Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ROAD RACE World Championship Road Race Series: Round 6 e Early 500cc GP action saw Michael Doohan (2) leading Edilie Lawson (7) and Wayne Rainey (I); Rainey ended up beating Doohan for the first time in 1992. Rainey ends drought with Spanish win By Henny R a y-Abra m s MONTMELO, S PAIN, MAY 31 t h ad been a lon g tim e since Marlboro T eam Roberts Yamaha 's Wayn e Ra in ey had stoo d on th e highest step of th e podium a nd he was enjoying every seco nd of it. The 31year-o ld World Ch ampion was beyond elation , a sm ile a inile wid e, fists thrusts up in th e air wh en he wasn't wavin g to friends a nd fan s a like. And wh y not ? H e'd ended one of th e longest droughts o f hi s professional career with a thrilling win before 'a cro wd 115,000 in th e fir st Grand Prix on th e Montrnelo circu it o u tside o f Barcelona, passing Rothmans H onda 's Mick Dooh an two laps from th e end to win by a sca n t .057-of -a- second , in th e d osest finish of th e year. " It' s been a lon g time ge tt ing her e, for sur e," Rainey, wh o last won a t th e Czec hos lova k ia n , Grand Prix in Au gu st o f 1991, said . " All year we'v e been strugg ling pushing th e front. We low ered th e left foot peg (to acco mmodate hi s still injured left leg ) a nd cha nged th e front fork sett ing. It felt lik e I co u ld go - throug h ri ght-hand tu rn s wit hou t look in g li ke a du ck. " Rainey had sta lked the sudden ly bearabl e Doohan for 23 of th e 26 laps, never mo re than a seco nd behi nd , wai ti ng for the cha nce to tak e th e lead . It ca me entering th e first turn after drafting past Doohan on th e 1145-yar d lon g front stra ight sta rt ing th e, 24th I 12 lap. The 26-year-old Au stra lian made a run on th e last lap, but Rainey was able to make better use of 'traffic and held on for the 18th win of his GP career. For Doohan , there were no excuses. Asked if he had a ny problems, th e cha m pio nsh ip leader a nswered: "The probl em was Wayne Ra in ey. I th in k he went a seco nd quicker in th e race th an in qualifying. I th ink I was going as quick as practi ce a nd q ua li fying a nd Rainey pi cked up th e pace." Doohan was right. Ra iney's best in th e race that was billed as the Gra nd Prix of Europe was a lap o f l- rninute, 48.807-seconds around th e 2.949-mi le circui t in th e foothill s o f Catalon ia. H e'd qualified a t 1:49.814'. Rainey completed the 26-lap, 76.694mile race in 47 minutes, 31.348 seconds a t a n average speed of 96.832 mph. Despite fin ishin g second, Dooha n in creased h is Worl d Ch ampionsh ip points lead . After six o f 13 rounds, he lead s Rainey, 110-65. L uc ky Strike Su zuki 's Kevin Sch wa ruz, fourth today beh ind teammat e Doug Ch an dle r, is thi rd with 62. Cha ndl er ho lds fou rt h w ith 54. Schw antz, Cha ndler a nd Marlboro T eam Rob ert s Ya m a h a ' s Jo h n Kocins ki contested third much of th e race, Chandler taking it from Schwa nt z 10 laps from th e e nd, a n d the n Schwan tz b riefly in fro nt with three laps to go, before hi s junior tea mmat e too k ' it back for good. Kocinski was fifth. " I fin a lly go t up here i~ a dr y race," Chandler, who 'd finish ed thi rd in t he rain -plagued seaso n-opene r a t Suzu ka, said. " Whe n yo u do good in th e wet it's not the sa me as doing good in th e dry." . Schwantz did all he could to ge t past Chand ler, ru n n ing o ff th e track co m in g ont o the front straigh t in th e clos ing laps a nd collec ting grass in hi s left kn ee-sli der o n th e last lap. In th e end , he came up abo u t a second and a ha lf short. " T ha t was n 't the o nly 'tim e I was on the edge, " th e 27-year- old T exan sai d. " I was fairl y well o u t of sha pe for a lot of th e race." . Kocinski was bothered by th e new tria ngu la r-shaped Mich elin front th at Rai ney a nd Doohan had used to good effect, though th e Suzuki rid ers used a rounder profile front. " I didn 't like it any time it wa s near th e bike," sai d Kocinski. Ca g iva 's Eddie Lawson tied hi s seaso n best with a sixth, just ahe ad of th e Yam aha Mot or France Banco team of N iall Ma ck enzi e and Migu el Duham el. Budweiser Racing'S RandyMamola was nint h with Barcelona's Ju an Garriga 10th on the Du cados Yamaha. As usu al , the 250cc race was a barnb urner. A four-rider train lap p ing as o ne for th e entire race, Rothmans H onda 's Luca Cadalora turning up the he at three laps from the end to win by .240-of-a-second. Second through fourth were covered by .66 3-of-aseco nd with Aprilia Unlimited Jeans' Loris Reggiani second, Telkor Valesi Racing 's Massamiliano Biaggi third, a nd HB H onda 's Helmut Bradl fourth. In winn ing his fifth rac e of th e seaso n, Ca da lora covered the 24 laps, 70.79 m il es, in 45 minutes, 3.411 seco nds a t an average speed of 94.274 m ph. " I th ink all three o f us cou ld win the race ," th e 29 -year -old World Cha mpio n said. "I try maybe a litt le bit 'too hard , but it's normal. I think I can do that for soine more races." Cada lora in creased his championsh ip lead to 52 points, 110-58, over Reggi ani , with Bradl one back at 57-" . The H onda-mounted Semprucci 10M tea m of Ezi o Giano la and Gabriell e Debbia cleared away from th e 125cc field to dominate that race. T he pair took turns leading the ra ce with Giano la, 31, passing hi s 24-yearold tea mmate, on th e last lap for his second win in a row, this time by .074of-a-second . " My tea m go t th e bik e working reall y well- bo th mine and Debbia 's mach in es were very fast today," Giano la said . " After th ese two wins, I ca n hardl y believe I was so close to retiring from rac ing before th e start of this seaso n. Marlb oro Team Pil eri' s Fausto Gresi ni won the four-rider battle for th ird gai ning two spots on the fin al ' la p to cro ss the lin e just a head o f Aprili a U nlimited J eans' Alessandro Gramign i, EuropaRaudies Dirk Rau d ies, a nd Aprilia Du cados ' Carlos G iro. The q ua rte t crossed th e line all o n th e sa me second. The Ita lia n G ian ol a co mp leted th e 22-lap , 64.89 m ile race in 43 minutes, 35.994 seco nds at a n avera ge sp eed of 89.305 mph. . Cha m pio nsh ip lead er Ralf Waldmann had tire troubles o n h is Zwafink Racin g H onda, fin ishi ng 12th and fai li ng to sco re po int s for th e second weekend in a row. Still, he leads th e 125cc tit le chase with 72 points to I I G ia nola's 53. .Gramigni is third wit h 51. 500ee GP Clouds had thre a tened ea rlier in the da y, but brilliant su ns hine greeted the rid ers as th e green light flashed and Ca giva 's Eddi e Laws on sped into th e lead tr ail ed b y Do oh an , Rainey, Kocinski, Sch wanu and Ch andler. La wson 's lead would be short -lived, th ough, Doohan taking o ver on the second lap and Rainey dropping hi s fell ow Californian back to third on the next lap. " It was disappointing to drop back," Lawson would later say. " We had the. wrong front tir e and it che wed up and went away. The rear was losing side grip. You just ca n 't lean the bike over." Doohan and Rainey quickl y separat ed from th e pack and a number of ra ces within th e race began to form . After th e leading duo, Lawson was chased by Schwantz, Kocinski, and Ch andl er, and, farther back , DuHam el was holding off Garri ga, Campsa Honda's Alex Criville, a nd Marnol a. Criville had wh eeli ed off th e start, hitting Mackenzie, wh o finished th e first lap 15th. Lap after lap Rainey cha sed 000 han, diving hard o n th e brakes to mak e , up for ground lost out of th e corn ers. Doohan couldn 't shake him, though it wasn 't for lack of effort, a nd Rainey was studying Doohan's lines, looking for any opening. " Mick really got through the two rights best. I was pushing th e front. I changed my line and went wider. I was slow er mid-corner, but I could get on the gas sooner," Rainey explained. By the halfway mark, the lead duo held over a IO-second lead o n third, now in the hands of Schwantz, who'd passed Kocinski th e previous lap. Chandler was a steady fifth ahead of Lawson, moving up to fourth on the next lap. Kocinski found that the new triangulated front tire wasn't to his liking and he was struggling. . " I knew after on e or two comers I'd be hating life. I had to use a front tire I never like wh en it was new, " Kocinski said. "I never did under 'a '50 with it. I come to find out Kevin didn't go wi th it. With th e o the r tir e, I was a second, a second and a half quicker. I kept losing the front end at the apex. I kept thinking maybe it would be better after I did 20 laps." Chandler came past on the 14th lap, dropping Kocinski to fifth , where he'd finish ahead of Lawson, who held sixth from the II th lap on, unable to sti ck with the J apanese factory bikes du e to a lack of acceleration . "Out of th e slow comers it just doesn 't pull hard," Lawson said, but added th at on top end it was " the fastest bike out th ere. In fifth and sixth gear it 's as fast as the Yamahas and H ondas." On th e 24th lap, Rainey used th e draft to slingshot past Doohan into the lead going into th e first corners, a right-left combination. Doohan was stu ck to his rear, and wanted to mak e 'a run on th e last lap, but Rainey put Rallye-Sporr ' s Michae l Rudroff betw een th em, hurting Doohan ' s cha nces. "On th e left downhill, Wa yne got by him and he pulled in behind Wayne for th e next ri ght ri ght. It turns into a on e-line typ e o f thi ng," Doohan said. " If I had been o n his back wh eel I co u ld 've go tten by. I th ought ab ou t gi ving it a go in th e last left-hander, but I wasn 't close enough ." Plus, th e finish line a t Montrnelo is o nly ab out 100 yards from th e final bend p reventing Doohan fro m effectively using th e draft. " Bas ica lly it ca me down to my

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