Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eROAD RACE World Championship Road Race Series: Round 7 .~ Australian Michael Doohan won for the third time in 1991 when he beat Wayne Rainey in th e Austrian Grand Prix. Doohan-wins his thirdinAstrian GP u By Michael Scott File photos by Henny R ay Abrams SAUBURG, AUSTRIA, JUNE9 ichael Doohan became the first three-times winner of th e seaso n in the Austrian Grand Prix at th e Salzburgring. But it was by the nar rowest of margins - a mere eye-blin k - over Wayne Rainey, aft er a remorseless battle from th e first lap to the last. T he Rothmans-H onda rider's first unco mpromising win of the year (for once, none of th e leaders had tire trouble) came in fine suns hi ne after da ys of rai n and uncertain wea ther. It was, he said: "The toughest race I've had all year." Bu t for th e 70,OOO-strong cro wd turning the Alpine hillsides into a colorfu l tapestry, his battle with th e Marlboro Yamaha rid er was a co mpe n sation for an o the rwi se somewhat processional race, wi th only 13 starters - the smallest grid in years. The other high point was a fierce bat tle for th ird, narrowly won by L ucky Strike Suzuki's Kevin Schwanu fr om Rothm an s Honda 's Wayn e Gardner. This one almost ended in tears, with Schwan tz acc usi n g the Aus tralian of da ngerous riding on the daunting circuit's ultra-fast comers, and Ga rd ner rep lying likewise. Either way, it wa s an emphatic ret urn to for m for th e Aus tra lia n. Bu t R ainey's Marlb o ro Yamah a team mate John Kocinski had his race in terrup ted by a mystery tire problem. He p itt ed for a new cover, and fin ished ninth, a lap adrift. Th e other race s were far from soporific. H B Honda 's Helmut Brad l ma y have walked away with the 250 race, as he did a fortnight before in Germany, bu t th e battle for second was close and exci ting, with Carlos Cardus' Rep sol Honda finall y prevailing over Wilco Zeelenb erg 's Sharp-Sam so n H onda and P ier-F rancesco Chil i's M 14 Ibema Aprilia. Championship leader Luca Cadalora was a disappointed fifth, after his mechan ics fitted a wrong sprocket, and left hi m over-revving as the others escaped. The 125cc race was another thriller, won at the last gasp by AGV Honda's Fausto Gresini fro m th e similar Hondas of Ralph Wal dmann and Noboru Veda . Hans Spaan was fifth after using his experie nce to make the most of hi s po siti on in a tight pa ck of tiddlers. The sidecar race - marred by an ug ly crash on the start li ne - was a fine finale. .Steve Webster ran awa y wi th the win, but there was a desperate banging and ba rg i n g m a tc h fo r second, with at on e poi nt six outfits all going for it, an d wi ly old fox Ro lf Biland prevail in g over Masato Kumano to take second . The seventh race of the 15-ro u nd season saw Doohan stre tch a small advan tage in th e 500cc championsh ip, and loca l hero Bradl yet again stam p his growing authori ty on the 250 class with a dominant performan ce. The 125 cont est was superb - Ital ian supe rstars Capirossi and Gresini desperately fendi ng off rank no vice Veda, mak ing a heroic return fro m inj ury . All this, and a freedom from serious inj uries a t one of the most feared circ u its o n the calenda r. Both the cro wds and th e competitors were well satis fied as they left the Salzburgring just as the rain started aga in. 500ccGP Rainey took off in the lead with Doohan in his wh eeltracks, Gardner third, and Kocinski ahea d of Schwanu and Eddie Lawson as they screamed over the hill for the first tim e. One lap later Sch wan u had found his way past Kocinski and was in p ursu it of Gardner, whi le Doohan was chas ing Rainey, doing his damnedest to get an earl y gap. No such luck, as the Honda's extra top speed soon had the first pair glued together and stretch i ng away; and on lap four Doohan powered past in a classic slipstream slingshot. And that's the way it stayed for the rest of the race, Rainey keeping the pressure hard on to try and force Doohan into a mistake, but quite u nable to find the legs to get by again, in spite of several bold attempts. Towards the end, Rainey lost ground after a slide coming onto the fast uph ill run, and Doohan started to push on, to build a half-second gap. Then the Australian had a front-wheel slide (his second of the race ) some three la ps from the end that made him pull h is ho rns in a bit , and Rainey was once aga in breathing down his neck. They ' crossed the line separated by .185-ofa-second. Rainey rode brilliantly but was constan tly frustrated by his rival 's cool head a nd sligh t but significant top speed advantage. Bikes and riders were very closely matched, and ran without tro uble until the end (for both, the last lap was the fastest , inside the record, and Ra iney the quicker). And for th e first time since the V.S. G P, the result wasn't influenced by disintegrating Michelins or Dunlops. "I didn't think I had it won until I saw the checke red flag," said Doohan. " I was faster over the top of the hill, and that's th e only way I stayed ahead. On the las t lap, I ran up the middle of the track there and j ust kept it open until I knew he couldn' t get by. And I used some pretty weird lines in the Esses before the finish. "The bi ke was great, bu t I chose the wrong front tire - a bit hard, and. I had one big front end slide on about lap 10, and another wi th three laps to go whe n I was trying to get awa y." Ra iney had to chew on hi s cheeks for a second race in succession, after being bested in yet ano ther photofinish. " My bike was working better than hi s into the comers and the Esses, but the Salzburgring is a one-line circuit, and he ha d it off the comers and on the straights. I just couldn't pass him," said the World Champion, grim as his defense pro ves harder work than last year's title win. " I was trying to push him hard all race and force hi m into a mistake." . When Doohan took the lead in the early stages, the pair were already oneand-a-half seconds ahead of thirdplaced Gardner. His return to form was not quite enough for him to match the leaders, and the gap just kept on growing all race long. The Australian already had his hands full with Schwanu, also up against a too-fast Honda. The Texan finally got past on the start-finish straight on lap eight, and held a narrow advantage until the pair came upon Kocinski to lap him around half-distance. Schwanu was sli gh tly delayed, after findi ng the nondefending 250 World Champion 's combination of hand signals an d subsequent corner lines somewhat mystifying. "I guess he tried to help, but he 's not on this planet," he said later. Gardner was delayed longer, and shook a fist when he finally got by. That bought Sch wanu o ne second, but the pair had lost the draft on the leaders. Then he ran into a backmar ker - Marco Papa's Cagiva, fiIling in for the injured Alex Barros, slowed by reed valve trouble - in the first chicane, and Gardner was back on his tail, with six laps left. Gardner got ahead on lap 25; two lap s from the end, Sch wanu drafted up and inside h im at the perilous fast left-bander at the top of the hill, an d said later: "I was a little ah ead an d on the ins ide - he could see me, and I had the li ne. Bu t he was travelling a little faster. ' and he just came righ t across on me. I had to grab a handfu l of brakes. "There's so me tracks and some places where you give the ot her guy a bit of room because it 's so da ngerous. That's one of them, and he didn't give me an inch. Only thing, he did it one lap too early, and I did exactly the sam e to him a lap later. I don't usually ride like that, but I was pissed off." To make sure everyone knew, he too shook a fist next time he could be sure Gardner could see it. Gardner was aggrieved. "I wasn't aware that I'd done anything out of order to Schwantz, He came inside, but I was left with nowhere to go, and I think our bikes touched. But I know the next lap he slammed the door in my face and forced me to brake. "I really wanted that third place. It 's the closest I've come al l year and I jus t lost it because of some wheelspin up the hill on the last lap. It started to hook up and I got alongside, bu t he had th e better line and closed the door. " Anyway, Sch wan u too k th ird by two-tenths, and the pair were miles ahead of fifth-placed Lawson, who had a mainly uneventful ride on the Cagiva once Kocinski had faded from the action, complaining afterwards that the Italian bike is still pushing the front. Kocinski's race was a bit odd. The 250 cham pion had been in fifth when he ran into " a sudden loss of rear traction. I tried to go a couple more laps to confinn something was wrong, then it started moving around real bad and I thought I ha d a flat. I stopped for safety." In the pi ts, hi s crew

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