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MOVISTAR Yamaha MotoGP rider Valentino Rossi finished third in the second MotoGP round of 2015 in Austin despite a front tyre issue.

The Italian started from fourth on the grid and quickly moved up into third ready to fight for the lead with Marc Marquez and leading man Andrea Dovizoso.

It wasn’t long until Marquez had regained the lead pulled out an advantage leaving Dovizioso and Rossi to duel.

The nine-time World Champion and his Italian rival Dovizioso swapped places several times fighting for second place, but Rossi managed to make it stick and tried to hunt down race leader Marquez.

However, Rossi was unable to close the gap and was then involved in a second battle with Dovizioso, six laps from the end.

Rossi continued to push, but was dropping off the pace ever so slightly due to a worn out front tyre. He crossed the line in third place, just over three second behind race winner Marquez.

“I’m happy about the weekend, because getting onto the podium is a good objective when coming here,” explained Rossi.

 “On paper this track is the worst for our bike. I am satisfied about the weekend as a whole because we were always in the top 4-5 and we also weren’t so bad on the wet.

“For it to be perfect I would have had to beat Dovizioso, but unfortunately he was a bit faster. I didn’t have a chance to try, also because after six or seven laps of pushing a lot, I had to ride very smooth.

“For some reason our bike destroyed the front tyre. It’s been like this in 2013 and last year, but this year, fortunately, Bridgestone brought a harder front. That helped me to arrive at the end of the race, but the tyre was still damaged.”

 Speaking about the battle with Dovizioso, Rossi said: “Dovi said to me that we risked a lot overtaking in turn 12. From the bike I didn’t feel it and I thought we had some margin. We passed each other very closely, but there was enough space.”

CWM LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow finished seventh at the Circuit of The America’s yesterday but was overall disappointed after losing nearly five-seconds. 

Unfortunately, the Brit was caught up in first-lap collision between Scott Redding and Pol Espargaro. This incident cost Crutchlow valuable seconds at the start of the race and was unable to recover despite starting from fifth on the grid.

Crutchlow finished just under 17 seconds behind race winner Marc Marquez, but was left frustrated with this result knowing that he and the team had made very good progress throughout the course of the weekend.

Speaking after the race in Austin, Crutchlow explained: “Today I was really disappointed with the result. We had a good pace over the race weekend.

“In the race itself we had some problems, I got caught up in the crash on the first lap and lost nearly five-seconds in one lap and from that point it was very difficult to catch up.

“The whole CWM LCR Honda team need to regroup now and come back to the next race stronger as we were too far behind the winner today. We need to discuss a plan for Argentina which is a track I have never raced at before, but I am looking forward to it.” 

The next round takes place on 19th April in Argentina at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit.

THE Ducati Team were on the podium once again as Andrea Dovizioso finished the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas in second place proving the GP15 is competitive.

 Dovizioso also finished in second place in the opening round of the 2015 MotoGP season in Qatar, but this is not a fluke. The Ducati Demosedici GP15 now appears to be a competitive machine amongst the likes of the Honda RC213V and Yamaha YZR-M1.

The Italian rode aggressively from the start and led for the first four laps before being passed by Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez.

Dovizioso was then left to battle for second with former team-mate Valentino Rossi, who passed him on lap 8, but managed to regain the lead on lap 16. The Ducati Team rider gained a slight advantage to take the chequered flag in second.

“Today was a superb race,” said Dovizioso. “And I take enormous personal satisfaction from it because here at Austin the races are always special: on this circuit you have to administer your energy, your tyres and your pace, something that does not happen in other circuits.

“I am particularly pleased with the work of my team because on a completely different track from Losail we confirmed that the GP15 is competitive and we managed to improve during the weekend.

“This year we have already had two great races, but we must continue to work because we’re still lacking a bit of fine-tuning in braking and traction, small improvements that will make the difference when it comes to fighting for the top positions at every circuit.”

Due to finishing second for a second time, Dovizioso is now third in the MotoGP Championship standings, only one-point behind Rossi.