Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eROADRACE World Championship Road Race Series: Round II ; Kevin Schwantz (34) passed Wayne Rainey in the final laps of the British GP. Michael Doohan gives chase to Rainey and Schwantz; he finished third. Schwantz takes third straight British GP By Michael Scott P h o tos by Da vid Gold m an DONINGTONPARK, ENGLAND, AUG. 4 evin Schwantz scor ed hi s third British Grand Prix win in succession at Donington Park, and his fourth win of the year . And like all the others, it was a fighting victory over the remorseless Wayne Rainey. In the end, it was a rare mechanical glitch to Rainey's Marlboro Yamaha that tipped the ba lance in Schwantz's favor - but even the n the Lucky Strike Suzuki ri der had to work for the win , K 22 achieved with the tea m 's fir st-ever use of on-board co m p uter eq uip me nt. Wagging his tai l wildl y with persistent wheelspin, he rode all race long with all of his old brilliant br inkmanshi p, and none of the caution that has been a new element of his riding this season. Rainey's prob lem was a sp li tting exha ust ; tha t kn ock ed the sp ur t of his dr ive out of the comers, but he put up a typical display of dogged defense. Schwantz's decisive move was a thriller - right around the outside at one of the track's pair of hairpins, and he had one full lap to slither ahead to win by less than a second. The race, in cloudy but warm and dry condi tions at the circuit set in a rolling parkland near Derby, marked a high point in th e rehabilitation of Dunlop tir es, made by hand a t the nearb y Fort Dunlop facto ry. The Midl ands men held the h ome ground all weekend, with Mich elin runners struggling. Michael Doohan p u t hi s Mich elin -shod R othmans H onda on the ro strum in third - a mighty ach ieveme nt under the circu msta nces. " It was like ri ding in the wet," he said la ter. " I nearly cras hed more often here than I' ve nearly cras hed a ny wh ere this year." Mar lboro Yamaha 's J ohn Kocinski was fou rth after leading th e o pen in g la ps - the 250 cha m p io n 's first time at the hea d of the 500cc field , a nd sig na lli ng a possibl e im proveme nt in form a nd for tunes after at last receiving a revised chassis from the facto ry. A disappointed Wayne Gardner was ca ugh t in the Michelin tra p , and . having to work hard to bring his Rot mans Honda hom e fift h , coming under pressure in the clo sin g stages from Edd ie Lawson 's Cagi va , the similarly shod for mer World Cham pion rid ing his spare bike aft er cra shing his race bike in morning warmup. T he II th race of the seaso n saw Rain ey ext end his title lead sligh tly 'over Doohan, and Schwantz clo se up somewha t. But co ntin ued doubt over th e Brazilian GP schedu led for September means th e cha mp io nship may be over soo ner than expected. The 250cc GP was a n Italian-style tragedy - mercifully without serio us inj ury. T he Aprilia s were leading practice when fac to r y ri de r PierFrancesco Chili crashed a nd was hur t. Loris Reggiani started his Aprilia from pole, and led most of the race. Then he was ca ught by eventual winner Luca Cadalora o n the R othmans Honda , a nd cr ashed spectacularl y trying to defend his position. Repsol Honda's Carlos Cardus was a fru strated second, held up by backmarkers on the last lap, and HB Honda's Helmut Bradl was third. The 125cc race gav e another walkaway win to superstar Loris Capirossi on ~the Pile ri Honda, with some fast and furious action in his wake. Teammate Fausto Gresini, riding with a broken thumb after a practice crash, was second, after fending off German Peter Oettl after a fierce battle. The two Italians are now so far ahead that • th ey have secured th e World Champi onship with two rounds rem aining. T he only question is which one of the m will it be. Rolf Biland won the sideca r race, h is second vic tory in suc cess io n, wi th Steve Webster second and Egbert Streuer th ird. 500cc GP Kocinski to re off in the lead of the 30-lap race , which he he ld for three laps; bu t the crea m of the' cro p had all gotton away well enough behind him, with Gardner second at the end of lap o n e, Schwantz th ird, then Doo han and Rainey, and after a bit of sorting o ut the o ld hands took over. It was Schwantz at firs t, followed by Rain ey, with Kocinski hanging on and th e Hondas losing ground. Gardn er 's noble efforts brought him close to the ragged edge, and once he succumbed to Doohan on lap five he was no longer in the picture. Then, wh en Rain ey moved in side Schwarm at th e ch icane to take the lead, the race even became rather processional. "Once I got by the Hondas, I could see that my bike was working better than Kevin's, and I decided to make a run on him and try and get well ahead," explained the championship leader, and hi s fluorescent Yamaha dr ew stead ily ahead. Schwantz could use his Suzuki 's nimble handling to buy time back on th e sweeping sections, a nd his sixpiston caliper AP brakes gave him an edge on braking for the tight corners that finish the lap. But he was losing on comer exits, with con sistent wheel spin forcing him to pick the bike up before giving it full power. Gradually he dropped away until the ga p was ap proaching two seconds by o ne-third distance. It seemed the race for victory was won. . Bu t Sch wan tz wasn 't for giving up, and he had closed the gap again by tenths every lap until it was closer to o ne seco nd wh en , a t half-distance, Rainey's troubles began. " Co min g onto the straight, it sudden ly got a lot lo uder, and it kept o n getting louder from then on. I wasn' t sure if a n exhaust was going to fall off or some thi ng. Looking at the tach i t didn't lose any revs a t th e top, but it wasn 't p ick in g u p as quickly, a nd taking longer to get there." Schwantz didn't wa it for a written invitation. " I cou ld tell he had some sort of problem. " He redoubled his effor ts, and aga in the gap started to close until with som e 10 laps left , Schwantz was in a position to mount a cha llenge. But Rainey is no quitter, and he made his old rival work for it , putting him firmly back in his place after one bri efly successfu l overt aking mov e up the hill. Thus Schwantz was obliged to hang o n to so me fearsome, slides as he pressed and pushed at the Yamaha. The clincher was a classic. For two laps, he'd sho ved up the insi de at th e Melbourne Loop, th e penultimate hairpin. Then, with two laps left, Rainey ra n in tigh ter, to pr ote ct th e inside line. Sch wantz la ter admitted it was half plan, half lu ck. "The crucial thing was I go t a real good drive out of th e chi cane, and wh en I got to th e corner and he was tight and much slower, the only way was round the outside." For the remaining two corners, he stayed right on the ragged edge, almost losing the bike once as he looked over h is shoulder, to lead Rainey over the line by under eigh t-tenths. " Kevin was pretty awesome today," acknowledged Ra iney. " I was expecting him up the inside at the hairpin, and he rode round the outside instead." "That was tough ," said Schwantz aft erwards, having added another lap record to his tall y as well as 20 more points to his title score. " But there was never a ny questi o n of sett ling for second. I ro de as hard as I coul d all race long, and I did everything I co uld to keep him in sight." T he two American ri vals no w share four wins apiece, wh ile th ree-ti mes winner Doohan was obliged to do the best he cou ld to defend h is own cha m p io nship position. This he did in fine sp irit, diving ins ide Kocinski to take th ird at the last hairpin on th e II th lap , and pu tting a comfor table d ista nce of six seconds by th e finish bet ween himself a nd the young American. " We changed the bike a fai r bit af ter the las t practice, but it d id n 't ma ke any difference to the tracti on," he said. " I knew I cou ld race all da y at my q ualifying speed. But every time I tried to get aggressive the rear would try a nd spin o u t or the front to tuck under. I'm ha ppy that I co uld get into the top three." Kocinski was pleased with a good

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