1989 French motorcycle Grand Prix

  1989 French Grand Prix

Race details
Race 11 of 15 races in the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	16 July 1989
Location	Le Mans
Course	Permanent racing facility 7.004 km (4.352 mi)
500 cc
Pole position Rider Eddie Lawson Time 1:42.330 Fastest lap Rider Kevin Schwantz Time 1:42.970 Podium First Eddie Lawson Second Kevin Schwantz Third Wayne Rainey
250 cc
Pole position Rider Jean-Philippe Ruggia Time 1:46.760 Fastest lap Rider Sito Pons Time 1:47.300 Podium First Carlos Cardús Second Jacques Cornu Third Sito Pons
125 cc
Pole position Rider Jorge Martínez Time 1:55.420 Fastest lap Rider Jorge Martínez Time 1:55.240 Podium First Jorge Martínez Second Àlex Crivillé Third Ezio Gianola

The 1989 French motorcycle Grand Prix was the eleventh round of the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 14–16 July 1989 at the Bugatti Circuit located in Le Mans..

500 cc race report

Eddie Lawson on pole. At the start, Wayne Rainey gets around Lawson, with Freddie Spencer in third, followed by Pierfrancesco Chili and Christian Sarron. Soon it’s the California duo with a small gap, and Kevin Schwantz has made up for his bad start by moving into third, with Kevin Magee in fourth.

Wayne Gardner crashes out, and Schwantz joins the fight for first, with back-marker traffic making life difficult for Lawson and Rainey.

Schwantz is braking very late and making it stick, and he and Lawson start to drop Rainey. Lawson manages to get past Schwantz on the start-finish straight, and though very few win a last lap battle with Schwantz, Lawson manages it, putting Schwantz in a crucial second place to extract maximum points from Rainey in third.

500 cc classification

Pos	Rider	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	Eddie Lawson	Honda	50:16.940	20
2	Kevin Schwantz	Suzuki	+0.770	17
3	Wayne Rainey	Yamaha	+15.530	15
4	Christian Sarron	Yamaha	+23.590	13
5	Kevin Magee	Yamaha	+24.210	11
6	Pierfrancesco Chili	Honda	+37.000	10
7	Niall Mackenzie	Yamaha	+53.540	9
8	Mick Doohan	Honda	+59.120	8
9	Rob McElnea	Honda	+1:26.290	7
10	Adrien Morillas	Honda	+1:31.460	6
11	Randy Mamola	Cagiva	+1 Lap	5
12	Thierry Crine	Suzuki	+1 Lap	4
13	Alessandro Valesi	Yamaha	+1 Lap	3
14	Damon Buckmaster	Honda	+1 Lap	2
15	Fabio Biliotti	Honda	+2 Laps	1
16	Eddie Laycock	Honda	+2 Laps
17	Bruno Kneubuhler	Honda	+2 Laps
18	Juan Lopez Mella	Honda	+2 Laps
19	Claude Albert	Suzuki	+2 Laps
20	Jean Paul Lecointe	Suzuki	+2 Laps
21	Nicholas Schmassman	Honda	+2 Laps
22	Pascal Seguela	Honda	+2 Laps
23	Bernard Gitton	Fior	+2 Laps
24	Francisco Gonzales	Honda	+2 Laps
25	Cees Doorakkers	Honda	+2 Laps
Ret	Freddie Spencer	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Andreas Leuthe	Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Marco Gentile	Fior	Retirement
Ret	Dominique Sarron	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Wayne Gardner	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Marco Papa	Paton	Retirement
Ret	Patrick Salles	Fior Honda	Retirement
Ret	Patrick Lerustre	Fior	Retirement
Ret	Bernard Andrault	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Fred Merkel	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Raymond Roche	Cagiva	Retirement