Marc Marquez extended his MotoGP winning streak to 10 races after overcoming a spirited challenge from Yamaha at the US Grand Prix.

The 21-year-old dropped from pole back to a low of fifth in a hectic series of early laps, handing Andrea Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi the front-running.

Marquez returned to the lead by lap six, making the most of the battle between the Italians, who ran wide as Dovizioso lunged for the lead.

A small mistake from the world champion, however, immediately handed Rossi the lead back and, with Jorge Lorenzo then taking second from Marquez, a 10th win was far from assured.

By the halfway point it was all Marquez though as, once again, the Spaniard leapt from third to first when the leading duo carted each other wide.

Lorenzo got the better of team-mate Rossi and gave chase in the remaining laps, keeping Marquez’s eventual winning margin to 1.8s.

The result marks the first time a rider has won 10 consecutive premier class races since Mick Doohan’s streak in 1997.

Rossi completed the podium in a distant third, some 6.5s adrift of the winner.

Dani Pedrosa ended a quiet weekend on the second of the Repsol Hondas in fourth ahead of the Tech 3 Yamahas of Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith.

Andrea Dovizioso faded to seventh ahead of Ducati team-mate Cal Crutchlow.

Australian Broc Parkes completed the finishers in 15th after a race that included an opening lap incident between Yonny Hernandez and Alvaro Bautista, and later a big crash for Stefan Bradl.

The German walked away from his incident, which occurred after contact with Aleix Espargaro.

Andrea Iannone was also a retirement, running as high as third in the opening stages before suffering mechanical problems.

In Moto3, Australian Jack Miller cemented his position atop the championship standings with a third place finish behind Spaniard Efren Vazquez and Italian Romano Fenati.

Miller leads the title battle by 21 points over Vazquez with eight races remaining.

Result: MotoGP, Indianapolis

 1

Marc Marquez

Honda

42m07.041s

 2

Jorge Lorenzo

Yamaha

   +1.803s

 3

Valentino Rossi

Yamaha

   +6.558s

 4

Dani Pedrosa

Honda

  +10.016s

 5

Pol Espargaro

Tech 3 Yamaha

  +17.807s

 6

Bradley Smith

Tech 3 Yamaha

  +19.604s

 7

Andrea Dovizioso

Ducati

  +20.759s

 8

Cal Crutchlow

Ducati

  +39.796s

 9

Scott Redding

Gresini Honda

  +40.507s

10

Hiroshi Aoyama

Aspar Honda

  +55.760s

11

Karel Abraham

Cardion Honda

+1m05.130s

12

Mike di Meglio

Avintia FTR-Kawasaki

+1m05.346s

13

Colin Edwards

Forward Yamaha

+1m08.919s

14

Michael Laverty

PBM-Aprilia

+1m09.203s

15

Broc Parkes

PBM-Aprilia

+1m30.613s

DNF

Leon Camier

Aspar Honda

    19 laps

DNF

Andrea Iannone

Pramac Ducati

    14 laps

DNF

Aleix Espargaro

Forward Yamaha

    12 laps

DNF

Stefan Bradl

LCR Honda

    12 laps

DNF

Danilo Petrucci

Ioda Aprilia

     6 laps

DNF

Hector Barbera

Avintia FTR-Kawasaki

     5 laps

DNF

Alvaro Bautista

Gresini Honda

     0 laps

DNF

Yonny Hernandez

Pramac Ducati

     0 laps

Updated championship points after 10 of 18 races