Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

" He was pushi ng hard," Yamah a Mo tor Fra nce Banco's seventh-placed Niall Mackenzie, wh o Gardner had passed four laps before he cras hed, said. "If I was riding 90%, he was ridi ng 105%. He was loo kin g at finish in g four th. It was the o ne place he looked really safe." The day a lso ended poorly for Miguel DuHamel in hi s Gra nd Pr ix debut for the Yamaha Motor France Ban co team . The 23-year-old French Canadian slid off uninjured on the th ird lap while in fifth pl ace. " I was just thinking, 'Where can I ge t past j ohn (Kocins ki)?' I was orr the brakes and about to gi ve it ga s and I was o u t or th ere," he said. In hi s final Suzuka appearance, Cagiva's Eddie Lawson was 14th. The four-tim e World Champion was suffering Ir orn a co ld a n d rear tire troubles. Rothmans Honda's Luca Cadalora began the defen se or hi s 250cc World Championship with a calcu lating win in the rain. Away third, the 28-year old Ital ian gr adually chipped away at the lead ers, taking th e front at th e hal£way po int of the 20-lap race, and goi ng o n to win by 9.969 seconds. Ca dalora averaged 82.754 mph for the n .88-mile race which he comp leted in ~ mi nutes, 50.357 seconds. Second p lace went to HRC 's Tadayu ki Okad a wi th Team Cu p O'Noodles Nobua ts u Aok i th ird, abou t 14 seconds back. " I can't believe it," Cadalora said. "From the first lap I was passing so many riders. When I saw Okada and Aoki in front with a big advan tage, I don 't kn ow if I can catc h them. I rode my own race and it worked for me." HB H onda 's Helmu t Bradl, who's expected to be o ne of Ca dal ora 's main competitors Ior the Worl d Ch ampion ship like he was last year, finis hed fourth, but will li kely get secon d p lace po ints since the japa nese riders are making thei r o n ly G P appearance. Fift h went to Pier-Francesco Chili o n the Telkor Valesi Aprilia wi th sixth going to Alberto Pu ig on the Ducados Aprilia. Repsol H o nda 's Carl o s Cardu s, third in las t year's sta ndings, fell in Su nday morning's warm-up, brea kin g hi s left colla rbo ne. He is expected back for the Australi an GP in two weeks ti me. T he wet weat her bro ught dow n a nu m ber o r ri ders, with o nly 24 of th e 39 rider field finis hing. Still, it was a hi gher pe rcentage than finished in the 125cc race. Twenty o r the 42 125cc riders failed to finis h, most going out in the early laps. or th e fin ishers, Zwafink Racing's Ral£ Waldmann was best, beating Scot Racing's Bru no Casanova to the line by 1.459 seconds after passing the Aprilia-mounted Ita lian just two laps from the end of the 18-lap race. Moto Bum R a ci n g Supply's Nobuyuki Wakai was third aboard a Honda. 500cc Practice had bee n run in eve ry condition from near-dry [0 Iull wet so none or the riders had enough time to gain con fidence in their setu ps. The morning warm-u p was run on a wet track, but no t in the sort or rai n tha t wou ld gree t the race. T here was no choice o n tires; full wets all around, tho ugh there were ch oices in como. pound and tread pa tterns, and tha t would make the difference, Schwantz got the holesho t, Ch andler close beh ind wit h Gardner an early third before comi ng o rr for th e first ti me. Do oh an , Kocin ski , a nd DuHamel trailed the leaders. Miguel DuHamel (17) diced with john Kocinski (4) in his Grand Prix debut; both riders crashed in separate incidents. Rain ey ga ted bad ly, fin ishi ng th e first lap in ninth place befo re crashing o n the second an d walking back to the p its. The 31-year-old World Champ ion h ad not ex uded the sort or confidence he's shown the last few years, partially beca use of his injuries and partially because he was strugg ling with the hand ling. It was Ra iney's first race crash since the Swedish G P in August or 1989. Chand ler took the lead from Schwanu on the fourth lap and was su rprised at how Iar in front they were. . " In the hairp in you don't have to move your head too much to look back," he said. "On the second lap I took a look back and saw we'd gotten away." O n the fifth lap, Doohan dropped Schwantz to third and set off after Chandler, who heard the footsteps. " On the six th or seventh la p I had to slow it dow n so much to get it turned for the corners," Chandler explained. "That's wh en Mick got me. I was ab le to get it orr the corner with him; he could get it turned faster . If I carried my spee d th ro ugh the corner, I'd end up on the paint. T here was no sense pushing." Doohan crossed the line first at the end of th e eighth lap and every lap after that. By the 10th lap he ha d a 2.057-second lead , which would grow to 12.311 on the 15th, and over 28 at the end. " I tho ught the last 10 laps these guys were goi ng to come back up," Doohan said. " I was lucky they didn 't. I had q ui te a Iew moments. The hardest thi ng is keep ing you r concentration together. Gardner came past me and crashed in the fiat right. I went up on the white line on the inside," Doohan added. All three riders used the same rear tire, but Doohan chose a softer front than he'd ever used and that, combined with the Honda's new power curve, made his job easier. " Between the esses it was nearly wheeIstanding. It surprised me how rideable the bike is in the wet, " he said . As Doo ha n pulled away from Cha ndler, Chandler did likewise to Schwanu. Fo ur seconds in front at the 10-lap mark, h e fi nished over 27 seconds bette r at the end. " I don 't kn ow if I chose the wrong fro nt, " Chandler said. "Mick's was closer [0 Kevin 's and had extra cuts on the side . I don' t know if the blocks hel ped. Those tires are the ones we q ua lified on in the first session in the wet. The first time through the esses I was fairly quick. Then it was pushing ~fichael Doohah took advan tage of the conditions, and storm ed to the 500cc win. Ca tilo rni an Randy Mamola was impressi ve in his return to racing, finishing fifth. 11

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