Texas: Marquez' American beauty

Next up on the whistle-stop tour through 2016? Austin, TX!

The Circuit of the Americas is Marquez land. No other rider has won there, or been on pole there in the premier class, and although the Repsol Honda rider arrived to the venue having managed a tough off season and somehow created a Championship lead from it, the paddock remained in no doubt as to who had their name penciled on the trophy. Sure enough, the rider from Cervera converted another pole at the track into another win – and increased his Championship lead to 19 points.

Marc Marquez, Jorge Lorenzo, Andrea Iannone, Podium MotoGP, Red Bull Grand Prix of The Americas

After the drama in Argentina, the men completing the podium also raced for a little redemption. Jorge Lorenzo (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP), who had crashed out alone at Termas de Rio Hondo, got back on track in style to take second – despite a crash in Warm Up. Andrea Iannone (Ducati Team), whose last lap move on his teammate Andrea Dovizioso in Argentina had seen them both slide out and sent some waves through the Ducati Team garage, converted his impressive pace into a points finish for the first time in 2016 – and a first podium of the year.

There was more bad luck and trouble for Argentina's big loser Dovizioso, however. As a crash for Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) saw the Spaniard lose control and his bike slide down the track at Turn 1, with ‘DesmoDovi’ in the line of fire of the machine and left facing down another DNF - and another 0 that wasn't his fault. The image of the two – Pedrosa running to check if his Italian rival was unhurt – became a talisman of the first half of the season. The Spaniard also went straight to the Italian's box once they were both back in their respective garages, to apologise formally for the incident.

Valentino Rossi (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) was the man who surprised the most. After a P4 in Qatar and a second place in Argentina, the rider from Tavullia then made his first big error of the season – crashing out early and registering his first 0 of the year. Although runner-up come the end of the year, Rossi's scorecard in terms of DNFs made it one of his worst seasons ever. After Texas, however, redemption was just around the corner - at the legendary Circuito de Jerez.