1997 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season

1997 F.I.M. Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Previous: 1996 Next: 1998

The 1997 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 49th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season.

Contents

Season summary

A fourth world championship in a row for Honda's Mick Doohan with another dominating performance. He broke Giacomo Agostini's record for victories in one season with 12 wins. It was also dominating year for Honda with eight of the top ten riders aboard Hondas. The Yamaha and Suzuki teams were in disarray. Kenny Roberts left Yamaha to start his own venture with a lightweight, three-cylinder Modenas. Wayne Rainey's team was left with the inconsistent Norifumi Abe and Sete Gibernau, a rookie. Daryl Beattie wasn't able to come back from head injuries and retired at the end of the year while Anthony Gobert failed a drug test and was dismissed by the Suzuki team. The Elf team soldiered on with their Swiss-Auto V4 but Aprilia decided to pull their V twin from the 500 class at the end of the year.

Max Biaggi had a harder time defending his title from Tetsuya Harada and Ralf Waldmann, not clinching the title until the last race of the year. A new star emerged from the 125 class with Valentino Rossi winning 11 races for a commanding win on an Aprilia.[1]

Grands Prix

Round Date Grand Prix Circuit 125cc winner 250cc winner 500cc winner Report
1 April 13 Malaysian Grand Prix Shah Alam Valentino Rossi Max Biaggi Mick Doohan Report
2 April 20 Japanese Grand Prix Suzuka Noboru Ueda Daijiro Kato Mick Doohan Report
3 May 4 Spanish Grand Prix Jerez Valentino Rossi Ralf Waldmann Àlex Crivillé Report
4 May 18 Italian Grand Prix Mugello Valentino Rossi Max Biaggi Mick Doohan Report
5 June 1 Austrian Grand Prix Zeltweg Noboru Ueda Olivier Jacque Mick Doohan Report
6 June 8 French Grand Prix Paul Ricard Valentino Rossi Tetsuya Harada Mick Doohan Report
7 June 28 Dutch TT Assen Valentino Rossi Tetsuya Harada Mick Doohan Report
8 July 6 City of Imola Grand Prix Imola Valentino Rossi Max Biaggi Mick Doohan Report
9 July 20 German Grand Prix Nürburgring Valentino Rossi Tetsuya Harada Mick Doohan Report
10 August 3 Rio de Janeiro Grand Prix Rio de Janeiro Valentino Rossi Olivier Jacque Mick Doohan Report
11 August 17 British Grand Prix Donington Valentino Rossi Ralf Waldmann Mick Doohan Report
12 August 31 Czech Republic Grand Prix Brno Noboru Ueda Max Biaggi Mick Doohan Report
13 September 14 Catalan Grand Prix Catalunya Valentino Rossi Ralf Waldmann Mick Doohan Report
14 September 28 Indonesian Grand Prix Sentul Valentino Rossi Max Biaggi Tadayuki Okada Report
15 October 20 Australian Grand Prix Phillip Island Noboru Ueda Ralf Waldmann Àlex Crivillé Report

Final standings

500cc standings[2][3]

Pos Rider Bike MAL
 JPN
 ESP
 ITA
 AUT
 FRA
 NED
 IMO
 GER
 RIO
 GBR
 CZE
 CAT
 INA
 AUS
 Pts
1 Mick Doohan Honda 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 Ret 340
2 Tadayuki Okada Honda 10 3 3 Ret 2 3 12 5 2 2 2 Ret 6 1 4 197
3 Nobuatsu Aoki Honda 3 5 5 3 4 Ret 4 2 4 4 4 3 5 4 Ret 179
4 Àlex Crivillé Honda 2 2 1 4 5 4 4 3 3 1 172
5 Takuma Aoki Honda 5 4 4 Ret Ret 5 Ret 3 3 10 6 7 7 2 134
6 Luca Cadalora Yamaha 4 11 11 2 3 Ret Ret 6 Ret 3 5 2 4 Ret Ret 129
7 Norifumi Abe Yamaha 8 7 7 7 9 7 10 7 Ret 5 9 5 12 5 3 126
8 Carlos Checa Honda 6 6 Ret Ret 6 2 2 4 Ret Ret Ret Ret 2 6 10 119
9 Alex Barros Honda 11 10 8 6 13 6 6 9 6 Ret 3 8 Ret Ret 8 101
10 Doriano Romboni Aprilia 6 11 10 11 3 Ret 5 7 7 Ret 10 10 11 88
11 Daryl Beattie Suzuki Ret Ret 12 5 11 12 7 13 12 13 6 10 17 12 Ret 63
12 Alberto Puig Honda 7 8 Ret Ret 8 8 5 12 10 14 Ret 13 15 14 15 63
13 Sete Gibernau Yamaha 9 Ret 9 9 Ret 13 19 11 7 Ret Ret Ret Ret 8 6 56
14 Régis Laconi Honda 12 12 10 10 Ret 9 Ret 7 11 16 5 52
15 Anthony Gobert Suzuki 13 7 10 13 10 9 10 Ret 12 44
16 Kenny Roberts, Jr. Modenas KR3 Ret Ret 18 Ret Ret Ret 8 17 Ret Ret 11 9 8 9 14 37
17 Juan Borja ELF 500 14 Ret Ret Ret 12 9 15 Ret 8 Ret 8 Ret 9 Ret Ret 37
18 Jean-Michel Bayle Modenas KR3 Ret 14 13 8 14 Ret Ret 8 Ret 8 Ret Ret Ret 16 31
19 Jurgen van den Goorbergh Honda 15 15 14 Ret Ret 15 Ret Ret 11 11 13 11 14 Ret 12 29
20 Jurgen Fuchs ELF 500 Ret Ret 16 Ret Ret 16 9 14 13 6 15 Ret 16 11 Ret 28
21 Kirk McCarthy Yamaha Ret 16 15 14 17 Ret Ret 15 15 12 12 Ret 13 15 13 20
22 Peter Goddard Suzuki 13 Ret 13 9 13
23 Troy Corser Yamaha 13 Ret Ret 12 Ret 14 14 11
24 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki 7 9
25 Norihiko Fujiwara Yamaha 9 7
26 Bernard Garcia Honda 17 11 Ret 14 7
27 Laurent Naveau ROC Yamaha 17 Ret 19 16 15 Ret 16 Ret 16 16 18 14 19 18 19 3
28 Jason Vincent Honda 14 2
29 Lucio Pedercini ROC Yamaha 16 Ret 17 15 16 19 18 16 Ret 15 16 Ret 18 17 17 2
Pos Rider Bike MAL
 JPN
 ESP
 ITA
 AUT
 FRA
 NED
 IMO
 GER
 RIO
 GBR
 CZE
 CAT
 INA
 AUS
 Pts
Colour Result
Gold Winner
Silver 2nd place
Bronze 3rd place
Green Finished, in points
Blue Finished, no points
Not classified (NC)
Purple Did not finish (Ret)
Red Did not qualify (DNQ)
Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ)
Black Disqualified (DSQ)
White Did not start (DNS)
Withdrew (WD)
Race cancelled (C)
Blank Did not participate
Excluded (EX)

Bold – Pole
Italics – Fastest Lap

250cc standings[4]

Place Rider Number Country Machine Points Wins Poles F.Lap
1 Max Biaggi 1 Italy Honda 250 5 3 2
2 Ralf Waldmann 2 Germany Honda 248 4 4 5
3 Tetsuya Harada 31 Japan Aprilia 235 3 1 4
4 Olivier Jacque 19 France Honda 201 2 5 2
5 Tohru Ukawa 5 Japan Honda 173 0 0 0
6 Loris Capirossi 65 Italy Aprilia 116 0 1 2
7 Takeshi Tsujimura Japan Honda 109 0 0 0
8 Haruchika Aoki Japan Honda 102 0 0 0
9 Stefano Perugini Italy Aprilia 85 0 0 0
10 Jeremy McWilliams United Kingdom Honda 73 0 0 0

125cc standings

Place Rider Number Country Machine Points Wins Poles F.Laps
1 Valentino Rossi 46 Italy Aprilia 321 11 4 7
2 Noboru Ueda 7 Japan Honda 238 4 3 2
3 Tomomi Manako 3 Japan Honda 190 0 0 2
4 Kazuto Sakata 8 Japan Aprilia 179 0 2 2
5 Masaki Tokudome 2 Japan Aprilia 120 0 0 1
6 Jorge Martínez 5 Spain Aprilia 119 0 3 0
7 Garry McCoy 12 Australia Aprilia 109 0 1 0
8 Roberto Locatelli Italy Honda 97 0 0 0
9 Mirko Giansanti Italy Aprilia 83 0 0 0
10 Frederic Petit France Honda 83 0 0 0

500 cc participants

Team Constructor Motorcycle No Rider Rounds
Repsol Honda Honda Honda NSR500 (NV0X) 1 Mick Doohan all
2 Àlex Crivillé 1-7, 12-15
7 Tadayuki Okada all
Honda NSR500V (NVAB) 24 Takuma Aoki all
Yamaha Promotor Racing Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 (OWH0) 3 Luca Cadalora 1-3
11 Troy Corser 1-3
Red Bull Yamaha WCM Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 (OWH0) 3 Luca Cadalora 4-15
11 Troy Corser 4-7
22 Kirk McCarthy 9-15
Honda Gresini Honda Honda NSR500V 4 Alex Barros all
Yamaha Team Rainey Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 (OWH0) 5 Norick Abe all
20 Sete Gibernau all
Lucky Strike Suzuki Suzuki Suzuki RGV500 (XR87) 6 Daryl Beattie all
23 Anthony Gobert 1, 4-12
26 Yukio Kagayama 15
27 Peter Goddard 2-3, 14-15
MoviStar Honda Pons Honda Honda NSR500 8 Carlos Checa all
9 Alberto Puig all
Marlboro Team Roberts Modenas Modenas KR3 10 Kenny Roberts, Jr. all
12 Jean-Michel Bayle all
Tecmas Honda Elf Honda Honda NSR500V 13 Bernard Garcia 6-9
55 Regis Laconi 1-5, 10-15
ELF 500 ROC Elf Elf 500 14 Juan Borja all
16 Jürgen Fuchs all
Soverex FP Racing ROC-Yamaha ROC-Yamaha 15 Frédéric Protat 1-3
Honda Honda NSR500V 4-15
Team Pedercini ROC-Yamaha ROC-Yamaha 17 Lucio Pedercini all
Rheos Elf F.C.C. TS Honda Honda NSR500 18 Nobuatsu Aoki all
IP Aprilia Racing Team Aprilia Aprilia RSW-2 19 Doriano Romboni 3-15
39 Alessandro Gramigni 1-2
Team Millar MQP Honda Honda NSR500V 21 Jurgen van den Goorbergh all
World Champ Motorsports ROC-Yamaha ROC-Yamaha 22 Kirk McCarthy 1-8
Millet Racing ROC-Yamaha ROC-Yamaha 25 Laurent Naveau all
Marlboro Yamaha Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 51 Norihiko Fujiwara 2
Team Paton Paton Paton V70 C10/3 53 Francesco Monaco 4, 8
Padgett's Honda Honda NSR500V 98 Jason Vincent 11

References

  1. ^ "Results and Statistics". MotoGP.com. http://www.motogp.com/en/Results+Statistics. Retrieved 2010-05-14. 
  2. ^ 1997 500cc Final Standings at MotoGP.com
  3. ^ 1997 500cc Entries List at www.f1network.net
  4. ^ 1997 250cc Final Standings at MotoGP.com
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