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MotoGP Americas GP: Vinales dominant to beat Marquez in Austin sprint

Maverick Vinales dominated the Americas Grand Prix sprint race from pole to score back-to-back Saturday MotoGP wins, with Marc Marquez second as the factory Ducatis struggled.

Having gone without a victory for three years before his triumph in the Portuguese GP sprint, Vinales made it back-to-back wins in the half-distance races as he streaked away from the field.

Securing the holeshot from pole, Vinales came under no trouble as he moved over two seconds clear of the pack over the 10 laps before eventually taking the chequered flag 2.294 seconds in front.

Marquez scored his second successive runner-up sprint result on the Gresini Ducati, the Spaniard fending off Tech3 rookie Pedro Acosta before pulling clear of third when championship leader Jorge Martin moved into the position.

Pramac Ducati rider Martin increased his championship lead to 24 points as factory Ducati duo Enea Bastianini and Francesco Bagnaia struggled for pace.

Bastianini was 8.6s from the win in sixth, while Bagnaia struggled to a lowly eighth having languished outside of the sprint points for much of the 10 laps.

At the start, Vinales led Marquez and Acosta as Bagnaia faded to 10th following a poor launch, while Bastianini jumped up to fourth on the sister factory Ducati.

That leading trio quickly broke away from Bastianini, who was already 0.7s adrift on lap two.

Martin moved ahead of Bastianini at Turn 7 on lap three, but faced a 1.2s gap to the final podium spot as Vinales in the lead twisted the knife.

Source: Autosport

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