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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127278
B~ADRACE~d~_~_~_R_m_&_~_~R_o_oo_dl_4~~~~~~~~~ ~ Wayne Rainey (2) held off Michael Doohan (9) early, bu t th e Australian found his way past at the halfway point and went on to win his first-ever 500cc GP. Rain ey suffered front brake problems late in the race an d was forced to drop out. The Californ ian had already sewn-up the 500cc World Ch amp ionship: Doohanwinshis first, Kocinski's hopesstillalive in Hungary By Henny Ray Abrams BUDAPESf, HUNGARY SEPT. 2 , oth mans Honda's Michael Doohan scored his first career 500cc Grand Prix victory in the Hungarian GP, a race most riders agreed shou ldn't have been run and one that the top two riders in the world refused to take seriously. From the beginning of the homologation process in late April, the 2.465mile Hungaroring's suitability to host a Grand Prix was in question and those questions were again raised in two subsequent inspections by Doohan in lat e June and Marlboro Roberts Yamaha 's John Kocinski just two weeks prior to the race. Doohan described the surface as th e bumpiest he'd ever ridden on, said the curbs were too high, the white lines lining the track extended too far out, and bemoaned the lack of run-off area following the carousel first turn which, potentially, sent riders into a hill supporting a bridge. The white lines would be removed before the race. The harping didn't stop when the riders got to the track and various meetings were held among the riders over the course of the weekend, the last taking place on the 500cc grid just before the start of the shortened race. Originally scheduled for 32 laps, it was cut to 28 by the clerk of the course for safety reasons. What was finally agree d was that the homologation process was severely flawed , but that since they were there they should race and they did, though it was clear that with the 500cc World Championship decided a week earlier this race held little appeal for most. Still, the 25-year-old was fastest from the first practice session onward and sped off in pursuit of newly-crowned World Champion Wayne Rainey at the R 16 start of the race, eventually passing him at the halfway po int as the Yamaha rider's choice of front brakes - iron instead of carbon - proved to be his undoing. Rainey later admitted that had it been a more meaningful race, he wouldn't have used iron discs. Two laps from the end Rainey pulled into the pits , his brake lever coming back to the bar , his first DNF of the season , and ending his chance of being the first rider since Giacomo Agostini in 1968 to be on the podium in every race. Inheriting second with Rainey's withdrawal , and fin ishing 25.442 seconds behind Doohan was Rainey's teammate Eddie Lawson whose ap peara nce here was eagerl y anticipated following his storming off afte r the previous week's Czechoslovakian GP. Lawson's manager, Gary Howard, who also manages Rainey and team owner Kenny Roberts, showed up in Hungary to keep the team together for the final two races and explore Lawson's options for 1991. Team Lucky Strike Suzuki's Kevin Schwantz finished third, about 30 seconds behind Lawson and admittedly not riding 100%. "All week long my head wasn't in the game," the Texan said. Fourth went to Rothmans Honda's Wayne Gardner, still slowed by a lack of feeling in his throttle hand following his two p ra ctice crashes the previous week with Ducados Yamaha's Juan Garriga fifth, mirroring his career best in the Czech round. Doohan completed the 69.04-mile race in 49 minutes, 14.920 seconds at an average speed of 82.869 mph in front of a crowd generously estimated by organizers at 12,000. "There weren't 5000 people out there," Schwantz said. Among the notable non-finishers were two veterans, Cagiva 's Randy Mamola and Gauloises Blondes Yama ha's Christian Sarron. Mamola, riding in his last GP for Cagiva, had qualified sixth, but crashed in the third corner after getting squeezed on the start. His teammates Alex Barros and Ron Haslam finished ninth and 11th, respectively. Mamola was hoping to catch a ride for the season-ending Australian race; he had offers from Gauloises and ROC Honda, but Cagiva forbade it. Sarron, at 35 the grand old man of racing and among the most liked, was feted with a retirement party on Friday night, but his performance on Sunday was less than sparkling. Choosing a tire that he was warned might not go .the distance, the Frenchman pulled in on the II th lap while running seventh in his last European GP. Knowing that he had to win to keep any title hopes alive, Kocinski did just that in the 250cc race. Leading every inch of the race, Kocinski was flawless in earning his sixth victory of the year, crossing the line close to four seconds ahead of H B Honda's Helmut Brad l with championship leader Carlos Cardus of the Repsol Honda team third with rear tire troubles. The win moved Kocinski to within five points of Cardus - 203 to 208 with the final round in Australia to be run in two weeks time . If the result here is duplicated at Phill ip Island, Kocinski is the champ, but second by Cardus, even with Kocinski winning, gives the title to the Spaniard. There has been talk of Yamaha en listing help for Kocinski in the fina l race - Juan Garriga has been mentioned - but it doesn't appear likely. . If he were to get help it would have . to come from his fellow Yamaha riders, Marlboro Agostini's Luca Cadalora and Alex Criville who, today, fought the best battle of the day, for fourth place, decided in favor of Cadalora in the final corner. Criville ended up fifth with Frenchman Dominique Sarron sixth on the Rothmans Honda. T he sidecar championship was decided at the Hungaroring. Rather it was decided off the track when twotime Wor ld Champion Steve Webster coasted down pit lane with a drive chain that had jumped off the rear sprocket. With Webster's retirement the title went to the Franco-British team of Alain Michel and Simon Birchall, who finished sixth. Winning their first race of the season was the GuedellGuedei team in the self-sponsored LCR Yamaha. Former World Champions Rolf Biland and Kurt Waltisperg were second in the standings just a point ahead of Webster. . The I 25cc race was, as usual, the best of the day, with six and seven riders going for the lead, passing and repassing every lap until at the end AGV Pileri Corse's Loris Capirossi prevailed . The young Italian took over the lead for good with seven laps to go beating Lucky Strike Elf's Heinz Luthi to the line by 1.161 seconds with Honda Sem prucci's Bru no Casanova just .009 back in third. Fourth to six th - Fausto Gresini, Hans Spaan, and Stefan Prein - were blanketed by .61 second. As they head for Austral ia, Prein leads Capirossi 169 to 162 with Spaan third at 160. 500cc Qualifying Talk of a 500cc rider boycott had