Jake Dixon dominated in wet conditions to take a commanding victory in the Moto2 race at the Circuit of the Americas.
The MarcVDS rider extended his championship lead after a fantastic display in the rain-affected race as he won by 4.168s over Pramac Yamaha’s Tony Arbolino.
Rain started coming down before the start of the race, which meant the riders had to make a decision as to whether they would use slick or dry tyres.
The race had been anticipated to be between polesitter Dixon, who used wet tyres, and Manuel Gonzalez, who elected for slicks.
Dixon got a fantastic start from pole position and was able to maintain the lead going into the first corner ahead of Barry Baltus and Arbolino.
Gonzalez wheelied off the line from second and was demoted to the back of the grid as his choice of slick tyres appeared to be the wrong call.
Alonso Lopez made an impressive start and was able to overtake Arbolino for third place, as he set his sights on the riders in front.
One lap later, the HDR Heidrun rider used his speed advantage to get past Baltus into Turn 1, with Arbolino also making his way through on the Belgian rider one lap later.
The battle on track was between the Spaniard and the Italian, as the wide lines from Lopez allowed Arbolino a chance for an overtake.
Eventually, the Pramac rider made his way into second place as he looked to close the four-second gap to the leading Dixon.
The gaps between the riders remained consistent in the middle stages of the race, with the track continuing to dry.
Towards the end of the race, Celestino Vietti was the fastest rider on track in fourth position but crashed while chasing down team-mate Lopez for the final points position.
The Italian then lost the bike one corner later after rejoining, which brought an end to his race with one lap to go.
Out front, it was Dixon who prevailed to take his second consecutive victory in the Moto2 class for the Marc VDS team.
Arbolino proved his quality in the wet conditions as he earned second place, as Lopez completed the podium in third.
Aron Canet crossed the line to take fourth place, while Izan Guevara came out on top in the battle for fifth.
Rookie Ivan Ortola was sixth narrowly ahead of Baltus in seventh and fellow rookie Dani Holgado in eighth.
Mario Aji finished the race in ninth as Collin Veijer rounded out the top ten.
Marcos Ramirez earned 11th place for the American Racing team’s home race, as Oscar Gutierrez was 12th.
Zonta van den Goorbergh took the flag in 13th ahead of David Alonso in 14th, with Alex Escrig concluding the points finishers in 15th.
Discussion about this post