Magical Marquez has the Austin powers

No matter where he starts, Spain’s Marc Marquez is the king of Texas.

And now it’s off to the European heartland of MotoGP after another dominant victory at the Grand Prix of the Americas and a leap toward the top of the season championship.

Marquez stormed to his sixth consecutive victory at the Circuit of the Americas on Sunday, once again making easy work of a track where the four-time MotoGP champion has seldom even been tested.

The only thing unusual about this race was Marquez’s starting spot. A penalty for interfering with Movistar Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales in qualifying had bumped Marquez and his Repsol Honda from pole position to fourth.

It made no difference. A bolt off his starting line saw Marquez muscle past Vinales and into second behind Suzuki’s Andrea Iannone of Italy by the first turn. Iannone held the lead through the slingshot downhill left turn but couldn’t fight off Marquez to keep it.

By the time their bikes were ripping down the long straight halfway through the first lap, Marquez was on the hunt and he made an easy pass for the lead. From there, it was just a matter of avoiding mistakes on an easy Sunday drive.

There was no chance of reeling him back to the pack. Marquez pulled away lap by lap until his lead reached 7 seconds, and then he coasted in for the win.

Vinales and Iannone knew their day would be a fight for second, not first. Vinales finished second and Iannone was third.

“Marc and this track are another story,” Iannone said. “I hope to fight with him another time.”