Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.~ ROADRACE World Championship Road Race Ser.. .-ies--:::R_ou~nd_5---:--l1.-- ~ --'-r--_ _ I ~ o Michael Doohan (9), Kevin Schwantz (34), P.F. Chili (5), Sito Pons (6) lead the wa y in the West German 500cc Grand Prix at th e famed N u rbu rgrin g. Texan Kevin Schwantz and hi s Suzuki were dominant in the 500cc GP, laking th e lead ear ly on and eventuall y beating Wa yn e Rainey by some 11 seconds . It's Schwantz's turn in West German G P By Hen ny R a y Abrams r\URBURG. W GERMANY, M EST AY27 r ea m Lucky Stri ke Suzuki's Kevin Schwantz won hi s first Gran d Pr ix of th e yea r a t th e Nurburgring in West Germany, a nd he did it with suc h tot al domination o ver suc h a sma ll field th at the race became th e .most co nvi ncing argu me nt th a t so methi ng ha s to be done abo u t the 500cc class a nd soon. It had been the co n stant topic for di scu ssion for the ent ire race weekend a nd the st u lefyingly d u ll p ro cession tha t masq ueraded as a 500cc GP o n ly hei g hten ed the ca lls fo r change. But more o n th a t lat er. Schwa ntz was ma sterful , but h e d idn't have to be. Most of h is co mpetitio n had eli m inated itself before the ra ce began and more mad e a n exod us ea rl y on . H e sa id a fterwa rd tha t h is biggest prob lem was ma inta ini ng co nce nt ra tio n a fter taki ng th e lead o n the seco nd o f 30 la p s. Hi s margi n of victory over T eam Yamaha Marlboro Rob ert s' cha mpionsh ip lead er Way ne Ra in ey was off icia lly 11.868 seconds. Schwa n tz fini shed the 84.67-mile race in 50 minutes, 18.517 seconds at a n ave rage speed of 100.983 mph. "About the th ird o r fourth lap I had a four-seco nd lea d," th e 25-yea r-o ld Texa n sa id. " I tried 10 exec ute every th in g per fect ly a nd not ina ke m istak es. Th irty laps is a long time. It seemed 10 drag Iorever." R ain e y was q u it e h a p p y wit h seco nd, co ns ide ring th at he'd cr as hed at a bo ut 140 mph the previous da y in practi ce a nd susta ine d a d isloca ted little finger o n hi s left hand . The p la n was to ge t through the da y a nd move o n to the next round , a nd it tu rned o u t bett er th an he th ough t , rn ostly because Roth ma ns Honda 's Mich ael Do o ha n a n d H ond a RO C' s P ierFrancesco Ch ili cras he d sim u lta ne o us ly in wh a t lo oked like a choreogra p hed d isp lay o n th e th ir d lap. And a lso because R othman s H ond a 's Wayne Gard ner had tak en h im self o u t o f bo th th e race a nd th e cha m p io n sh ip with a p rac tice cras h on Thursda y. H e'Il be o u t until a t least th e Du tch 1'1' a t Assen at th e en d of J u ne aft er breaking n ine bones in four of hi s toes duri ng th e mi sh ap. . "The bike was bett er th an 1 wa s today," Rainey sai d. " I was fort u nate to ge t' seco nd . Nobody was go in g to bea t Kevin (Sch wa nt z) tod a y. I co u ld eas ily have go tten fift h or sixth." Ra i n ey' s race wa s as lo n ely a s Sch wa n tz's o nce he moved in to second on the sixth la p. Fro m th en o n he p u lled a wa y from a battle for third th at early o n went to Ni a ll Mackenzie o n th e seco nd Luck y Strike Suzuki. It wa s a n im pressive p erforma nce in o n ly h is thi rd ou tin g o n th e machine after ta kin g o ver for th e inj ured Kevin Magee, made even mo re so by h is having to dea l wit h a boot tha t had been stuc k o n the Ioo tpeg for th e first 10 la p s. Coi nci denta lly, Schwa ntz had a sim ilar boo t problem . Fo urth p lace went to French ma n Ch ristia n Sa rr o n o n th e G a u lo ises Blondes Ya ma ha , itself su r p ris in g since a t the begin ni ng of th e meeti n g he didn ' t kn o w if he would even ride due to the sho u lde r inj ury he sus ta ined in h is Misano practice cra sh a week pnor. Sito Po n s fin is hed fift h o n the Campsa Honda , co m p la ini ng af terwards that the system for d istr ib ut ing th e best Michelin tires was inequ itable, mostl y because h e didn' t earn them in practi ce. Sa rrou's tea m mat e J ean-Philippe Ru gg ia was sixt h fo llowed by Ducados Yamaha's Juan Garri ga a n d Randy Marn o la , slo wed by a n igni tion problem o n th e Cagiva a n d p ersi sten t problem with hi s inj ured hand. T he re were 18 sta rte rs a nd 16 finish ers. th ough o n ly seven rid ers finished on the sa me lap as Sch wantz. T he win m o ved Sch wa n tz in to seco nd in th e point stand ings, tho ugh h e' s still 27 points behi nd Rai ney. 9467, af ter five of 15 rou nds. G ardner is th ird with 50 follo wed by Dooha n with 45 and Pons wi th 42. T he best racing o f th e da y came in th e 250cc class . An d when th e 27-la p , 76.2-mile GP was over , the top four riders cro ssed th e lin e wi th in a tim e sp a n o f .686 seco nds wi th Dutchman Wileo Zeelenberg leading th e quartet across the stri pe o n th e Samson-Sharp H onda. Zeelenberg became th e first Dutchman to ever wi n a 250cc G P arid to do it he had to p ass race leader J oh n Kocinski on th e Marlbo ro-R ob erts Yamaha in th e last co rner. Repso l Honda' s Ca rlos Cardus a lso go t by Kocinski , dropping th e ch a m p io nsh ip leader to third. West German H elm ut Bradl was a popu lar fourth on th e HB Honda. " Even th oug h I got in front o f Kocinsk i a co u p le o f times 1 d idn ' t expect to ge t a way fro m h im ," Zeelenberg said . " It wa s a to ug h ra ce. Koc insk i rides very hard a nd Ca rdus never ga ve u p. All the time 1 thought 1 had a c ha nce of winn ing, b u t Koc ins ki is a very difficu lt ma n to beat. " " My bi ke d id n 't turn in lik e 1 want ed it to ," a disappoi nt ed Kocinski said. " I kn ew tha t from lap o ne . T h ey were th er e fo r th e whole race a nd 1 j ust decid ed th a t 1 wo u ld do wh at 1 coul d a nd see if th ey were sti ll th ere with tw o la p s to go . T h ey were a nd ... well , we got th ird today . Lu ca (Cada lo ra) was the one 1was co ncerne d a bo ut a n d he fini shed back so I guess we in crea sed th e poi nt s lea d." Kocinski was wrong a bout increasing h is po ints lead. H e actua lly lost a poi nt, th ough now it 's Ca rdus in seco n d with 70 to Ko ci n sk i 's 77. Zeel en berg is th ird w it h 65 whil e Cada lora has 60. Cadalora cras hed in the fin al bend on th e thi rd la p , whi le run ning in

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