Aprilia rider Maverick Vinales dominated his rivals from pole position to cruise to a second consecutive MotoGP Sprint race win at the Circuit of the Americas.
While Vinales stormed to an untroubled win, Marc Marquez and Jorge Martin overcame rookie star Pedro Acosta in a close fight to complete the podium places.
Acosta had produced a superb one-lap effort to secure a middle place on the front row but succumbed second place to Marquez on the approach up to Turn 1.
Further back, there was chaos descending as Acosta’s GasGas team-mate Augusto Fernandez and LCR rider Takaaki Nakagami saw their races end on the spot.
Meanwhile, reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia endured a terrible launch which placed him down the order and saw him trail in 11th at the close of the first lap.
Heading into Turn 12 after the back straight, Fabio Di Giantonio had been situated inside the top 10 but an engine malfunction on his VR46 bike curtailed his hopes.
The Italian was left with no option but to go onto the tarmac run-off and mount from his bike as soon as possible to prevent him from being a hazard to other riders.
Martin had poached a place from Aleix Espargaro in the opening sweeps and then dispatched Enea Bastianini with an aggressive and articulate move through Turn 8.
As Martin strode clear to catch the leading trio, two laps later Espargaro caught Bastianini napping into the tight Turn 11 to haul his Aprilia bike into the top five places.
Next time around, Acosta attempted an ambitious move on eight-time champion Marquez at Turn 8 but failed to get a clean exit and overcooked his bike into the esses.
Marquez pounced and proved his ‘King of COTA’ status as he reclaimed second place with an overtake that saw him place his bike around the outside of his compatriot.
With Martin situated close behind that squabble, the title hopeful spied an opening into Turn 11 and produced some late-braking excellence to relegate Acosta further.
That same lap had seen 2020 champion Joan Mir lose control of his Honda bike and retire, adding more sorrow to a troubling start to the season for the Spanish rider.
KTM’s next nearest challenger on the road was Jack Miller, who capitalised on Bagnaia’s sluggish start and Di Giannantonio’s bike issue to progress from 11th on the grid.
The Australian’s bold overtakes on Franco Morbidelli and Marco Bezzecchi elevated him to seventh as he sought to deliver some vital points for the KTM factory outfit.
He was as high as sixth at one point, but a late lunge from Enea Bastianini on the back straight on the last lap meant seventh would be where Miller’s recovery ride ended.
Johann Zarco had been circulating in second to last and compounded Honda’s struggles as he registered his first retirement since switching to the Japanese marque.
Brad Binder had started a disappointing 17th but made a strong start to rise six places on the opening lap, but he encountered trouble overtaking Bagnaia’s Ducati bike.
Former team-mate and Trackhouse Aprilia representative Miguel Oliveira would overtake Binder, leaving the South African to settle for 12th place on the road for KTM.
Binder’s underwhelming no-score meant he lost second place in the Riders’ Championship and he will have it all to do again from down the order for the main grand prix.
Despite his difficulties at the start, Bagnaia mounted a critical overtake on Raul Fernandez into Turn 11 on the last lap which allowed him to at least salvage eighth place.
Vinales’ Sprint win made it back-to-back successes in the shorter race format and outlined his and Aprilia’s ambitions to mount a championship challenge this season.
Marquez continued his strong showings at COTA to solidify his best Ducati result of second, with championship leader Martin adding to his points advantage in third.
Rookie Acosta missed out on a potential back-to-back podium, but once again took the chequered flag as the lead KTM bike, with Espargaro completing the top five.
Bastianini took sixth to take second place in the championship, with Miller wedged in between the factory Ducati riders as Bagnaia rued difficulties with his Desmosedici.
Meanwhile, Trackhouse’s debut home weekend went from strength to strength with Raul Fernandez coming across the line in ninth and Miguel Oliveira back in 11th place.
Franco Morbidelli endured an uneventful Sprint but an all-important one in getting to grips with his Pramac to split the Trackhouse riders and round out the top 10 runners.
Binder had to settle for the rare occurrence as the last KTM classified finisher in 12th, with Ducati VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi and Alex Marquez following in his wake behind.
Yamaha’s race trim proved to be difficult once again, with Fabio Quartararo as high as 12th at one point but tumbled down a few spots which meant he had to settle for 15th.
The Frenchman’s team-mate Alex Rins emerged next, with the sole remaining Honda of Luca Marini winding up behind the two Yamaha riders to round out proceedings.
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