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 tofinish a sprint for the second time this season.
Martin overtook Francesco Bagnaia during the final lap at the Circuit of the Americas where he made a move at turn 12 before crossing the line in 20 minutes 19.546 seconds, winning by 0.755 seconds.
"I never thought, when I was starting the season in Thailand, that after three rounds I would be winning races again. So it's unbelievable," Martin said after a record-extending 17th sprint win, but his first with Aprilia.
"I'm so thankful to Aprilia. They are helping a lot to raise my level. And yeah, I did it already. I mean, I feel a better rider than I was in the past."
Pedro Acosta of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing had finished third but after the race received an eight-second penalty due to low tyre pressure, a move that dropped him to eighth place and promoted Enea Bastianini to the podium.
After securing the win, Martin, who took the lead in the standings by one point over Bezzecchi, crashed on the cool-down lap while doing a wheelie but escaped without injury.
"I think a lot of riders can win but not a lot of riders can nearly crash on the way back to the pits," Martin joked. "Luckily I'm okay, the bike isn't really damaged."
Bezzecchi suffered a shocking start as he quickly dropped from second to seventh but he worked his way back before 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 pole-sitter Fabio di Giannantonio down with him, resulting in a long-lap penalty for Sunday's Grand Prix.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; editing by Clare Fallon)
