1990 Swedish motorcycle Grand Prix

  1990 Swedish Grand Prix

Race details
Race 12 of 15 races in the 1990 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	12 August 1990
Location	Anderstrop
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.025 km (2.501 mi)
500 cc
Pole position Rider Kevin Schwantz Time 1:30.785 Fastest lap Rider Wayne Rainey Time 1:31.107 Podium First Wayne Rainey Second Eddie Lawson Third Wayne Gardner
250 cc
Pole position Rider John Kocinski Time 1:35.105 Fastest lap Rider John Kocinski Time 1:34.833 Podium First Carlos Cardús Second John Kocinski Third Masahiro Shimizu
125 cc
Pole position Rider Stefan Prein Time 1:41.786 Fastest lap Rider Stefan Prein Time 1:41.909 Podium First Hans Spaan Second Alessandro Gramigni Third Doriano Romboni

The 1990 Swedish motorcycle Grand Prix was the twelfth round of the 1990 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 10–12 August 1990 at the Anderstorp.

500 cc race report

Last year, Wayne Rainey lost any chance at the championship by crashing on this track, and this year he has a points advantage on Kevin Schwantz, but a DNF would just about erase the lead. He’s asked:

Q: “Is this going to be one of the occasions when you go for points rather than a win?”

WR: “Well, I’m going to go for both; it’s going to be tough tomorrow for those guys that have been going fast—if they go the same speed tomorrow; so we’re just going to ride around, have some fun and collect all the points we can get.”
Q: “You’ll be satisfied then if you don’t win?”

WR: “No.”^[1]

At the light, Rainey gets the start and is followed by Eddie Lawson, Mick Doohan, Randy Mamola, Carl Fogarty and Wayne Gardner. Schwantz is behind with another bad start.

Schwantz soon moves into fourth place, but then crashes out and ends much hope for the championship.

The race develops into two pairs: Rainey and Lawson on the Yamahas, then a small gap to the Hondas of Doohan and Gardner. Will Lawson stay behind Rainey and help him out as he said he would earlier in the season?

Gardner leaves Doohan and shows Lawson a wheel, but Lawson keeps Gardner under control for the moment. Ron Haslam crashes and runs off the track just as the leaders zoom in.

Gardner isn’t able to match Rainey and Lawson’s pace and finishes in third, and Lawson’s second place may have been deliberate in order to help teammate Rainey.

500 cc classification

Pos	Rider	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	Wayne Rainey	Yamaha	46:01.689	20
2	Eddie Lawson	Yamaha	+1.149	17
3	Wayne Gardner	Honda	+3.564	15
4	Mick Doohan	Honda	+22.564	13
5	Niall Mackenzie	Suzuki	+49.333	11
6	Carl Fogarty	Honda	+1:07.973	10
7	Jean Philippe Ruggia	Yamaha	+1:08.831	9
8	Juan Garriga	Yamaha	+1:20.431	8
9	Alex Barros	Cagiva	+1 Lap	7
10	Ron Haslam	Cagiva	+1 Lap	6
11	Marco Papa	Honda	+1 Lap	5
12	Cees Doorakkers	Honda	+1 Lap	4
13	Peter Linden	Honda	+1 Lap	3
Ret	Eero Kuparinen	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Randy Mamola	Cagiva	Retirement
Ret	Kevin Schwantz	Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Andreas Leuthe	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Christian Sarron	Yamaha	Retirement

References

1. ↑ Duke Video: "Bike GP 1990 Review". Videocassette.