Imperious Marc Marquez made it look easy as the Repsol Honda rider cruised to his second victory of the 2014 MotoGP World Championship in Austin, Texas.

Marquez shot into the lead at the end of lap one as Jorge Lorenzo pulled into pit lane after being hit with a ride-through penalty for a dramatic jump start at the Circuit of The Americas.

The defending world champion was in total command throughout the race, easing to victory over team-mate Dani Pedrosa, who crossed the line a lonely second.

Andrea Dovizioso finished on the rostrum for Ducati in third place after emerging on top of a battle with LCR Honda’s Stefan Bradl, while British rider Bradley Smith was the leading Yamaha rider on the Tech 3 machine in fifth.

His team-mate, Pol Espargaro, completed the top six.

Valentino Rossi was eighth after dropping back from fourth place earlier in the race, while his Yamaha team-mateJorge Lorenzo fought his way up to tenth following his jump start.

Cal Crutchlow suffered a heavy fall at Turn 2 and sustained a dislocated little finger on his right hand in the incident, while Gresini Honda’s Scott Redding slid out unhurt at Turn 8 in the latter stages.

Lorenzo completely misjudged the start of the race and his miscalculation appeared to catch NGM Forward Racing’s Aleix Espargaro by surprise, with the Spanish rider fluffing his start from row two to drop down the pack.

With Lorenzo in front, Marquez slotted into second place from Pedrosa, Andrea Iannone on the Pramac Ducati, Crutchlow, Bradl, Dovizioso and Rossi.

Factory Yamaha rider Lorenzo opted to pull into pit lane for his ride-through penalty at the end of lap one, enduring more misery after a DNF in the Qatar night race following a first lap spill.

The Repsol Honda pair were already beginning to pull away in front, setting the tone for a race they dominated.

Iannone enjoyed a long spell in third place but Rossi was on the move, picking off Dovizioso on lap two and quickly moving into fourth on the next laps after overhauling Bradl and Crutchlow.

It seemed inevitable that Rossi would soon take third from Iannone after he reeled in the Ducati rider, but the Italian was unable to find a way through, attempting a pass before running wide on the brakes and dropping back into Bradl’s clutches.

Crutchlow was experiencing chatter problems with his Ducati and pulled in to his pit garage, where he opted for a change of tyre after slipping down the order to tenth.

Rossi was losing ground on the M1 and found himself going backwards as he was overtaken by Bradl and Dovizioso in quick success, before Tech 3 Yamaha pair Smith and Pol Espargaro also went ahead of the Movistar Yamaha rider around the half-way point.

Crutchlow’s race ended on lap 12 after a heavy fall on a miserable day for the British rider.

With Marquez and Pedrosa clear of the chasing pack, a battle for third place developed between Bradl and Dovizioso, who both had the measure of Iannone.

Smith threatened to force his way into podium contention and passed Bradl on the brakes for fourth, although the German rider responded immediately to re-take the position.

Dovizioso, though, had more in reserve and stretched enough of a gap to secure the final podium place behind Marquez and Pedrosa, with Bradl holding off Smith.

Marquez almost tucked the front at the final corner on the last lap but survived and his advantage at the finishing line was 4.124s over Pedrosa, with Dovizioso in third almost 21 seconds behind the winner.

Pol Espargaro was sixth, followed by Iannone, Rossi and Aleix Espargaro, with Lorenzo rounding out the top ten.

Nicky Hayden was 11th at his home race on the Drive M7 Aspar ahead of team-mate Hiroshi Aoyama.

Michael Laverty was 16th on the PBM machine, although team-mate Broc Parkes was a retirement.

Alvaro Bautista was a faller, while Colin Edwards was an early retirement.

Results - 21 laps:                                       

Pos Rider              Team/Bike                 Time/Gap
 1. Marc Marquez       Honda                   43m33.430s
 2. Dani Pedrosa       Honda                      +4.124s
 3. Andrea Dovizioso   Ducati                    +20.976s
 4. Stefan Bradl       LCR Honda                 +22.790s
 5. Bradley Smith      Tech 3 Yamaha             +22.963s
 6. Pol Espargaro      Tech 3 Yamaha             +26.567s
 7. Andrea Iannone     Pramac Ducati             +28.257s
 8. Valentino Rossi    Yamaha                    +45.519s
 9. Aleix Espargaro    Forward Yamaha            +47.605s
10. Jorge Lorenzo      Yamaha                    +49.111s
11. Nicky Hayden       Aspar Honda             +1m00.735s
12. Hiroshi Aoyama     Aspar Honda             +1m03.954s
13. Yonny Hernandez    Pramac Ducati           +1m07.333s
14. Karel Abraham      Cardion Honda           +1m27.972s
15. Hector Barbera     Avintia FTR-Kawasaki    +1m32.376s
16. Michael Laverty    PBM Aprilia             +1m32.543s
17. Danilo Petrucci    Ioda Aprilia            +1m39.176s
18. Mike di Meglio     Avintia FTR-Kawasaki    +1m51.962s

Retirements:                                             

    Scott Redding      Gresini Honda              20 laps
    Colin Edwards      Forward Yamaha             18 laps
    Cal Crutchlow      Ducati                     11 laps
    Alvaro Bautista    Gresini Honda               3 laps
    Broc Parkes        PBM Aprilia                 3 laps