Ducati rider wins second race of season to seize lead at MotoGP world championship
\n AUSTIN
\nItaly\u2019s Enea Bastianini won his second MotoGP race of the season at the Grand Prix of the Americas on Sunday and seized control of the world championship.
\nThe 24-year-old passed fellow Ducati rider, and long-time leader, Jack Miller with five laps left to add the Austin win to his maiden elite class victory at the season-opener in Qatar.
\nAustralian Miller, who had stormed into the lead at the start, finished third having also being passed by the Suzuki of Alex Rins, the winner in Texas in 2019.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a fantastic day. Miller had fantastic pace in the first part of the race, then I felt like I had to push, I accelerated like crazy and I won,\u201d said Bastianini.
\n\u201cWinning here in America is fantastic. Now we can eat some burgers!\u201d
\nSix-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez, bidding for an eighth win in nine visits to the Texas circuit, finished sixth, having slipped to the back of the field at lights out on his Honda.
\nThe 29-year-old Spaniard, who missed last weekend\u2019s race in Argentina due to double vision after a violent high-side crash in Indonesia, had started ninth on the gird, his worst qualifying performance ever at the Circuit of the Americas.
\nHowever, he stormed back through the field into the top 10 at the midway point, even setting a fastest lap.
\nFourth on Sunday was Suzuki\u2019s Joan Mir, the 2020 world champion, with Francesco Bagnaia on another Ducati coming home fifth.
\nReigning world champion Fabio Quartararo of Yamaha was seventh behind Marquez with pole-sitter Jorge Martin on a Ducati-Pramac having to settle for eighth.
\nPrevious world championship leader Aleix Espargaro of Aprilia was only 11th on Sunday.
\nBastianini has a five-point lead in the standings over Rins and is 11 in front of Espargaro who won his first MotoGP race in Argentina last week in his 200th race.
\nMir and Quartararo are fourth and fifth respectively, 15 and 17 points off the lead after four rounds.
\n\u201cI have mixed feelings,\u201d said Miller who led for 15 of the 20 laps.
\n\u201cI had a fantastic race, Enea passed me but I didn\u2019t make any mistakes.\u201d
\nRins dedicated his second place \u201cto Ukraine, and to all the people who suffer from the war and also from the Covid\u201d.
\nIn the Moto2 race, Italy\u2019s Tony Arbolino claimed a maiden victory by 3.4sec over Ai Ogura.
\nBritain\u2019s Jake Dixon took third to secure his first ever podium while American pole sitter Cameron Beaubier failed to finish.
\nJaume Masia won the Moto3 race, his first success since Qatar last year.
\nDennis Foggia was second and takes over the world championship lead while Andrea Migno was third. Former series leader Sergio Garcia failed to finish.
\nThe fifth round of the 2022 world championship is the Portuguese Gransd Prix on April 24.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ducati rider wins second race of season to seize lead at MotoGP world championship AUSTIN Italy\u2019s Enea Bastianini won his second MotoGP race of the season at the Grand Prix of the Americas on Sunday and seized control of the world championship. The 24-year-old passed fellow Ducati rider, and long-time leader, Jack Miller with five […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":254493,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5849,5850],"class_list":{"0":"post-254480","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-bastianini","9":"tag-grand-prix-of-the-americas"},"yoast_head":"\n