Spain’s Marc Marquez won at round three of the MotoGP championships in Austin, Texas, today to make it back-to-back MotoGP wins and extend his lead in the series.

It was the Honda rider’s fourth successive victory at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin.

Marquez, victorious in Argentina the previous weekend, maintained his perfect record in America and remains unbeaten in the premier class Stateside since 2013.

In another incident-packed race after last weekend’s chaos at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit, Valentino Rossi crashed out at speed at turn 2 on the third lap while holding sixth place behind Suzuki’s Aleix Espargaro.

The luckless Andrea Dovizioso – wiped out last Sunday by his Ducati team-mate Andrea Iannone –unbelievably suffered the same feat again, with Repsol Honda’s Dani Pedrosa the culprit after the Spaniard lost control of his RC213V when he was braking hard into turn one to begin lap seven.

The pair had been battling for third place at the time and the incident promoted Iannone into the final rostrum place on the GP15.

Pedrosa re-joined the race but eventually retired in pit lane on lap 12 and quickly made his way to the Ducati garage, where he apologised to the unfortunate Dovizioso.

LCR Honda’s Cal Crutchlow and Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s Bradley Smith both went down within seconds of each other at turn 11 on lap eight, when Crutchlow was chasing Pramac Ducati’s Scott Redding at the time.

Away from the drama, the result never looked in doubt as Marquez took control from lap one as Lorenzo made two big mistakes on the YZR-M1, firstly running on at turn 1 at the start before drifting wide again at turn 11.

Dovizioso used the speed of the Ducati to move into second place on the opening lap and the Italian attempted a pass on the brakes into turn 1 at the beginning of lap two, although Marquez had it covered and held a tight line to keep the lead.

Rossi lost ground on lap one after lying in third, slipping behind Pedrosa and Aleix Espargaro.

The Movistar Yamaha rider’s race came to an abrupt halt on lap three when he dramatically slid out of sixth place while chasing Espargaro, escaping injury.

Marquez had put some daylight between himself and Dovizioso, who in turn had some breathing space from Lorenzo in third.

However, by lap five Lorenzo was in touch with Dovizioso and made his move to take second place from the Ducati rider as Pedrosa held fourth from Iannone and Espargaro.

Meanwhile, a battle was raging for seventh between Redding, Maverick Vinales and Crutchlow as they went head to head, although Crutchlow would soon be removed from the equation three laps later when disaster struck at turn 11.

Last weekend’s villain Iannone found himself gifted third place when Pedrosa was unable to stop his Honda at the end of the start and finish straight, slamming into the hapless Dovizioso.

Marquez, meanwhile, continued to stretch his lead at the front as the field became strung out, with Lorenzo safe in second and likewise Iannone in third.

In a largely processional conclusion, Marquez closed out the win by 6.1 seconds over Lorenzo, who was more than four seconds clear of Iannone.

Vinales came out on top of an entertaining duel with his Suzuki team-mate Espargaro for fourth, while British rider Redding finished a strong sixth on the Pramac Ducati to take the top satellite honours.

Monster Tech 3 Yamaha’s Pol Espargaro finished seventh but only by six tenths from Michele Pirro (Pramac Ducati), while Hector Barbera (Avintia Ducati) and Aprilia’s Stefan Bradl completed the top ten, one place ahead of team-mate Alvaro Bautista.

Ireland’s Eugene Laverty claimed more points after his superb fourth place in Argentina, taking 12th place on the Aspar Ducati GP14.2 from Tito Rabat on the Marc VDS Honda and Yonny Hernandez (Aspar Ducati).

Loris Baz who fell on the opening lap, finished 15th on the Avintia Ducati, while Crutchlow nursed his Honda home in 16th place ahead of fellow countryman Smith.

Americas MotoGP result:

1. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 43m 57.945s
2. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 44m 4.052s
3. Andrea Iannone ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP) 44m 8.892s
4. Maverick Viñales ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 44m 16.367s
5. Aleix Espargaro ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 44m 18.656s
6. Scott Redding GBR Octo Pramac Yakhnich (Desmosedici GP15) 44m 26.906s
7. Pol Espargaro ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 44m 30.057s
8. Michele Pirro ITA Octo Pramac Yakhnich (Desmosedici GP15) 44m 30.702s
9. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP14.2) 44m 32.537s
10. Stefan Bradl GER Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 44m 38.156s
11. Alvaro Bautista ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 44m 43.368s
12. Eugene Laverty IRL Aspar MotoGP Team (Desmosedici GP14.2) 44m 45.072s
13. Tito Rabat ESP Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V)* 44m 45.371s
14. Yonny Hernandez COL Aspar MotoGP Team (Desmosedici GP14.2) 44m 49.135s
15. Loris Baz FRA Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP14.2) 45m 10.874s
16. Cal Crutchlow GBR LCR Honda (RC213V) 45m 17.197s
17. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 45m 25.981s
Dani Pedrosa ESP Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) DNF
Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP) DNF
Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) DNF

World Championship standings after round three:

1. Marc Marquez SPA Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 66 points
2. Jorge Lorenzo SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 45 points (-21)
3. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP (YZR-M1) 33 points (-33)
4. Pol Espargaro SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 28 points (-38)
5. Dani Pedrosa SPA Repsol Honda Team (RC213V) 27 points (-39)
6. Hector Barbera SPA Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP14.2) 25 points (-41)
7. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP) 23 points (-43)
8. Maverick Viñales SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 23 points (-43)
9. Eugene Laverty IRL Aspar MotoGP Team (Desmosedici GP14.2) 21 points (-45)
10. Aleix Espargaro SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) 21 points (-45)
11. Andrea Iannone ITA Ducati Team (Desmosedici GP) 16 points (-50)
12. Scott Redding GBR Octo Pramac Yakhnich (Desmosedici GP15) 16 points (-50)
13. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 (YZR-M1) 16 points (-50)
14. Stefan Bradl GER Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 15 points (-51)
15. Alvaro Bautista SPA Factory Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 14 points (-52)
16. Michele Pirro ITA Octo Pramac Yakhnich (Desmosedici GP15) 12 points (-54)
17. Tito Rabat SPA Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V)* 11 points (-55)
18. Jack Miller AUS Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS (RC213V) 2 points (-64)
19. Yonny Hernandez COL Aspar MotoGP Team (Desmosedici GP14.2) 2 points (-64)
20. Loris Baz FRA Avintia Racing (Desmosedici GP14.2) 1 points (-65)