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1989 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix

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Japan  1989 Japanese Grand Prix
Race details
Race 1 of 15 races in the
1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date26 March 1989
Official nameGrand Prix of Japan[1][2][3]
LocationSuzuka Circuit
Course
  • Permanent racing facility
  • 5.821 km (3.617 mi)
500cc
Pole position
Rider Japan Tadahiko Taira
Time 2:11.860
Fastest lap
Rider United States Kevin Schwantz
Time 2:11.800
Podium
First United States Kevin Schwantz
Second United States Wayne Rainey
Third United States Eddie Lawson
250cc
Pole position
Rider United States John Kocinski
Time 2:17.040
Fastest lap
Rider United States John Kocinski
Time 2:16.720
Podium
First United States John Kocinski
Second Spain Sito Pons
Third Italy Luca Cadalora
125cc
Pole position
Rider Italy Ezio Gianola
Time 2:26.980
Fastest lap
Rider Italy Ezio Gianola
Time 2:26.490
Podium
First Italy Ezio Gianola
Second Japan Hisashi Unemoto
Third Japan Koji Takada

The 1989 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix was the first round of the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 24 to 26 March 1989 at the Suzuka Circuit.

500 cc race report

[edit]

Wayne Rainey gets the lead and opens a small gap in the first lap, with Kevin Schwantz moving into second to chase him down. Wayne Gardner and Freddie Spencer go off-track, but get back in the race, while Doohan has a mechanical and Pierfrancesco Chili crashes out.

Schwantz soon catches and passes Rainey at the chicane in a typical late-braking move that leaves Rainey without much room. Rainey, not wanting to let Schwantz through, almost hits Schwantz’ back wheel and loses a lot of time. Schwantz will repeat the chicane pass two more times. From about half-race on, Rainey and Schwantz get in an epic fight, seemingly incapable of wanting to let the other take the lead. Rainey is so committed to staying in front of Schwantz that he does a downhill wheelie on the approach to the hairpin; on this lap alone they swap the lead at least 5 times.

Last lap sees Rainey ahead on the straight, but Schwantz passes into Turn One and manages to hold the lead to the finish line. Crossing the line, Rainey’s arm-flailing betrays his fury, but he manages to extend a hand of congratulations as he comes alongside Schwantz on the cool-down lap. Lawson battles his way through a handful of riders to take 3rd.

Rainey says of the last lap: “I couldn’t see my pit board so I was watching the circuit’s own lap counter over the start line. That clicks down as the leaders go underneath it, but I didn’t realize that. I read L2. I was following Kevin and thinking: why’s he riding so wild when there’s still another lap left? He was being real aggressive, and I was sitting right on him, planning how the next lap I’d draught him on the back straight, then not let him pass me at the chicane. Then we came across the start-finish line and there was the checker. It really pissed me off. Towards the end of 1988 we’d started saying hello to one another. It wasn’t just the two of us anymore. Now our rivalry started to heat up again.”[4]

Ezio Gianola, riding his bike at the 125cc race, which he went on to win.

500 cc classification

[edit]
Pos. Rider Team Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 United States Kevin Schwantz Suzuki Pepsi Cola Suzuki 22 48:48.370 3 20
2 United States Wayne Rainey Team Lucky Strike Roberts Yamaha 22 +0.420 2 17
3 United States Eddie Lawson Rothmans Kanemoto Honda Honda 22 +30.670 10 15
4 Australia Wayne Gardner Rothmans Honda Team Honda 22 +35.190 4 13
5 Australia Kevin Magee Team Lucky Strike Roberts Yamaha 22 +36.420 5 11
6 United Kingdom Niall Mackenzie Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini Yamaha 22 +39.540 8 10
7 France Christian Sarron Sonauto Gauloises Blondes Yamaha Mobil 1 Yamaha 22 +48.470 11 9
8 Japan Tadahiko Taira Yamaha Motor Company Yamaha 22 +48.540 1 8
9 Japan Norihiko Fujiwara Yamaha Motor Company Yamaha 22 +1:09.280 16 7
10 Japan Shinichi Itoh Team HRC Honda 22 +1:09.280 12 6
11 United States Bubba Shobert Cabin Racing Team Honda 22 +1:18.990 14 5
12 United Kingdom Ron Haslam Suzuki Pepsi Cola Suzuki 22 +1:23.880 13 4
13 Japan Shunji Yatsushiro Team HRC Honda 22 +1:25.670 19 3
14 United States Freddie Spencer Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini Yamaha 22 +1:26.000 9 2
15 Japan Kunio Machii Yamaha Motor Company Yamaha 22 +1:29.480 15 1
16 United States Randy Mamola Cagiva Corse Cagiva 22 +1:45.800 17
17 Japan Takazumi Katayama Yamaha 22 +1:46.240 22
18 France Dominique Sarron Team ROC Elf Honda Honda 22 +2:12.130 23
19 Japan Katunori Shinozaki Suzuki 21 +1 Lap 26
20 Switzerland Marco Gentile Fior Marlboro Fior 21 +1 Lap 27
21 Japan Keiji Kinoshita Honda 21 +1 Lap 28
22 Japan Yoshimasa Matsumoto Honda 20 +2 Laps 30
23 Spain Francisco Gonzales Club Motocross Pozuelo Honda 20 +2 Laps 31
Ret United States Doug Polen Suzuki Retirement 20
Ret Italy Alessandro Valesi Team Iberia Yamaha Retirement 24
Ret Japan Osamu Hiwatashi Suzuki Retirement 18
Ret Japan Hikaru Miyagi Honda Retirement 21
Ret Japan Norio Iobe Honda Retirement 25
Ret Australia Mick Doohan Rothmans Honda Team Honda Retirement 6
Ret Italy Pierfrancesco Chili HB Honda Gallina Team Honda Retirement 7
DNS United Kingdom Simon Buckmaster Racing Team Katayama Honda Did not Start 29
Sources: [5][6]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Grand Prix uitslagen en bijzonderheden 1989". Archive.li. Archived from the original on 2015-07-25. Retrieved 2018-09-07.
  2. ^ Mitchell, Malcolm. "1989 500cc Class (FIM Grand Prix World Championship) Programmes - The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project". www.progcovers.com.
  3. ^ Mitchell, Malcolm. "Suzuka Circuit - The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project". www.progcovers.com.
  4. ^ Scott, Michael: "Wayne Rainey", pages 135-136. Haynes Publishing, 1997.
  5. ^ "1989 Japanese MotoGP - Motor Sport Magazine Database". 13 June 2017.
  6. ^ "motogp.com · JAPANESE GRAND PRIX · 500cc Race Classification 1989". www.motogp.com.


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1988 Brazilian Grand Prix
FIM Grand Prix World Championship
1989 season
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1989 Australian Grand Prix
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1988 Japanese Grand Prix
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1990 Japanese Grand Prix