Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127255
a total of eight GP victories. T welfth, after riding in onl y 34 G Ps. Bu t for every brill iant Schwantz feat, comes silly Schwantz failure. Five times in 1989 Schwanu failed to cross .the finish lin e - three because of the mechanical breakdowns with in the fick le Suzuki, and two because of cras hes - an open ing lap crash in Australia, and a major bra in -fade in Spain whi le holding a commanding lead late in th e race. He was lucky enough to crash in Belgium during the later-voided third leg of the rainsodden event. Sti ll , h is si x wi ns outweigh the losses for their brilliance alon e: a straight fight win over Rainey in Japa n; back-to-bark wins in Austria and Yugos lavia ; a dom in atin g perfor man ce in Eng land; and two wi ns in the fin al two rounds in Czech oslovakia and Brazil. Toss in hi s nine pole po siti on s, and ther e is li ttle deni al as to who is the fastest of the 500cc men. Th e o n ly qu est ion re gard i ng Schwan tz is h is maturity. Can h e go a full season without ma king silly mi stak es? Ca n he overco me th ose erro rs th at separate the Lawson s from the also-ra ns? And if he does, can th e Suzu ki go a full season without letting h im down? Man y unan swered questions, but Schwan tz' level of pure talent isn' t one of them. On to Magee. With his p lace taken in the Rob ert s squad by Lawson , Magee made th e decision to mov e to Suzuki as Sc hwa ntz ' tea mmate. Although Magee wi ll be wearing n umber four this - season, (d ue to Schwa ntz' like of the n umber 34 and P ier-Francesco Chi li's request for nu mber five rather th an six du e to a sponsorship with a TV station tha t u ses the n u mb er five ) th e Aussi e fin ished fifth in last year's title chase. Many underestimate Magee, but we must all reme mber that he did indeed wi n a GP du ring hi s rookie seaso n in 1988. Magee was set back by injuries resulting from hi s pos t-Laguna Seca G P crash with Bubb a Shobert , but he shou ld be 100% in 1990. Arm ed .wi th Michelins for th e first tim e in hi s GP career, look for Magee as a po ssible GP winner in '90. Although man y do, it is hard to overlook Frenchman Chri stian Sarron . The Gauloi ses Yam ah a rider quietl y fini shed third in last year's titl e chase, wi th his best resu lt beinga third-p lace finish in the Swedish round at Anderstorp. In a surprise move considering h is Frenc h citizenship, Sarron and his Ga u loises-backed Yamaha team have switched to Dunlop for the '90 season. The change in rubber, and his preseason hand injuries may give the former 250cc World Champion' problems early in the season . Sarron will be accompanied by.500cc newcomer Jean- Ph illipe Ruggia on YZR500s. The hard-charging Fren chman moves to the 500cc class after finishing seventh in last year's 250cc championship. Although he failed to win a GP, Ruggia came close on two occasions and was nearl y always a factor. Still , the youngster is a noted crash er and not many are predicting instant su ccess for him in the 500cc class. Ano ther newcomer to the 500cc class is double 250cc World Champion Sito Pons (see interview in this issue ). Pons makes th e move after back-to-hack 250cc titles via a first-class effort backed by Campsa a nd Banesto, and owned by Pons himself. Alth ough hi s preseason .test sessions didn't instill fear in the top 500cc bra ss, there was always steady improvemen t. Those wh o kn ow him well , predi ct success for th e intelligent Spaniard. But he isn 't Spain 's only hope for that elusive first 500cc World Ch am - (Left) Kevin Schwantz and his father Jim; Schwantz should be a factor again in '90 after winning six GPs in 1989. This year his Suzuk is will be painted in Lucky Strike colors. (Below) World Champion Eddie Lawson back on Marlboro Yamahas for 1990. pionsh ip. Pons is joined in the mo ve to the 500s by arch rival Juan Garriga. The man who fought Pon s so valliantly du ring the 1988 season, bu t only ma naged an eighth-place fin ish in the '89 cha mpions hip, will be armed wit h a Du ca do s-back ed Ya m ah a YZR500, fitted with Dunlop tires. T hose in th e kn ow predict Garriga to be the best of the newcomers, and Schwantz has gone as far as to say tha t Garriga could win one - most likely in th e wet. The 1989 season suffered greatly when Au stra lian Wayne Gardner broke his leg at Laguna Seca in April. The gritty '87 World Champ ion had finished fourth in Japan prior to winning his home country's first-ever . Grand Prix at Phill ip Island. He was on the move early in the U.S. G P when the accide n t occurred, and although he returned late in the season, we were never treated to Gardner a t his best. But he's back , he 's healthy and if his confidence has been restored there is no harder charger on a 500cc GP bik e. He sho u ld benefit from hi s associatio n with Erv Kan ernoto , and h is restore d pos ition as H onda 's number one rider. Gardner is joined agai n o n th e Rothmans Honda team by fellow Austra lian Mi cha el Doohan . Although he mad e it to th e ros tr u m once in '89, Doohan didn 't live up to the hi gh pre-season expecta tions of others. With a season under hi s belt, Doohan shou ld come awa y with several top fini sh es and a GP win is not out of th e question. A broken arm sus tai ned in the off-season cu t into hi s testin g schedu le, but he should be com p letely healthy come J apan. The sixth pl ace finisher in last year's cha mpio nsh ip was HB Honda's Ch ili . This season, the Itali an moves to an Elf-sponsored H onda team that will be