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/127547
B wm ucr.~C~~~_R_~_dR_oc_es_m_ยท~_:R_OO_~_2 ' I , The crowd had mor e to dri ve them into a frenzy - wit h another Australian taki ng a remarkable third pl ace 21-year-o ld Daryl Bea ttie, in only hi s second 5OOcc-class G P, drafted in to the Rothrnan s-Honda team in p lace of th e injured Gardner. Beattie ha d shown h is back wh eel to established stars like Kevi n Schwantz, who was a distant fourth after narrowly defeating his Lucky Strike Suzu ki team m ate Dou g Chandler. ' Bu t the day was slightly marred with confusion over the lower results, af ter unlapped riders Randy Mam ola o n th e Budweiser Yam aha, Du cad os Yam aha 's J uan Garri ga and Alex Cri ville on the Campsa Honda were shown the checkered flag o ne lap early. They slowed, only to discover they still had a lap to run. Crivill e, who was the slowest to understand wh at had happe ned and dr opped from seventh to n inth in the process, put in a protest which delayed official results. " T he 250cc race held earlier was also some thi ng of a repeat performance of th e previous year, with Rothmans Honda Luca Cadalora waiting until th e last lap before stam pi n g h is authority over race -lo ng ri val Carlos Cardus o n the Rep sol Honda. Last year's second-place man Helmut Bradl was th ird on the HB Honda, with Dutchman Wileo Zeelenberg taki ng Lu cky Strike Suzuki's best-ever finish in the class, tri um phing over a fierce six-bike ba ttle to secu re fourth . The first race of th e da y, the 125cc class, was a thriller, won at the last _ gasp by Marlboro H'onda's Ralf Waldmann, ah ead of Alessandro Gramigni 's Aprilia Unlimited by less than the width of th is pa ge. Bruno Casan ova's Aprilia was third, hardly an y further beh ind. The German rider 's victory complet ed a hat-tr ick repeat of ra cewinners fro m the opening round in Suzuka. 500cc GP The front row go t away cleanly, with Ra iney jumping into an immediate lead from Doohan and Sch wantz. They finished lap o ne in th is order, bu t Beattie in fourth pl ace was already sha p ing up to pass Sch wantz. He did so at th e start of the th ird lap, and thus the fir st three posit ions were al most esta blished. It remained only to see how long it would take Doohan to pass Rainey, for it seemed certain that the' stillinjured American would not have the strength to resist the on- form Australian" who was leaning on him in a number of places. But it was not so simple to Doohan. "He gave me a ha rd time - I just cou ldn't get past, " he said. " Every place I had an advantage he 'd get me somewhere else. In qualifyin g he was only a few ten ths slower, and I wondered if I'd ever get by." Well , of course he did event ually, with the favorite maneu ver of drafting him down the straight then outbraking him into th e first comer. But his misgiv ings gained m o re cre de nce when he didn't run away from the Doohan at home on n-=--=-ole==---_ _ astern Creek may hav e been much improved by a covering of grass and the addition of some strategic sand traps and straw bales, but it had no t become much mor eofa user-friendly circui t. Its short dist an ce, sill y first-gear turns, some extra bumps o n the stra igh t (which had been used as a drag stri p sin ce the last meeting), and this year 's blossoming crop of slow privateers on Vfour Yamah as that are a lmost as fast as works bikes in a straight line, gave rise to ill feeling and a sma ll but significant number of crashes. Well. only on e crash was really significant the victim being the fast and ever-threatening John Kocinski , who tipped off h is Yamaha YZR500 on th e fast ri ght that precedes the" last two slow lefthanders of this course of mainly slow comers, and trapped his right hand under the handlebar. " He got in too hOI and lost the front," said crash spectator Kenny Roberts; wh ile Kocinski added: "I got mauled." Altho ug h not broken, a flap of .ski n was tom back from his little finger a nasty injury that required a skin graft, and ruled the young American out of th is race and Malaysia as well . He had also crashed in Japan, malting a dismal start to his second 500cc-class seasonAt the time, John-Boy had been qualified fifth overall, just one of the fancied runners finding it rather hard work to keep Michael' Dooban's Honda in view. The new NSR obviously suited the dry Australian weather as well as it bad the ra in in Japan, and the first-gear comers and bunts of acceleration as weD as the sweeps and swoops of Suzuka. ' Doohan (rig h t) dominated throughout, clocking a one-minute, 1IO.736-second lap for an average speed of 96.652' mph, and was able to spend much of practice carrying out tire endurance tests, wl1ile keeping a eye on the times of his rivals in case anyone threatened to displaa him, and able to contemplate such matters as the aw kwardness of slow ba~, and.the wisdom (or lack of it) ofputting the pole position starter on the insiCie of the track, condemning him to a slow en try to turn one. "I'd prefer to be in the middle af the traek." H e was one of many to comment on the backmarkers, "Some of thenrare running slower than the fast 125s," he said; which was fair comment even if it wasn't qu ite true by about half-a-second. "It's crazy when people who can't even win th eir National Championships are able to race in the 500 class. " At th is track , I work out the .leaders will be lapping backmarkers after 10 laps, whi ch means we 'll have to pass them two or three times in the race. There aren 't many places to pass here , so that could be real dangerous." Doohan 's complaints were echoed even more forcefully by, among others, Wayne Ra iney. T he defending World Champion was in a feisty mood, still looking less than completely fit but a lot stronger than at Suzuka. As important were a pair of revised chassis for his Yamaha that turned it into a far feistier bike, wiggling E Defending World Champion Wayne Rainey (I) led Michael Doohan in the Australian 500cc GP, but Doohan ended up taking his second-stra ig ht victory. Doohan still in. control in Australia By Michael Scott Photos by David Goldman EASTERNCREEK, AUSTRAUA, APR. 12 t could hardly have been a better result if the 60,O O-stro ng E astern O Creek crowd had go t together and writte n the script. Wh ile Wayne Gardner, winner of the first two Australi an GPs, nursed a bro ken leg in a TV commentary box, hi s teammate Michael Dooh an too k hi s Rot h mans Honda to an entirely co nvi nci ng wi n in the Australia n Grand Pr ix. I 10 And o nce aga in, ecstatic local fans in vaded the track and mob bed a ho mecount ry winner. The Queen sland rider 's victory - by almos t seven seconds over MarlboroYam ah a mounted 1991 winner Wayne Rain ey - ma de it two ou t of two races th is year for him self and for Ho nda 's gruff new deep-throated NSR, and three o ut of four Australian G Ps for h is sponsor Rothrnans.