Tight at the top as MotoGP goes to Europe

Maverick Vinales was a distant second to Marc Marquez at the Grand Prix of the Americas. Still, he felt confident enough to send a message to his Spanish countryman about the rest of the MotoGP season as the series heads to its European heartland.

“We are coming,” the Movistar Yamaha rider warned. “We feel quite strong.”

After races in Qatar, Argentina and Texas, MotoGP will resume its season in Jerez, Spain on May 6, kicking off a summer of races on European tracks that should bring Marquez back to the pack. Or bring the pack up to him. And the racing should be wild: With three winners after three races, five riders are within eight points of the championship lead.

Marquez invincible

Ducati’s Italian rider, Andrea Dovizioso, who battled Marquez for the 2017 championship, leads with 46 points, one point ahead of Marquez and his Repsol Honda. Vinales is only four points behind Marquez in third. Then come the top independent team riders in Britain’s Cal Crutchlow and France’s Johann Zarco.

Crutchlow won in Argentina and was the first British rider to lead MotoGP until his 19th-place finish in Texas. He was battling Zarco for sixth in Texas until a late-race clash doomed his chances to pick up any points.

Marquez was expected to dominate in Texas, taking his sixth straight win on a circuit where he’s been invincible.

The Circuit of the Americas track was built for the cars of Formula One and it favours Marquez and his bike with its hairpin turns and long straights. The smaller, narrower European tracks force riders into more turns, braking manoeuvres and racing moves.