Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

R ROAD UCE~d~_b _~_R_K_eS_~_~_R_OO_~_4~~~~~~~~~_ m Australian Michael Doohan won his fourth straight 500cc Grand Prix after easily beating Wayne Raine y in Sp ain. • • Doohan invinci eIn paIn By Michael Scott Photos by David Goldman JEREZ, SPAIN, MAYto ichael Doohan and hi s Honda are start ing to look in vin cib le. After dominating the foreign three races th at started the year, th e R othmans-sponsored Au stralian underlined hi s superi orit y at the start of the European seaso n as he cruis ed to a fourth successive victory in th e Spa nis h Grand Pr ix at the revised circuit of J erez. . No t since 1972 has any rider won the first four races of the season , and th e last person to do so was Gi acomo Agostin i. Ago went o n to win the fifth as well - and (of course) th e titl e. It will be a brave or foo lish man wh o bets aga inst Dooh an doing the same th in g. T he Aus tralian 's wor st problem s were twi ce co mi ng uncomfo rtabl y close to h igh-siding backrnarkers, as he kept o n charging to maintain concent ra tion . For h is rivals there was mor e frus tration at the way the Hon da has outclassed them. Only Marl boro Yam aha' s Wayne Rainey could even keep Doohan vaguely in sig ht. T he excitemen t was reserved for a brilliant battle for third p lace, won by less than a tenth of a second by Ban co Ya m a ha 's Nia ll Ma ck en zie from ' Lu cky Stri ke Suzu ki's Kevin Schwantz, a fter th eir cl ose co m panion Al ex Cr ivi ll e a nd hi s Ca mpsa H ond a crashed o u t of conte nt io n th ree or ners from the end. The parti san Spanish cro wd, who did not see that their hero fell of hi s o wn acco rd, threw stones at the pair o n th e slo wing down lap. The 250cc race, ho wever, ma de a refreshing change, with trip le winner so far Luca Cadal ora an d his Rothmans Honda only ab le to manage M 10 fourth p lace, and victory going to Loris Reggiani 's April ia from the Hondas of H elmut Bradl and Masahiro Sh imizu. It was almost an Apri lia one-two but for a foolish error by Pi er-Francesco Chili. The Italian was second at the en d o f th e penult im at e lap , and th ought the race was over. As he waved in triumph to the cro wd, four riders dived pa st to consign h im to sixth pla ce. . A brilliant 125cc race was won by Ralf Waldmann, th e Germa n H onda rider' s third win this year; whi le Steve Webst er made no mistakes to win the first sidecar race of th e season. 500cc GP T here was never mu ch doubt abo ut it. Doohan led from pole positio n th rou gh the first rig h t-hander. and simply dr ew ever furt her ah ead - over a second on lap two, up to two seconds on lap four, and almost 20 seconds by the fini sh . As usual, his problem was deciding whether 10 back off or 10 keep his concentratio n up by p ressing o n. "I didn 't want to get away wit h Rainey because I figured he'd make a race of it. I felt I cou ld go quicker on my ow n . Then at o ne stage I decided to sit back a little and save the tires, but then when I was beh ind a backmark er he suddenly hig hsided, and I decided that I bad 10 keep ou t in the clear as much as possi ble. My biggest mo ment came 10 laps from the end when I was hanging behind (Carlos) Ca talano waiting to lap h im when his back wheel came right ro und and almost flicked him over the h ig h side." Rainey was second into the first be n d, a nd a lso held hi s position throughout, unabl e to do anythin g abo u t Doohan's escape, but drawing away from hi s pursuers at almost the . same rate he 'was being left by the leader. He really needed to win here, but man aged to keep his hopes up a tri fle by saying: "The bike's th e best it's been all weekend. We made some adjus tments and it felt easier 10 ride . I thi nk I was running a different rear tire from Mick, and maybe th e track was a bit hot for it , and we lacked a little grip . We have a lot of work to" do, but I'm ready." All the real racing happened behind the processio na l pair. . At first it was Schwantz in control, and tryi ng his damnedest 10 keep Rainey in sig h t. H e couldn 't quite, and soo n he had trouble from h is o wn teammate Chandler, with th e identical L ucky Stri ke Suzuki vaulting past Kocinski 's Marlb oro Yam ah a to close o n the T exan. Chandler dropped back after he had some " knock-off" trouble with hi s brakes, meaning he had to pump th em after some movement had shifted the pads away from the discs. "T ha t go t my attent io n for a wh ile," he sai d dryly . T he n he co nce ntr a te d o n smoo ther corner entries, and closed up aga in on Schwantz, on ly to ha ve hi s rear tire start to slide badly after 10 laps. " I made the wro ng choice - and every time I cracked th e throttle it step ped right o ut," he said; exp lain ing a gradual backward move that fin ish ed up wit h him 10th. Simultaneously , and to the delig ht of th e crowd, Criville was moving up o n Schwantz, a nd by la p 10 was attacking fiercely. But Sch wan tz was not for givin g way, and event ually Criville decided to bide hi s tim e. . Already Sch wan tz was suffering from a lack of rea r grip, but co uld make up for it with hard and fast corne r entries. By now , however, 'Mackenzie was chargi ng up from behind, after a bad sta rt o ut of th e top 10. He'd despatched the o th er works bikes withou t wasting any tim e, with Kocinski th e last to feel th e hot breath of the Scot on the warpath. H e quickly caugh t Sch wantz and Criville, and go t in between them o ne lap lat er, and then outbraked Schwantz prom p tly to move into third place on lap 16. Criville foll owed him through, and then the battle was on, with Schwantz only able to watch from beh ind: "They were both riding really well, and getting off the corners better than me. I could o nly wait and be in a good p osition if any th i ng happened to them ." This seemed hi ghly likely, as they niggled at each o the r, with Criville ma king a decisive move past under bra kes into tu rn one on the 25th lap. But Mackenzie was havin g the ride of his life, and kept o n pressing hard until th e las t lap , when he got a better dr ive ou t of a fast left (Criville later said he'd m issed a gea r) and ou tbra ked th e Spa niard into the ens ui ng slow rights. Then follows a sho rt stra igh t, a pair of fast rights, and a left hairpin befor e th e fini sh line. Usually th e ha irpin is th e pl ace where battles are finall y decided, but Criville couldn't wai t that long, and wh en . Mackenzi e braked for th e Iast rights th e Spaniard kept the power on and swept past th e Yam ah a co nvinc ingly. And much, much too fast . He had hardly even lean ed the bike over when the front wheel tucked under and he was down. " I just kept out of th e way," said Mackenzie, wh o might hav e been skittled had th e Spaniard been going only a few mph slower. And whil e Schwantz was abl e to close up to wi thin a tenth over the line, th e Yam aha rider was abl e to stay ahead. "My tires were great," said Mackenzi e. " And it was probably my best ride ever - because I got a bad start and came through, and all the top riders were there." It was his sixth time on the rostrum in six years , and his second at Jerez. Schwantz had to be satisfied with fourth, but wasn't about to blame his still-bandaged left hand. " That wasn 't th e problem," he said. " I just couldn ' t get the drive." . Kocinski was fifth in his comeback " ride, and admitted to feeling " a bi t rusty" after missing two races. He had started strongly, but co uld n 't keep up the pa ce, bu t did resist an attack from an on- form Peter Goddard. The Australian had already beaten off Juan Garriga's works Ducados Yamaha, and was ob liged 10 kick again wh en the Spaniard came back in th e fin al laps. H e was not only th e top Yamaha replica finisher, but also the best on Dunlop tir es. " T hey've don e a great job ," Goddard said after hi s best-ever GP fin ish . Ga rr iga was seven th, an d under p ressu re fr o m Mam ol a ' s works Yama h a. The Am eri can had had trouble early in th e race when hi s bike handled badl y on a full tan k, but had won a good battle with Eddie Lawson 's Cagiva and also managed to hold off Miguel Duhamel's Yam aha by six tenths over the line. Cha ndler took th e fin al point for 10th pl ace, wi th a disillusioned Lawson I I th an other five seco nds back, and Cagiva team ma te Alex Barros 12th. "If

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