A little less than 61,000 fans attended Sunday’s MotoGP race at the Circuit of the Americas who were treated to Marc Marquez’ first ever victory in the premier classand will fondly remember that they were there to see the birth of the new superstar in action.
Unfortunately they couldn’t cheer for their fellow countrymen as Nicky Hayden finished in 9th with the usual Ducati front end problems, which team mate Andrea Dovizioso (but also Ducati) acknowledges, saying that he has to physically fight the bike all the way to get it to turn and they have to grit their teeth until new parts arrive.
Pramac’s Ben Spies is still a walking wounded, and if you’re not in tip top condition you can’t wrestle a difficult machine around a difficult track and fan favourite, Colin Edwards DNF’d again and also add the fact that native Texan and former MotoGP champion Kevin Schwantz was locked out of the circuit due to his legal battle with COTA.
Cal Crutchlow rode one of his best races in MotoGP with a M1 that is still a few steps behind and despite that, he had a better pace of factory rider Jorge Lorenzo – and without the privilege of previous testing.
The British rider is gritting his teeth and uping his performance and has a spectacular riding style, hopefully someone high up in the Yamaha echelons, will see that he deserves an upgraded spec bike and won’t have to wait a few more races to receive it.
After two rounds and sixteen more to go, the standing see Lorenzo and Marquez tied for first with 41 points, Dani Pedrosa is third with 33, Valentino Rossi is fourth with 30 and Cal Cruthlow is fifth with 24.
Check out what the rest of the riders had to say after the Austin GP: Cal Crutchlow – 4th “I’m very pleased and we did a better job than any of us expected before we arrived in Texas.
With no testing here I was worried that it would be more of a struggle and the fire in the garage on Wednesday meant we couldn’t do any of our normal preparation work.
So to finish fourth and be behind Marquez, Pedrosa and Lorenzo is a great achievement for all of us and I want to say a massive thanks to my crew.
We qualified well and I rode very well in the race and the most pleasing aspect was my consistency.
Unfortunately I ran wide while trying to pass Bradl but I managed to fight my way back through and I was running the same speed as Lorenzo for a long time and that gives me a lot of confidence to take into the next few races.
I’m giving it my all and I’ll never give up and I think this weekend again we showed how competitive the Monster Yamaha Tech 3 package is.
Now we go to Jerez and I was quickest at the winter test a few weeks ago, so it is going to be another big battle that I’m excited about.
”Stefan Bradl – 5th“We can be happy today because we have done a good job.
I took a very good start but I was not so aggressive as some other riders at the beginning because, on full fuel, I could feel some sliding in the front so I decided to remain calm and focused.
At 13 laps to go Crutchlow passed me as he was quite fast in the middle of the race especially in the entry of the corners.
We could not match his performance in the entry of the curves but we had a good speed in the exit.
I think we have done our best and P5 is the result we were expecting here at COTA”.
Andrea Dovizioso – 7th “Obviously, we’re not satisfied with seventh place, but the race time wasn’t bad.
I was able to keep a good pace below 2:06, so I’m pleased with my aggression and effort.
I managed to be pretty consistent up until the final five or six laps.
The last three laps with Bautista were fun a nice battle! We know we have to work hard, because this is our limit at the moment, but we’re really motivated to improve.
”Alvaro Bautista – 8th “I was expecting a better race after the feeling I had with the bike yesterday in qualifying and honestly thought I could even improve my pace today but the bike was moving around and I didn’t have the same confidence.
I tried to stay with the group but couldn’t manage it.
In the end after pulling back two seconds on Dovizioso I got into a nice battle with him but in the last corner I made a mistake and he passed me.
It’s a shame but we have chance to make up for it in a couple of weeks in my home Grand Prix at Jerez, a place and circuit that I really like.
” Nicky Hayden – 9th“It was a tough weekend.
The track was great, but I lost some time in the beginning and was struggling with change of direction.
I was okay on much of the track, but I never found the confidence in the front end to flick the bike into the corners, which hurt me in the esses.
The guys did a good job getting me a better bike for the race, and I don’t really have any excuses.
Ninth place isn’t what we wanted here today, so I certainly hope we can sort a few things out and start putting up a better fight than we have in these first two races.
”Andrea Iannone – 10th“We improved a lot today.
Yesterday I wasn’t competitive at all, and I couldn’t take full advantage of qualifying.
It was a shame because if I had managed to start further ahead, maybe it would’ve been more enjoyable, although I think it still would’ve ended the same, as I started losing a lot of strength in my right arm after a few laps.
Seven laps in, I started to feel really bad, and I had to conserve my strength.
It was very difficult, and unfortunately I couldn’t control the bike.
Anyway, it was still a good race; I was more aggressive and confident right away, and I was even able to stay ahead of Nicky for a little while, which is really good for me.
I learned a lot of things that will be useful in the future.
”Aleix Espargaró – 11th “I am very happy that we went again had a complete weekend.
I made a good start and was able to overtake Hayden, Iannone and Bautista off the line, but they got back ahead of me.
Although I did not lose sight of my goal, which was to be the top CRT, I admit that I tried to pursue them and keep on their tails.
It just wasn’t possible.
The initial push helped me to gain an advantage over Smith and Spies.
The truth is that I had a hard time keeping them at bay, as I could see them gradually approaching, but fortunately I was able to manage the three-second advantage obtained in the first part of the race.
Smith did not give me a second’s respite, and in a way I am grateful to him for that because it forced me to push to the maximum and be very focused throughout the race.
I am very satisfied with the work we are doing, everything is working perfectly and we are still the reference point for the CRT competition.
”Bradley Smith – 12th “I am really happy to finish the race because what I learned over a full race distance was priceless.
I ran the hard front tyre on the advice of Bridgestone and while it was definitely the right choice, it took me a few laps to understand how it was working.
The last thing I needed was to push too hard and make another mistake like in Qatar but the best thing about the race is I got faster and faster.
I was quicker as in qualifying on the penultimate lap of the race, and that’s a sign of how much better I was riding the bike.
I am learning more and more about the bike on each lap and I can go to Jerez now confident that I can be even more competitive and the goal will be to get closer to the top 10.
Finally I can’t praise my Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Team enough.
After the garage fire on Wednesday night it really put everybody on the back foot, but we all rallied round and it is nice to see both Cal and I finish in the points to reward their hard work.
”Ben Spies – 13th“I had a little problem with a nerve in my chest for some reason.
I don’t know if it’s from overcompensating for my shoulder problem, which is actually getting a lot better compared to Qatar.
That said, two laps before the end of the warm-up, I had a twinge in my chest.
It was like a knife, so we went to the clinic and they worked on me a lot and got me ready for the race.
I tried as hard as I could during the race, but it wasn’t enough.
At 8 laps to go, it was either come in or salvage whatever points we could.
We need to work harder and get back to 100% and just keep working with the bike.
I’m more disappointed for the team, friends, family, fans, Ducati, and Ignite Pramac, because they deserve better.
”Randy De Puniet – 14th“In the end we ended the weekend positively, but a similar thing happened to us as in Qatar, where we struggled to find the right direction.
I got me the impression that we were always a session behind Aleix.
Our problems were mainly due to the lack of confidence in the front.
We planned a change in the rear suspension for the warmup session, but the track was too cold and we could not gain good conclusions from it.
Although during the race the temperature had risen greatly, I preferred not to take any risks.
I started well and I slotted in behind Smith, but there was almost a collision with another rider and I had to brake really hard -allowing other riders to pass.
I was stuck with a group of riders for five laps and they slowed me down.
I got away from them and upped my pace, before reaching Hernández.
We were the second best CRT once again, which isn’t a bad result, but we have to continue working in order to be more competitive.
”Claudio Corti – 19th“It’s been a difficult race and it feels like we are paying the consequences of not having a perfect setup of the bike for this track.
Like in Qatar, I had problems at the beginning of the race, having a full tank making it difficult to ride as fast as I would like and as the tank gradually empties it becomes harder to turn the bike.
It’s only the second race, we have done very few tests this winter but we are heading back to Europe where I can count on knowing the tracks better and that makes me hopeful in terms of getting better results.
I have not achieved the goals for this weekend; I was hoping to be faster than the Avintia´s FTR bikes and Laverty´s PBM bike.
We have to go back home and work, I want to makeup for this at Jerez!”Bryan Staring – 20th“I am really happy to have finished the race here, which was important for me in terms of learning the lines from the other more experienced riders and the fact that we managed to improve on our best lap from practice.
Overall I think this proves that we need more time o the bike to adapt and to become more competitive in this class.
”Colin Edwards – DNF“Not that the bike was perfect yesterday, but it felt ok to be able to race today but unfortunately wasn’t.
We went out this morning and overnight we developed chatter problems.
We had some issues with drivetrain problems again this weekend that we’ve been trying to sort out and for safety sake, with all the issued that we’ve had it was better to come in before having a serious crash.
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