Marquez dominant in Spain, Miller crashes

Spaniard Marc Marquez has taken a one-point lead in the MotoGP championship after a dominant display in last night's Jerez Grand Prix.

The Repsol Honda rider controlled the tempo throughout the 25-lap race to secure victory ahead of Suzuki's Alex Rins and Yamaha's Maverick Vinales.

Marquez held a short margin on the Petronas Yamaha pairing of Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Quartararo in the opening stint before truly putting the hammer down on lap 10, quickly checking out to a 1.5 second advantage.

Related reading:
MotoGP preview: Round 4, Jerez
Rins maiden GP win, Miller third
Marquez dominates in Argentina

There was heartache for rookie Quartararo who, after securing a maiden pole position of the race, was cruelled of a possible podium when his bike suffered a gearbox issue on lap 14.

This opened the door for Rins to sweep through the field and secure second place in Jerez – his 11th consecutive top-six finish. The Spaniard made light work of Morbidelli, who was also passed by Vinales in the latter stages of the race.

Andrea Dovizioso held onto third overall in the championship with a fourth-place finish, at the same time continuing his podium-less run at Jerez. His Ducati teammate Danilo Petrucci finished fifth.

Further back, Valentino Rossi made the most of a poor qualifying result (starting 13th) to put his factory Yamaha up to sixth, gifting the Italian another important points haul.

Rossi spent most of the race trying to get around Australian Jack Miller, who started from 15th after mixed fortunes in qualifying. Miller was eventually passed by Rossi before tyre wear took its toll, the Australian eventually crashing at turn 13 during a battle with Aprillia's Aleix Espargaro.

Marquez's win sees him climb to the top of the standings, albeit by a slim margin. As with before the Spanish Grand Prix, only nine points separates the top four in the championship, with Alex Rins, Andrea Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi all within close reach of the five-time MotoGP world champion.

In Moto2, Australian Remy Gardner was lucky to walk away from a nasty crash in the opening turn, in which he high-sided in front of the field, taking down Alex Marquez. Gardner was on track for another big performance, having qualified fourth, but was whisked off to the medical centre for concussion while the race was red flagged.

The Aussie holds onto fifth in the championship, while race winner Lorenzo Baldassari extends his lead in the championship.

The MotoGP season resumes in Le Mans for the French Grand Prix in two weeks' time.

MotoGP top 10 – Jerez
1. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team)
2. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 1.654
3. Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) + 2.443
4. Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) + 2.804
5. Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) + 4.748
6. Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) + 7.547
7. Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) + 8.228
8. Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) + 10.052
9. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) + 10.274
10. Stefan Bradl (Team HRC) + 13.402