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Bradley Smith and his Tech 3 team-mate Pol
Espargaro made steady starts to the season towards
the back of the top ten, whilst Pol’s brother
Aleix finished his first race on the returning
Suzuki prototype in 11th place – some 20
seconds behind race winner Rossi. Clearly the
Japanese factory have work to do but watching
the elder Espargaro’s progress throughout the
year should be fun. Aleix’s teammate Maverick
Viñales scored points in 14th on his MotoGP debut
having made a slowish start. Viñales loves
Austin and will be relishing the trip across the
Atlantic for round two.
In Moto2 crashes for pole man and early race
leader Sam Lowes and World Champion Tito
Rabat opened up the intermediate class contest.
Johann Zarco came through to lead for much
of the race but nearly crashed into the pit wall
as he got distracted by a gear shifter fault with
three laps to go and ended up eighth, behind
winner Jonas Folger and podium finishers Xavier
Simeon and Tom Luthi.
In the lightweight class veteran Alexis Masbou
took a deserved win from pole, outpacing Enea
Bastianini and Danny Kent to the line as Honda
dominated the top five. The race was led twice
by the brilliant 15 year-old Frenchman Fabio
Quartararo, who came home seventh in a close
front group and is sure to provide plenty more
breath-taking moments throughout his rookie
term.