1990 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix

  1990 Japanese Grand Prix
Race details
Race 1 of 15 races in the
1990 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date March 25, 1990
Location Suzuka
Course Permanent racing facility
5.821 km (3.618 mi)
500 cc
Pole position
Rider Wayne Rainey
Time 2:09.589
Fastest lap
Rider Wayne Rainey
Time 2:11.354
Podium
First Wayne Rainey
Second Wayne Gardner
Third Kevin Schwantz
250 cc
Pole position
Rider John Kocinski
Time 2:14.273
Fastest lap
Rider Jacques Cornu
Time 2:16.452
Podium
First Luca Cadalora
Second Carlos Cardús
Third Wilco Zeelenberg
125 cc
Pole position
Rider Kinya Wada
Time 2:25.033
Fastest lap
Rider Stefan Prein
Time 2:25.045
Podium
First Hans Spaan
Second Stefan Prein
Third Koji Takada

The 1990 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix was the first round of the 1990 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 23rd-25th March, 1990 at the Suzuka Circuit.

500 cc race report

Wayne Rainey's pole of 2:09.589 is the first sub-2:10 lap at Suzuka. Rainey gets the start of the new 4-column grid, followed by Mick Doohan, Eddie Lawson and the field. Rainey goes through the chicane with a sub-second gap, followed by Lawson, Doohan, Kevin Schwantz and Wayne Gardner.

Rainey is opening a gap, but Schwantz moves into second and leads the chase. Entering the back straight, Schwantz looks behind him to see who’s back there, but Lawson’s proximity probably blocks the view.

Perhaps Schwantz had a feeling something bad was about to happen. Going into 130R, Gardner barely manages to pass on the brakes and move into second place, while Doohan brakes for all he’s worth, getting the back wheel in the air, and loses the front end as he leans it in. Unfortunately, he’s inside of Lawson when he falls, so Doohan’s bike hits Lawson’s rear wheel hard, taking him out too. Lawson, who came out of 1989 without a race crash, begins the season with a DNF and a broken left ankle.

Rainey has a large gap, and Gardner and Schwantz are scraping fairings for second. Last lap and Rainey has an untouchable lead, and Gardner goes slightly wide heading towards the chicane, but manages to hold Schwantz off; as they flick it right and then left, Schwantz touches Gardner’s back tire and drops his bike. Because it happened at such a low speed, Schwantz is able to get back on quickly and still cross the line in third place.

Schwantz: "I thought I had Gardner sorted out pretty good for the last lap going into the chicane, just as soon as I got up the inside and he saw my wheel he came in and I think he was still going in too fast. He went into the chicane real deep. I got turned quick because I knew he was going to be wide. He came back across and as I was coming down , we hit. I guess it all depends on how you look at it as to who's fault it was I'd say it was his."[1]

500cc classification

Pos No. Rider Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 2 Wayne Rainey Yamaha 22 48:52.475 1 20
2 10 Wayne Gardner Honda 22 +3.237 3 17
3 34 Kevin Schwantz Suzuki 22 +15.556 2 15
4 4 Kevin Magee Suzuki 22 +40.689 7 13
5 6 Sito Pons Honda 22 +41.008 9 11
6 21 Tadahiko Taira Yamaha 22 +51.363 10 10
7 5 Pierfrancesco Chili Honda 22 +51.536 6 9
8 14 Jean-Philippe Ruggia Yamaha 22 +53.739 15 8
9 39 Shinichi Itoh Honda 22 +1:02.515 8 7
10 11 Juan Garriga Yamaha 22 +1:25.526 18 6
11 37 Hikaru Miyagi Honda 22 +1:29.184 20 5
12 41 Shinji Katayama Yamaha 22 +1:42.002 21 4
13 38 Osamu Hiwatashi Suzuki 22 +1:42.713 19 3
Ret 43 Keiji Ohishi Yamaha 18 Retirement 22
Ret 18 Randy Mamola Cagiva 18 Retirement 17
Ret 28 Alex Barros Cagiva 12 Retirement 24
Ret 40 Satoshi Tsujimoto Suzuki 9 Retirement 13
Ret 3 Christian Sarron Yamaha 8 Retirement 11
Ret 8 Ron Haslam Cagiva 8 Retirement 23
Ret 36 Kunio Machii Yamaha 7 Retirement 12
Ret 1 Eddie Lawson Yamaha 4 Retirement 4
Ret 9 Mick Doohan Honda 4 Retirement 5
Ret 15 Norihiko Fujiwara Yamaha 2 Retirement 16
DNS 35 Shunji Yatsushiro Honda 14
DNQ 26 Niggi Schmassman Honda
DNQ 44 Kenmei Matsumoto Honda

References

  1. ^ Schwantz, Kevin: Blurred Past kevinschwantz.com 1994.
Previous race:
1989 Brazilian Grand Prix
FIM Grand Prix World Championship
1990 season
Next race:
1990 United States Grand Prix
Previous race:
1989 Japanese Grand Prix
Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix Next race:
1991 Japanese Grand Prix