Motorcycling-Aprilia Racing's Martin wins US MotoGP sprint, Bezzecchi crashes

March 28 (Reuters) - Jorge Martin won the U.S. MotoGP sprint in Austin on Saturday while Aprilia Racing teammate and championship leader Marco Bezzecchi crashed and failed to finish a sprint for the second time this season.

Martin grabbed the lead during the final lap at the Circuit of the Americas where he made a move at turn 12 to overtake Francesco Bagnaia before crossing the line in 20 minutes 19.546 seconds, winning by ⁠0.755 seconds.

Pedro Acosta of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing finished third.

Martin, who now leads the standings by one point over Bezzecchi, crashed on the cool-down lap while doing a wheelie after securing victory but appeared to be fine.

Bezzecchi suffered a shocking start as he quickly dropped from second to seventh but worked his way back until crashing out of a late second place after pressure from Martin.

Defending champion Marc Marquez was briefly up to second on the opening lap but eventually crashed and took Fabio di Giannantonio down with him.