Turning on the winning-mode

Last Sunday, all eyes were pointed at the great American country, more specifically at Austin. The tension rose with the fact that Marquez wanted his revenge for Qatar and with Rossi who desires to hold his leaders position. And then our Ducati team… will they be as dangerous as they were two weeks ago? Will Lorenzo manage to take his first victory, even with his bronchitis? We did missed someone on the grid. Dani Pedrosa is recovering from his surgery after having troubles with his arm pump. Take care Dani!

But that didn’t hold the Honda team back from having a good start. Marquez took the pole position and broke the record lap. Dovizioso was qualified 2^nd and Lorenzo filled in the first row. Rossi had to start form 4^th pace on the grid.

There was a delayed start. (delayed for 40min)

It was Dovizioso who took the hole shot and the 21-laps during fight for honor had started. For some riders, the first round wasn’t exactly according to the plan. Scott Redding drove like a mad man into the trickiest turn of the circuit, crashed and took Pol Espargaro with him.

It didn’t took long before Marquez found his way to the front of the group. It wasn’t easy to lose the rapid Dovizioso, but slowly, thanks to a fight between the two Italians, Rossi and Dovi, he was able to escape. Rossi felt the coming danger called Smith and pushed his Yamaha with perfection through the sliding corners and eventually overtook Dovi. But it was too late.The only thing Rossi saw was a shrinking Spanish butt.

Up to the next goal: keeping the two Ducati’s behind him. But another enemy showed up. His front tire was used up. The same problem for Marquez, but because of a 3.5s gap, he was pretty save.

Rossi had to take his corners very wide so Dovizioso had time to come back and when it came to speed, the Ducati was unstoppable. 

And eventually, Marquez won his first victory of the season. Dovizioso took the 2^nd step on the podium and Rossi completed the top 3 and remains leader. Lorenzo had a better 2^nd half and was able to gain 4^th place. Iannone became 5^th. Aoyama, who took the place of Pedrosa, ended up 11^th. There was a crash of Hernandez and a defect bike of Abraham.

Has Marc Marquez found the taste of winning back and should the other riders be scared again? Anyway, the Baby Alien can now celebrate his third consecutive win from pole position at the #AmericasGP 

Merel Reyntjens

Vale claims first victory, Ducati back in the game!

There and back again!

From the moment the decision for all categories  had been made in Valencia, die-hards were already counting until the start of NEXT season.

It all started with #136DaysUntilQatar

Jenny

Emma Oakley

People shared photos and showed their talent by making drawings of our favourite champs. 

For many of us this was a long winter without the sound of roaring engines and no shining masterpieces on the asphalt.

But now the waiting is over. The riders are prepared, the bikes are improved and even more breathtaking than ever known. 

Karolina93

Back to Qatar. Tons of questions. Will Marquez start his season with the first victory or is Lorenzo eager to prove that Qatar is HIS track? Will Rossi be able to attack the Spanish bulls?

And Ducati, a team who had already the needed skills and talent, came back with a new work of art. The Ducati had been improved like it never had before. The fear for the two red Italians, Dovizioso and Iannone, was growing. And rightly so!

Ducati took the pole position with Dovizioso. Pedrosa managed to take 2^nd pace on the grid and Marquez completed the first row.

Lorenzo started from second row and Rossi… well he had to be satisfied with the third row.

Hole shot for Dovi and a hectic start for Marquez. He made a mistake in the first turn and had to chase the group from behind followed by a sequence of spectacular overtakes.

The top speed of the Ducati was incredible. 356km/h. No match for the Yamaha’s of Lorenzo and Rossi.

While Marquez was flying all over the riders, Pedrosa had a fight with himself. He pushed his bike as far as possible and tried to keep his team mate, Marquez, behind him, but he failed. Because of the pain in his arm, Dani was unable to get the best out of it. 

Lorenzo lost control over Rossi and Dovizioso, who looked like two robots on a circuit. Also Iannone was riding one of the best races of his career and pushed the Spaniard to the 4^th place.

Rossi knew he had to get rid of DesmoDovi and his rapid bike. And he did!

Valentino Rossi, The Doctor, claimed the first victory of the season with Dovizioso 2^nd and Iannone 3^rd. It took a while, but finally we had a complete Italian podium. Lorenzo 4^th, Marquez 5^th and Pedrosa 6^th.

 Merel Reyntjens