Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ! ROA AE DR C Road Race Series: Round 1 --- Wayne Rainey (left) won the season opening Japanese Grand Prix, topping Wayne Gardner (center) and Kevin Schwantz. Schwantz (34) was involved in a four-way tussle for second place with Eddie Lawson (I), Wayne Gardner (10) and Michael Doohan; Doohan and Lawson crashed. It's Rainey's day • In apanese opener By Henny Ray Abrams SUZUKA CI1Y, JAPAN, MAR. 25 eam Yam aha Marlboro Roberts' Wayne Ra iney opened the 1990 500cc World Champ ionshi p with an em pha tic win , leading every inch of th e j a panese Grand Prix befor e 86,000 ch illed fan s o n a cold and blustery day at the Suzuka Circu it. The 29-year·old southern Cali fornian , last year's World Ch ampionship runner-up, was supposed to be one of four rid ers to fight for the win , but h e made it a personal exhibitio n. Rain ey spe d a way from the pol e pos itio n, pullin g away a t :about half a second a lap, to win by a deceptive 3.22 seconds after 22 laps o n the 3.64mile track. The margin of victory would surely hav e been grea ter had T 6 Rainey not take n it easy the last few laps. Rain ey averaged 98.33 mph In wi n ni ng th e 80. I·m ile race in 48 mi nutes, 52.475 seconds. " I didn't see anybody else th e who le race," Rainey said afterwards. " I saw · some skidmarks o n the track , bu t I didn 't kn ow who it was. About four laps from th e end I saw it was number one. " R ain ey's new tea m ma te, World Ch ampion Eddi e Lawson, began the defen se of hi s titie by bein g knocked down by the inexperience of Rothmans H onda's Michael Doohan o n th e fifth lap. Law son and Doohan were raci ng for secon d, a lo n g with Doohan 's teammate Wayne Gardner and Lucky Strike Suzuki's Kevin Schwantz, wh en the incident occu rred. Doohan , trail ing th e group and riding with failing brakes and a still sore arm, got sucked into the draft of the tri o ahead of him braking for a 130 mph left-h and bend. H e go t the rear wh eel a irbo rne braking late then lost the front end wh en he tried to turn it, hitting La wso n's rear tire and tak in g them both down and ou t of th e race. Lawson didn't kn ow wh at happened until he got back to the pi ts and spo ke with team owner Kenny Roberts. . Gardner and Schwantz continued their fight for second, both ridi ng hard, but well with in themselves. Gardner looked like a new man , holding a lin e well and sho wing none of th e violent wobbling that cha racterized hi s riding in the pa st. Schwantz rode well also, never mor e than a few lengths from Gardner, and more cons istent ly lap af ter lap than he's sho wn in th e past. H is o nly gaffe came in the last comer - a near dead sio p left-h and turn ou t of the ch icane leading to the front straightaway - wh ere he tried to run up the inside of Gardner, i ns tea d h itt in g his rear wh eel and cras hing. He quick ly recovere d to fin ish third, still well ahead of his teammate Kevin Magee, who finished fo urt h. Magee had prevai led in a race-long tuss le with virtual500ccdebutant Sito Po ns, the 250cc World Champion who had the lu xury of the "good" Michelin tires, a development whic h rank led the Suzuki ca m p. L ik e the ba ttle for second, their's was eq ually inte nse with the Honda ho lding the adva ntage o n the straights while the Suzuki mad e it up in th e corne rs. In the end, the more expe rienced " Magoo" bested the Campsa Ho nda-m ounted Po ns by·.319 seconds, despite havin g to work mu ch harder. " I'd heard a wh isper he had them ," Magee sai d all uding to the top-qual ity Mich elins, "A nd wh en I saw how mu ch more grip he had than my Bteam Michelins ro und th e corne rs, then I felt sure." On ly 13 riders of th e or igi na l 24 finis hed and the Cagiva team was not amo ng th em . Randy Mam ol a was running in 10th with four lap s to go 'when he was for ced o u t with a sp lit gas tank. Ron Haslam had go ne out earl ier with clutch problems an Brazilian Alexandre Barros ret ir e with electr ical problems . The 250cc race went to Yamah Agostini Marlboro's Luca Cad al ora who survived a near crash o n th open ing lap. The 26-year-old Italia was th ro wn from th e seat wh en his rea tir e broke loose in ' an uphill lef causi ng a cha in reacti on that woul end Yam ah a Marlboro Roberts' ] oh Koci nsk i's bid for a win . Wh en Cada l ora balked, the riders between him an Kocinski, a few pl aces back , straight ened up , as did Kocinski. When he did he was rear-ended by a j apan ese HR rid er crimpi ng hi s exha ust pi pe. Afte pitting to open the pipe, Kockinski rejoin ed the race in last pl ace, bu soldie red on pass ing five riders o n th last lap for a 13th pl ace fin ish and tw World Championship points. . Cadalora quickl y recovered and took the lead at th e halfway point befor going on to win by 3.7 seconds afte 72.8 miles of racing. He averaged 95.115 mph for the 45 minute, 55.994 second even t. As with th e 500s the battle for second was fierce in the 250s with multiple cha nges amo ng four riders every lap. The pack mad e th e dash to the line with Sp an iard Carlos Cardus guidin his Rep sol Honda across the stripe just .186 seconds ahea d of Dutchman Wileo Zeelenberg on th e Samson Sharp NSR· Honda, Frenchman Dominique Sarron , back in the 250cc class on a Rothmans Honda after a mi serable year on a 500, was fo urth, .107 seconds behind Will enberg with veteran Swiss rider j acques Cornu finishing fifth , just .067 seco nds back. Dutchman Hans Spaan began his quest for the vaca ted 125cc titl e World Champion Alex Criville moved up to th e 250cc class - by winning the 16-lap race in 39 min ., 8.572 sec., at an average speed of 89.292 mph. Sam son Sharp-spo nsor ed Spaan was cha llenged ea rly a n d o ften by JJ Cobas's j or ge Martinez before the Spa n iard cras hed with five laps to go. From there on in it was a walk with Lanson Honda's Stefan Pr ein second, narrowly ahea d of Honda T akeshima 's Kohji T akada . The always volatile sp ring japan ese weather didn 't disappo int, providing vas t temper a ture cha nges, rai n, a ch illing wi nd, and a pair of mild eart hq ua kes o n race day morning. On Sunday th e tem perature never go t above 55 degrees with a 30 m ph wind sending a chill th rough the pits a nd ca usi ng prob lems o n the track. Schwanu woul d lat er say that he too k at least o ne corner a gea r lower to compensate for the wind . 500cc Qualifying The question in 500cc q ualifyin g wou ld be who'd do ne their ho mework over the wi nter and who'd get the best tires that Michelin offered? The two questio ns are highly inter-related. A Michelin rep resentative explai ned that th e top rider from each manufactu rer - Yama ha's Lawson, Honda 's Gardner, Suzuki's Sch wanu - were guaranteed the latest development tire. T he fastest of the o ther Michlin riders aft er the second sessio n (Q-2) would receive a set, fro nt and rear, for Q- 3, Q-4 and th e race. And a fifth set would go to the second fastest of th e non-elite aft er the third sessio n, his reward a set of the good tir es for Q-4 and the race. And whi ch ever rider has the most points in the World Champion ship after four races gets A-team sup po rt for the rest of the season . The reason Pons was given a set was a po licy Michelin has of giving the best to any World Ch ampion moving up a class, but o n ly for the first race. Under

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