Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127545
- ...... .... 0.. < The 500cc Grand Prix season gets underway with Kevin Schwantz (34) leading Doug Chandler (10),J ohn Kocinski (4), Randy Mamola (8) and the rest of the pack in Japan. Schwantz (34~ and his teammate Chandler (10) had the early advantage, but they were both passed by Michael Doohan. Doohan splashes to apan win By H enny Ray Abrams SUZUKA, JAPAN, MAR28 fter a lon g wi nter that saw the fu ture of G rand Prix motorcycle raci ng decided, th e ยท1992 World C hampio ns h i p kic ked off on th e Suzu ka circui t in j apan wi th a few su rprises, m iserable weather, a nd more bickering. The 500cc victory went to Rothmans H onda's Mick Doohan, the 26-year-ol d Au stral ian su rviving a wet and windy afternoon to win by 28.298 seco nds in a race o f a ttri tio n th at brought down th e Marlboro Robert s Yamah a team of Worl d Ch a mpion Wayn e Rainey a nd john Kocinsk i, a n d a number o f others. After lead in g bri efl y, Dou g Chandler was a career best second in hi s debut on th e Lucky Strike Su zuki, surprisi ng because he'd never raced a A 10 500 in th e rain and equally surprisi ng becau se he fini sh ed j us t in fro nt o f team mate Kevin Sch wantz. Neither felt especially co mfortable with thei r front tires. Doohan averaged 85.337 mph for the 22-lap , 80. I 7-m ile race befor e a cro wd of 68,000. The race was ru n in 56 m inutes, 2 1.831 seco nds, bu t for Doohan , th e end cou ldn 't co me soo n eno ugh . " I just pi cked the ri gh t fro nt tire," Doohan said. " We took a ga m ble. I said to j erry (Bu rgess - Dooha n 's crew chief), 'I might see you a t the end o f th is.' Us ua lly I don 't do so good in th e rain ." " When Mick (Doo han) ca me up I tried to stay with him, but I had tro u ble with the fro nt," Ch andler sai d. " It's kind of like what Mick said. It ta kes so much more tim e a nd so much more concentration. Every thing is so edgy and touchy. Any thi ng yo u do too sud denly, you cou ld lose th e front a nd rear. " Desp it e ha ving a few m oments, Cha nd ler crossed the lin e ove r 27 seco nds in front of Schwan tz, who wasn 't used to bein g upstaged by a teammate, th ough he d idn 't seem to mi nd. " It 's good and it's bad ," Schwantz, last year's winner in j apan, sai d. " It's good to have to stay o n our toes a ll season. It eleva tes th e team, it eleva tes the mechanics. If the cham pions hi p co mes down to it, Doug ca n help me or I co uld he lp Doug. "The bi ke was pr etty good early on," th e 27-year-old Texa n con ti n ued. " Bu t w he n Dou g ca me by, a nd th en 000han, th ey upped th e pace and I had a few scary moments with th e front wh eel slidi ng away." There was a dis p u te over j ust wh o a nd wh o wouldn' t be paid cha mpionship points. It was a discu ssion that lasted until well after th e race and was never full y ex pla ined. It was believed that a ll IRTA ride rs (those con tracted to do th e entire seaso n) would score points and those ad ded j ust for th e j apanese race, eigh t in a ll, would no t. Gi ven that, Doohan lead s with 20 to Ch andler 's 15 a nd Schwan tz's 12. H onda 's Shi nichi Ito , o ne of th e onetime rider s, was fourth , nearl y a m inute beh ind Sch wantz, and was not expec ted to be a wa rded points. Fifth went to Budweiser 's Randy Mamola in hi s first GP in over a year a nd a half. After cras hing on th e warmup lap, Mam ol a decided to ride for points and graduall y moved up as so me of th e sport's established stars slid o ff in th e rain. W orld Ch ampi on R ain ey fell unhurt o n -the seco nd lap in Dunlop Co rner , a fast, swee pi ng uphill left. Ra iney had trouble setting hi s bik e up dur in g th e weeke nd a nd had sta rted from the th ird row of the grid. " I co u ldn't see a thing a nd th e trac k was j us t so slic k," he said. "The rear end stepped out a nd I was close to saving it, bu t I d id n' t q uite do it. It just step ped ou t too far. Every time I went to slide it wa nted to fli ck me off." Kocinski ca me off on th e seventh lap while running fourth , losin g th e front end in a part of the tra ck wh ere he least expected it , turn in g into the Hairpin Cu rve. "T he front was movin g arou nd so I slowed down : ' Kocin ski , wh o wasn't inju red in th e fall , sai d. "T hat was one place I never though t I'd go down and it's where I ended up cras h ing." But th e most serio us cras h o f a ll came five laps from th e end wh en Rothmans H onda 's Wa yne Gardner fell for th e seco nd time in the race, breaking his lower right leg in a t least five p laces a nd puncturing the calf muscle. Gardner had fall en on th e second lap while in seco nd p lace, but remounted and was ab out to pass Mamola when he crashed for the seco nd time. The severi ty of hi s in juries has caused many to specu la te that he'll retire fro m racing.