Marc Marquez produced another devastating display as he blew away his rivals to record a fourth consecutive victory of the season in the Grand Prix of Spain at Jerez.
The Honda rider enjoyed a battle with Valentino Rossi early on before he quickly built an unassailable lead which he maintained all the way to the chequered flag.
Rossi just about held his own to come home in second position ahead of Dani Pedrosa after a thrilling final lap dice.
Marquez’s impressive 100 percent start to the 2014 season has seen the Spaniard open up a 28 point lead in the championship standings.
Polesitter Marquez held his position into the first corner with Rossi moving into second and Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso in third.
Jorge Lorenzo dropped to seventh initially before quickly recovering to fourth on the opening lap.
Rossi managed to stay on the back of Marquez and on lap two the Italian stormed into the lead before the Honda man reclaimed the position a lap later.
Meanwhile, Lorenzo and Pedrosa fought over third after passing Dovizioso.
With a clear track in front, Marquez began to show his class as he quickly opened up a lead of seven tenths of a second from Rossi.
He continued to build the advantage lap after lap leaving Rossi to fend off Pedrosa and Lorenzo for second.
In the end, nobody could halt the reigning world champion’s progress as he took the chequered flag comfortably.
Pedrosa edged away from Lorenzo in third and upped his pace in the final stages in a bid to pass Rossi for second.
The pair produced an entertaining battle which went right up to the final lap with Rossi just holding off the Honda rider for second at the flag.
Lorenzo came home in fourth ahead of Dovizioso and Gresini Honda’s Alvaro Bautista.
Aleix Espargaro finished as the top Open Class runner in seventh in front of Bradley Smith, Pol Espargaro and Stefan Bradl.
Ducati’s Cal Crutchlow retired on his return to MotoGP after sitting out the last round at Argentina, while Australia’s Broc Parkes finished in 17th position.
In Moto3, Jack Miller could only finish fourth in Round 4 at Jerez as Romano Fenati took victory to cut the Australian’s lead in the championship to just five points.
The Townsville rider started from pole but he was unable to match the pace of Fenati in the race as he took the win from Efren Vasquez and Alex Rins.
MotoGP heads to the famous Le Mans circuit in France for Round 5 on May 17-18.
MotoGP Grand Prix of Spain Results
Pos | Rider | Team/Bike | Time/Gap |
1 | Marc Marquez | Honda | 45m24.134s |
2 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | +1.431s |
3 | Dani Pedrosa | Honda | +1.529s |
4 | Jorge Lorenzo | Yamaha | +8.541s |
5 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | +27.494s |
6 | Alvaro Bautista | Gresini Honda | +27.606s |
7 | Aleix Espargaro | Forward Yamaha | +27.917s |
8 | Bradley Smith | Tech 3 Yamaha | +27.947s |
9 | Pol Espargaro | Tech 3 Yamaha | +29.419s |
10 | Stefan Bradl | LCR Honda | +32.872s |
11 | Nicky Hayden | Aspar Honda | +35.490s |
12 | Hiroshi Aoyama | Aspar Honda | +40.083s |
13 | Scott Redding | Gresini Honda | +43.830s |
14 | Yonny Hernandez | Pramac Ducati | +52.295s |
15 | Hector Barbera | Avintia FTR-Kawasaki | +54.873s |
16 | Michael Laverty | PBM Aprilia | +1m06.182s |
17 | Broc Parkes | PBM Aprilia | +1m23.42s0 |
RET | Colin Edwards | Forward Yamaha | 1 lap |
RET | Andrea Iannone | Pramac Ducati | 5 laps |
RET | Mike di Meglio | Avintia FTR-Kawasaki | 6 laps |
RET | Karel Abraham | Cardion Honda | 17 laps |
RET | Cal Crutchlow | Ducati | 23 laps |
RET | Michele Pirro | Ducati | 25 laps |
2014 MotoGP Standings
Pos |
Driver |
Points |
1 |
Marc Márquez |
100 |
2 |
Daniel Pedrosa |
72 |
3 |
Valentino Rossi |
61 |
4 |
Andrea Dovizioso |
45 |
5 |
Jorge Lorenzo |
35 |
6 |
Stefan Bradl |
30 |
7 |
Aleix Espargaró |
30 |
8 |
Bradley Smith |
28 |
9 |
Andrea Iannone |
25 |
10 |
Pol Espargaró |
25 |
11 |
Nicky Hayden |
23 |
12 |
Hiroshi Aoyama |
19 |
13 |
Scott Redding |
14 |
14 |
Yonny Hernández |
13 |
15 |
Cal Crutchlow |
10 |
15 |
Álvaro Bautista |
10 |
17 |
Karel Abraham |
8 |
18 |
Colin Edwards |
7 |
19 |
Danilo Petrucci |
2 |
20 |
Héctor Barberá |
2 |
21 |
Broc Parkes |
1 |