Reigning MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez is staring down the barrel of six straight wins in a row at Austin should he emerge victorious on Sunday at the Texas track.
The Spaniard, who is still surrounded by controversy after his deck-clearing ride in Argentina, hasn't been beaten in America but should be under close race-direction scrutiny following the anctics of Termas De Rio Hondo.
“After a good start to the season in Qatar, we got no points in Argentina, but I was feeling good on the bike in both races, which is positive," Marquez said. "The season is long and the most important thing is that our level is there.
"Now we go to Austin, a good circuit with a good atmosphere and great memories: it was the place of my first pole and my first MotoGP victory and we’ve been able to be strong there since then, so it’s a good place to try and get a good result.
"That said, every season is different: the bikes, the tyres, the conditions. This year some work was done to reduce the bumps, so we’ll see how the track is. As we’ve done so far, over the weekend we’ll focus our work on the race setup, and then on Sunday we’ll see where we’re able to finish.”
How the Marquez/Rossi dynamic will work from tomorrow onwards is going to be interesting...