes this weekend. Honda is so anxious to locate the second coming of Casey Stoner, and the kid’s ambition is so large, he’s going to seriously injure himself or someone else out there, generally riding out of control and creating huge piles of brightly painted and utterly trashed carbon fiber. Dude needs to think about a step back to Moto2.

Tough luck for Jack Miller who reinjured the same leg hurt in a motocross crash in January.

A Final Thought Before Returning to Europe

Everything’s big in Texas – from the state itself, which takes 24 hours to drive across, to the iniquity of its junior U.S. senator. COTA maintains the tradition, with the most corners (20) in a MotoGP circuit (Red Bull Ring in Austria has nine), the longest straight on the tour, the steepest hill, seating for 120,000 fans, etc., etc. But seriously, let’s just get it over with and rename the track the Marc Marquez Circuit. Better yet, how about the Circuito Marc Marquez, since Texas was originally a northern state of Mexico before Sam Houston and his boys shoved the locals across the Rio Grande way back when.

Marc Marquez holds up his hands to signal his fourth COTA win in four years. Either that or he’s flashing gang signs.

Round Four touches off in Jerez in two weeks. In the meantime, we’ll keep an eye on the Lorenzo to Ducati and Vinales to Yamaha rumblings, and will have them for you in full once they’re official.

2016 MotoGP Circuit of the Americas Results

Pos.

RiderTeamTime

1

Marc MarquezRepsol Honda

2

Jorge LorenzoMovistar Yamaha+6.107

3

Andrea IannoneDucati+10.947

4

Maverick VinalesSuzuki Ecstar+18.422

5

Aleix EspargaroSuzuki Ecstar+20.711

6

Scott ReddingOcto Pramac Yaknich Ducati+28.961

7

Pol EspargaroMonster Yamaha Tech3+32.112

8

Michele PirroOcto Pramac Yaknich Ducati+32.757

9

Hector BarberaAvintia Racing+34.592

10

Stefan BradlAprilia Gresini+40.211

11

Alvaro BautistaAprilia Gresini+45.423

12

Eugene LavertyAspar Ducati+47.127

13

Tito RabatEstrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda+47.426

14

Yonny HernandezAspar Ducati+51.190

15

Loris BazAvintia Ducati+1:12.929

16

Cal CrutchlowLCR Honda+1:19.952

17

Bradley SmithMonster Yamaha Tech3+1:28.036

Not Classified

Dani PedrosaRepsol Honda10 Laps

Andrea DoviziosoDucati Corse15 Laps

Valentino RossiMovistar Yamaha19 Laps

2016 MotoGP Top Ten Standings After 3 Rounds

Pos.

RiderMotorcyclePoints

1

Marc MarquezHonda66

2

Jorge LorenzoYamaha45

3

Valentino RossiYamaha33

4

Pol EspargaroYamaha28

5

Dani PedrosaHonda27

6

Hector BarberaDucati25

7

Andrea DoviziosoDucati23

8

Maverick VinalesSuzuki23

9

Eugene LavertyDucati21

10

Aleix EspargaroYamaha21
Bruce Allen
Bruce Allen

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6 of 18 comments
  • Ozzy Mick Ozzy Mick on Apr 14, 2016

    Couldn't agree more with you about the Great Aussie Hope, Jack Miller when you said, "Dude needs to think about a step back to Moto2." I don't really know why I'm posting this - I've lost interest in MotoGP. But keep up the good work, Mr Allen

    • See 3 previous
    • Ozzy Mick Ozzy Mick on Apr 15, 2016

      Wow! You're really showing me up with your knowledge and analysis - keep it up! Interesting stuff - always fun to speculate. Even with my limited up-to-date knowledge, I think I agree with Bruce that Petrobot is on the outer. He's been given more than a fair go by Honda. Hope Miller's on the radar.

  • Schizuki Schizuki on Apr 17, 2016

    The wife and I pick a Crashlow lap before every race. I chose 10, she picked 8. She nailed it.

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