1991 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season

The 1991 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 43rd F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season.

Season summary

The beginning of the 1990s marked a golden age for Grand Prix motorcycle racing. The rivalry between Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz was in full flow while Mick Doohan started to come into his own. Eddie Lawson had switched to Cagiva and started to have some respectable results. In a one year quirk, only 13 races counted. Competitors were allowed to drop their two worst scores. The Yugoslavia round was dropped because of the civil war and replaced with a Grand Prix of Europe at Jarama. The Brazilian round was also dropped at the last minute over track safety concerns and replaced with a race held at Le Mans. The inaugural Malaysian Grand Prix was held at Shah Alam.

For the 1991 season, Michelin decided to supply only the Rothmans Honda team with tires; everybody else used Dunlops.^[1]

Luca Cadalora won the 250 title in a dominating fashion with eight wins. In the 125 class, Italian teenager Loris Capirossi swept to the title for the second consecutive year.

1991 500 cc Season review

Round	Race	Location	125cc winner	250cc winner	500cc winner	Report
1	Japanese Grand Prix	Suzuka	Noboru Ueda	Luca Cadalora	Kevin Schwantz	Report
2	Australian Grand Prix	Eastern Creek	Loris Capirossi	Luca Cadalora	Wayne Rainey	Report
3	United States Grand Prix	Laguna Seca	no race	Luca Cadalora	Wayne Rainey	Report
4	Spanish Grand Prix	Jerez	Noboru Ueda	Helmut Bradl	Mick Doohan	Report
5	Italian Grand Prix	Misano	Fausto Gresini	Luca Cadalora	Mick Doohan	Report
6	German Grand Prix	Hockenheim	Ralf Waldmann	Helmut Bradl	Kevin Schwantz	Report
7	Austrian Grand Prix	Salzburgring	Fausto Gresini	Helmut Bradl	Mick Doohan	Report
8	European Grand Prix	Jarama	Loris Capirossi	Luca Cadalora	Wayne Rainey	Report
9	Dutch TT	Assen	Ralf Waldmann	Pierfrancesco Chili	Kevin Schwantz	Report
10	French Grand Prix	Paul Ricard	Loris Capirossi	Loris Reggiani	Wayne Rainey	Report
11	British Grand Prix	Donington	Loris Capirossi	Luca Cadalora	Kevin Schwantz	Report
12	San Marino Grand Prix	Mugello	Peter Öttl	Luca Cadalora	Wayne Rainey	Report
13	Czechoslovakian Grand Prix	Brno	Alessandro Gramigni	Helmut Bradl	Wayne Rainey	Report
14	Vitesse du Mans Grand Prix	Le Mans	no race	Helmut Bradl	Kevin Schwantz	Report
15	Malaysian Grand Prix	Shah Alam	Loris Capirossi	Luca Cadalora	John Kocinski	Report

Final standings

Scoring system

Points are awarded to the top fifteen finishers. Rider has to finish the race to earn points.

500cc standings^[2][3]

Pos Rider Bike JPN AUS USA ESP ITA GER AUT EUR NED FRA GBR RSM CZE VDM MAL Pts 1 Wayne Rainey Yamaha 3 1 1 3 9 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 3 233 2 Mick Doohan Honda 2 2 2 1 1 3 1 2 Ret 2 3 3 2 2 3 224 3 Kevin Schwantz Suzuki 1 5 3 Ret 7 1 3 4 1 4 1 2 5 1 204 4 John Kocinski Yamaha 4 3 Ret 2 2 Ret 9 5 6 DNS 4 6 3 4 1 161 5 Wayne Gardner Honda 5 4 7 7 5 4 3 3 10 5 4 4 5 2 161 6 Eddie Lawson Cagiva 6 6 5 6 3 4 5 Ret 4 3 6 Ret 8 126 7 Juan Garriga Yamaha 7 Ret 8 4 8 7 6 6 12 11 9 7 6 6 4 121 8 Didier de Radiguès Suzuki 14 10 10 8 Ret 6 8 10 5 7 8 8 7 8 8 105 9 Doug Chandler Yamaha 11 12 Ret 10 6 9 7 9 11 6 Ret 9 10 7 Ret 85 10 Jean-Philippe Ruggia Yamaha Ret 7 4 5 5 7 8 5 Ret 10 Ret Ret 78 11 Adrien Morillas Yamaha 12 9 9 9 Ret 8 Ret 8 9 8 Ret Ret 10 7 71 12 Eddie Laycock Yamaha Ret 13 13 11 10 10 10 12 Ret 11 11 11 11 12 57 13 Alex Barros Yamaha 10 8 6 4 7 46 14 Sito Pons Honda 8 Ret Ret 11 10 9 Ret Ret 9 9 Ret 40 15 Cees Doorakkers Honda 22 14 14 13 12 11 13 13 12 14 13 13 Ret 10 40 16 Marco Papa Honda 12 11 12 Ret 13 10 12 13 9 36 17 Niall Mackenzie Yamaha 7 5 12 6 34 18 Michael Rudroff Honda 15 15 12 11 14 14 14 13 14 12 Ret 26 19 Kevin Magee Suzuki 13 11 5 19 20 Harald Becker Yamaha 14 Ret 13 16 Ret Ret Ret 15 14 Ret 11 13 21 Keiichiro Iwahashi Honda 9 7 22 Simon Buckmaster Suzuki 14 14 Ret Ret 15 15 6 23 Rich Oliver Yamaha 11 5 24 Niggi Schmassman Honda 16 15 Ret Ret 15 15 Ret Ret 17 14 5 25 Ron Haslam Norton 12 4 26 Robbie Petersen Yamaha 13 4 27 Josef Doppler Yamaha 17 15 17 16 16 13 4 28 Romolo Balbi Honda 13 17 3 29 Andy Leuthe Suzuki Ret 15 18 Ret 14 3 30 Steve Spray Norton 15 1 31 Peter Goddard Yamaha 15 1 Pos Rider Bike JPN AUS USA ESP ITA GER AUT EUR NED FRA GBR RSM CZE VDM MAL Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (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 Position

250cc standings^[4][5]

Place	Rider	Number	Team	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Luca Cadalora	3	Rothmans-Honda	NSR250	237	8
2	Helmut Bradl	4	HB-Honda	NSR250	220	5
3	Carlos Cardús	2	Repsol-Honda	NSR250	205	0
4	Wilco Zeelenberg	5	Sharp Samson Bieffe-Honda	NSR250	158	0
5	Masahiro Shimizu	7	Ajinomoto-Honda	NSR250	142	0
6	Loris Reggiani	13	Aprilia	RSV250	128	1
7	Pierfrancesco Chili	9	Iberna Valesi-Aprilia	RSV250	107	1
8	Jochen Schmid	8	Schuh Zwafink-Honda	RS250	96	0
9	Martin Wimmer	6	Lucky Strike-Suzuki	RGV250	89	0
10	Paolo Casoli	17	Agostini-Yamaha	TZ250	65	0
11	Andy Preining					60
12	Jean Pierre Jeandat					59
13	Àlex Crivillé					51
14	Carlos Lavado					34
15	Doriano Romboni					32
16	Alberto Puig					28
17	Stefan Prein					28
18	Harald Eckl					22
19	Katsuyoshi Kozono					20
20	Renzo Colleoni					19
21	Bernard Haenggeli					15
22	Masumitsu Taguchi					13
23	Nobuatsu Aoki					13
24	Tetsuya Harada					10
25	Herri Torrontegui					8
26	Erkka Korpiaho					8
27	Max Biaggi					7
28	Tsumoto Udagawa					6
29	Marcellino Lucchi					5
30	Jose Barresi					4
30	Kyoji Nanba					4
30	Dominique Sarron					4
33	Frederic Protat					4
34	Urs Jücker					4
35	Leon Van Der Heyden					3
35	Patrick van den Goorbergh					3
37	Jurgen van den Goorbergh					2
38	Corrado Catalano					1
38	Bernd Kassner					1
38	Toshi Arakaki					1
38	Kevin Mitchell					1

125cc standings

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Loris Capirossi	1	Italy	Honda	200	5
2	Fausto Gresini	8	Italy	Honda	181	2
3	Ralf Waldmann	23	Germany	Honda	141	2
4	Gabriele Debbia	12	Italy	Aprilia	111	0
5	Noboru Ueda		Japan	Honda	105	2
6	Jorge Martínez	6	Spain	Cobas	99	0
7	Alessandro Gramigni	9	Italy	Aprilia	90	1
8	Dirk Raudies	5	Germany	Honda	81	0
9	Peter Öttl		Germany	Rotax	67	1
10	Noboyuki Wakai		Japan	Honda	60	0
11	Heinz Lüthi					56
12	Adi Stadler					56
13	Kazuto Sakata					55
14	Hans Spaan					54
15	Bruno Casanova					45
16	Ezio Gianola					32
17	Koji Takada					28
18	Maurizio Vitali					27
19	Hisashi Unemoto					15
20	Kinya Wada					14
21	Masato Shima					13
22	Luis Alvaro					13
23	Oliver Petrucciani					13
24	Herri Torrontegui					12
25	Andres Sanchez					12
26	Gimmi Bosio					12
27	Julian Miralles					10
28	Alfred Waibel					9
29	Akira Saito					8
30	Sinya Sato					7
31	Carlos Giro Jr.					7
32	Arie Molenaar					7
33	Manuel Herreros					6
34	Ian McConnacchie					5
35	Steve Patrickson					5
36	Johnny Wickstroem					5
37	Yosuke Yamakawa					3
38	Peter Galvin					2
39	Alain Bronec					2

References

• Büla, Maurice & Schertenleib, Jean-Claude (2001). Continental Circus 1949-2000. Chronosports S.A. ISBN 2-940125-32-5
• "The Official MotoGP website". Retrieved 2010-07-06. 

1. ↑ Scott, Michael: "Wayne Rainey", page 151. Haynes Publishing, 1997.
2. ↑ 1991 500cc Final Standings at MotoGP.com
3. ↑ 1991 500cc Entries List at www.f1network.net
4. ↑ 1991 250cc Final Standings at MotoGP.com
5. ↑ 1991 250cc Entries List at www.f1network.net

Grand Prix motorcycle racing seasons 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Moto2 Moto3 2015 Moto2 Moto3 2016 Moto2 Moto3