Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eROA DRACE e World Cham~ionshi~_Ro_ad R_ac_e_eri_es:_Ro un d_14 _ S __ _ Wayne Rainey (3;4) and Michael Doohan (3) had a race-long battle in the 500cc GP at I.e Mans; Schwantz won, and Wayne Rainey (1) clinched his second championship. Shwantzthew R c inner, ainey the champ atLe Mans By Michael Scott LE MANS, FRANCE, SEPT. 8 t may not actually have been in Sao Pau lo - but the GP de Vitesse du Mans gave a good imitatio n of recen t Brazilian G Ps. The wea ther was warm, the crowd was small, and all the remaining ch ampionships were settled. But none of th e new titl e ho lders actually' wo n their races. In every race, the one wh o came in third was th e real winner. Wayne R a in ey brou gh t h is Marlboro-Yamaha ho me third, beh ind winner Kevin Schwantz's Lucky Strike Su zuki a nd Michael Doohan 's Rothmans Honda (and a hea d of dutiful tea m m a te J ohn p ol e- startin g Kocinski). The defending cha m pion left the excitement a nd stunn ing ba ttl in g to the fro nt pai r, wi th Sch wantz oblige d to pull o ut every sto p ' to lead the Austra lian over the line by less tha n two-tenths of a second. But Rain ey had done enough to clinc h hi s second successive 500cc ti tle. In the 250cc class, Hel mut Bradl 's HB Honda ran a way with th e race, wit h Carlos Cardus's Repsol-Honda seco nd. But Luca Cadal ora 's third pl ace was en ou gh to give the former l2 5cc cham p ion hi s first 250cc title, a nd the seco nd for the Rothmanssponsored Erv Kanem oto team. But the whol e 250 cc race wa s fraught. The first running saw a spate of crashes, with almost half the field I 14 elimina ted in three laps at o ne corner where fuel was sp ill ed by a crashing bik e. Among th ose skittled were a lmost all the fast runners, including Cadalora a nd his title rival Brad!. The Sidecar race was won by Rolf Biland, from Alai n Michel, wi th Steve ' Webster a somewh a t unevent ful th ird. But tha t too was enough to give the bespectacl ed Bri ton his fourth World Championship titl e. T he GP du Mans, hastily arranged as a su bst i t u te for the cance lled Bra zil ian GP , was part of a busy weekend at the Buga tti short-circuit in northwest France - with a Eu ropean ' Ch am pi onship meeting ru n ni ng alongside. But the cro wds were almost ou tn umbered by the competitors, who spi lled over to use campgrounds as paddock space so tha t the big-time GP mot orh orn es and hospitality centers cou ld have enough space. The trac k had been altered sligh tly since the last Grand Prix here over a year ago, with the fin al bends rep rofiled, and some run-off area taken away from the first fast top-gear right-hand corner. But wh ile it is too tigh t to be a popu lar 500cc class ven ue, nob od y com p lai ned about any safety matters. Since the reason we were here instead of in Sao Paulo was because of poor sa fety co n d i tions a t th e Brazilian circu it, perhaps it was just as well . And it was cer tai n ly a mercy a nd so me thi ng of a miracle that the~e were no i nj ur ies in the 250cc multiple crash. 500cc GP Th e principal protagonists had pred icted a close race - and it sure was ; even closer than the classic J apanese GP at the other end of th e season. Schwantz made a perfect flyer from ro w two at the start of th e 28-lap, 80.6mile race and 'too k off in th e lead , p u rs ue d by Kocinski , Doohan , Gardner and Rainey, and th e quintet soon p ulled away from the field . It too k Doohan five laps to move u p into second, a nd he sta rted pressing Schwantz a t o nce. From then o n the pair of them put on a brill iant display, a nd it depended , where yo u wer e sta nd ing who was leading a t any one time. Only TV viewers cou ld foll ow the fu ll back and forth duelling. • The Suzuki was bett er under brakes, the Honda had hi gh corner speed a nd accelera ted faster. But Schwantz had significan tly improved his mach in e since his practi ce bothers, and as often as Doohan nosed alongsid e a nd past through the fast righ t a t th e end of the pi t stra ig h t, he was abl e to div e back ahead under heavy braking for the first tig h t corner. It was in doubt all th e way, a nd both put u p som e brilliant performances exploiti ng th eir o wn machine's stro ng poi nts . As ever Schwantz looked the most daring and Doohan more controlled, but it was by a narrow mar gin as each gave it everyth ing he had. , And so th ey went to the last lap, with Doohan aga in taking th e lead a t the end of the pi t straig h t, a nd Sch wantz again ou tbra ki ng him. " I knew all I had to do th en was keep him behind me until th e last ben d. T here wouldn 't be space for him to accelera te pa st me fro m there to the finish line," Schwantz said. But it very nearly all went wrong when he ran sho rt of fuel at th e end of the back straigh t. "It must have been tha t it slo shed forward under braking, and the engine was turning so fast that it used up what was in the carbs," Schwantz said. " It died, but it picked up again by the time I opened the throttle. I was scared it would do the same again into the last corner, but lu ckil y it kept running for the rest of the lap. " It wa s a n unexpected win for Schwan tz, starting from the seco nd row , but Doohan was unable to find a ny a ns wer to th e Suzuki 's better braking, a nd fin ished less than twotenths beh ind. " My bike was faster, but he co uld reall y ge t hi s thing .stopped." It was on ly in th e closing laps th at the pair dr ew ahead of the pursuers. Kocinski had held third for only one lap, letting Rainey by on the seventh lap after making a m istake;' running o nto th e cu rbs, a nd worrying that he mi gh t spoil everyth ing for hi s teamma te. H e didn 't enjoy sacr ificing his o wn a mbi tio ns, but wh ile he might have been a ble to beat Rainey he wo u ld ha ve had his work cu t ou t to win the race. " I was havi ng tro uble with th e rear sp in n ing, bu t the fro nt was so go od I was able to co mpensate," Kocinski said afterwards, add ing: " There was a lo t of pressure o n me, a nd I gave myself too much room. I did it for my team." Rain ey spent the rest of the race in th ird, unwilling as well pe rhaps as u na ble to get m ixed up with th e duel for victory. " Bu t those guys were going so fast it helped me just to co ncentra te on the raceand not thin k of the titl e," Rainey said late r. " It was on ly in the last three la ps my co ncentration sta rted to go, a nd I dropped back. I'm on ly g lad th e race wasn't a lap longer." Gardner als o seemed doomed to fifth . " I felt I co uld have caught the leaders, but I just coul dn 't get past

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