1990 United States motorcycle Grand Prix

  1990 United States Grand Prix

Race details
Race 2 of 15 races in the 1990 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	April 8, 1990
Location	Laguna Seca
Course	Permanent racing facility 3.602 km (2.238 mi)
500 cc
Pole position Rider Wayne Gardner Time 1:25.908 Fastest lap Rider Kevin Schwantz Time 1:25.838 Podium First Wayne Rainey Second Mick Doohan Third Pierfrancesco Chili
250 cc
Pole position Rider Luca Cadalora Time 1:28.866 Fastest lap Rider John Kocinski Time 1:29.178 Podium First John Kocinski Second Luca Cadalora Third Wilco Zeelenberg

The 1990 United States motorcycle Grand Prix was the second round of the 1990 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of April 6–8, 1990 at Laguna Seca.

500 cc race report

Eddie Lawson's season goes from bad to worse: during practice his brakes fail at speed, and he hits the straw bales hard, shattering his right ankle. He'll be sidelined until round 8 at Assen.

Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz both get away together at the start; Rainey's front wheel lifts, and maybe because of that, he and Schwantz touch as they head toward the hairpin. The order as they make their way to the Corkscrew is Rainey, Schwantz, Wayne Gardner, Mick Doohan and Kevin Magee. Magee soon crashes out of the race, which gets red-flagged because an ambulance needs to get on the track, Magee suffering severe head injuries and ending his season. He recovers, but never races at the same level.

At the new start, Schwantz gets to the hairpin first, followed by Sito Pons and Rainey. Rainey soon passes Pons and a gap forms to the fight for third, between Gardner, Pons and Doohan. On the uphill approach to the Corkscrew, Gardner highsides up and out.

Rainey passes on Turn 11, and is able to keep Schwantz behind him for a lap. As they go through Turn 11 to start the last lap, Schwantz highsides, and injures his wrist too much to continue, which is later discovered to be a fracture.

500 cc classification

Pos	Rider	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	Wayne Rainey	Yamaha	50:55.379	20
2	Mick Doohan	Honda	+30.386	17
3	Pierfrancesco Chili	Honda	+59.233	15
4	Christian Sarron	Yamaha	+1:13.006	13
5	Jean Philippe Ruggia	Yamaha	+1:22.592	11
6	Juan Garriga	Yamaha	+1 Lap	10
7	Randy Mamola	Cagiva	+1 Lap	9
8	Alex Barros	Cagiva	+1 Lap	8
9	Peter Lindén	Honda	+3 Laps	7
10	Nicholas Schmassman	Honda	+3 Laps	6
Ret	Kevin Magee	Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Tadahiko Taira	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Kevin Schwantz	Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Wayne Gardner	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Ron Haslam	Cagiva	Retirement
Ret	Sito Pons	Honda	Retirement
DNS	Eddie Lawson	Yamaha	Crash in practice

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