Yahoo News MotoGP 2017: USA preview – round three at the Circuit of the Americas this weekend
The Circuit of the Americas near Austin in Texas hosts round three of the 2017 MotoGP World Championship, where Marc Marquez has won every premier-class race at the circuit since MotoGP first visited in 2013.
The reigning MotoGP champion will be hoping that run continues after an indifferent start to the 2017 season. After two races Marquez is in eighth position in the championship, after a fourth-place finish at the season opener in Qatar and crashing out at the last round in Argentina.
The last time Marquez stood atop the podium was when he clinched the 2016 title at Suzuka in Japan. In the intervening five races he has taken only 38 points.
Marquez currently trails Maverick Vinales, who has a maximum 50 points from the first two races of the season, by 37 points. Vinales' win in Argentina made him the first Yamaha rider to win the opening two races of the season since Wayne Rainey in 1990.
History suggests the odds are stacked against Vinales completing a hat-trick of wins at the Texas circuit, as last year's second place by Jorge Lorenzo is the best finish to date by a Yamaha rider, although Vinales and team-mate Valentino Rossi have four podium places between them from the six available so far in 2017.
By contrast, the factory Hondas of Marquez and Dani Pedrosa have yet to finish in the top three this season; the pair have only managed two race finishes between them. Both of those came in Qatar.
Currently Yamaha occupy the top two positions in the championship, with Rossi sitting second with 36 points. Factory Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso is currently third, while his team-mate Jorge Lorenzo - who continues to struggle to adapt to the factory Ducati - is currently 18th with just 5 points.
Britain has two riders in the top six, with Scott Redding in fourth and Cal Crutchlow in fifth. The top six is completed by class rookie Jonas Folger on the satellite Yamaha.
2017 MotoGP standings
1. Maverick Vinales (Yamaha) 50 points
2 . Valentino Rossi (Yamaha) 36
3. Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati) 20
4. Scott Redding (Ducati) 17
5. Cal Crutchlow (Honda) 16
6. Jonas Folger (Yamaha) 16
Moto2
In Moto2 we are guaranteed a first-time winner at Austin. The winners of the last three Moto2 races at the circuit - Alex Rins, Sam Lowes and Maverick Vinales - have all graduated to MotoGP.
The only other rider to have won a Moto2 race in Austin is Nico Terol, in 2013, but he no longer competes in Moto2.
Similarly, all three podium finishers from last year - Rins, Lowes and Johann Zarco - are all competing in MotoGP this season.
Like Vinaless in the premier class, Franco Morbidelli has won the opening two races of the season in the intermediate class, a feat last achieved by Jorge Lorenzo in 2007 - when the machines were 250cc two-strokes. Morbidelli is also the first Italian rider to win consecutive races in the class the late Marco Simoncelli in 2009.
2017 Moto2 standings
1. Franco Morbidelli (Kalex) 50 points
2. Thomas Luthi (Kalex) 36
3. Miguel Oliveira (KTM) 33
4. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Kalex) 21
5. Xavi Vierge (Tech 3) 18
6. Takaaki Nakagami (Kalex) 16
Moto3
With Spanish Rider Joan Mir winning both Moto3 races to date, the same rider has won the opening two races in all three classes for the first time since 1992 when the three riders were Mick Doohan in the 500cc class, Luca Cadalora in the 250cc category and Ralph Waldmann in the 125cc class.
Not only has Mir won the first two races but Scot John McPhee has taken second place in both of them and Jorge Martin third in both. McPhee is adapting well to the factory-backed Honda and is looking like a credible title contender in 2017.
So far Honda is looking like the favoured machine, occupying five of the top six places, and a total of six from the top 10, the remaining four places being occupied by Austrian KTM machinery.
2017 Moto3 standings
1. Joan Mir (Honda) 50 points
2. John McPhee (Honda) 40
3. Jorge Martin (Honda) 32
4. Andrea Migno (KTM) 21
5. Romano Fenati (Honda) 20
6. Aron Canet (Honda) 18
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