Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eROAD RACE Road Race Series: Round 4 ~ Defending World Champion Wayne Rainey (1) leads the 500cc pack into tum one at the start of the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez. Barros out, Schwantz in at erez By Henny Ray Abrams JEREZ, SPAIN, MAY 2 II Kevin Schwantz could think about was how he'd explain in the post-race press conference being beaten by his upstart Lucky Strike Suzuki teammate Alex Barros. There were less than three laps to go in the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez and the 22year-old Brazilian had ridden smartly from a bad start to forge better than a two-second lead on his senior partner. But since Barros had led a Grand Prix only once before, and then for one lap, there was an air of inevitability that there was a gravel trap somewhere with his name on it and that he would find it before the checkered flag. As it turned out the gravel trap had Sito Pons' name on it. It was the Curva Sito Pons where Barros lost the front end, dipping once to test the waters, then going face first into the stones on the outside of the fast right-hander, handing Schwantz the lead, and, soon after, his 21st Grand Prix yictory before a crowd of over 150,000. "When Alex came past 1 was trying to think of the excuses for why he was A 14 beating me," said the 28-year-old Texan, who'd started from the pole position. "1 knew that he was using a different tire, and his bike was good, but 1 knew he was five seconds down." Both Barrros and Schwantz had passed Marlboro Yamaha's Wayne Rainey on the 21st of 27 laps, Barros hanging onto the lead for four laps before throwing away the win. Schwantz's margin of victory over Rainey was 1.664 seconds, Rainey having guessed wrongly on his front tire choice and losing any chance to run down Schwantz when he got held up by a group of backmarkers in the final laps. Spaniard Alex Criville was a wildly popular third, the Marlboro Honda Pons rider better than 10 seconds down on Rainey after deciding to take the finish rather that crash trying to move up, as he had last year. Rothmans Honda's Mick Doohan was well back in fourth, still troubled by his injured right leg and adapting to yet another rear brake mechanism, this one a thumb-operated lever on his left han- dlebar. Rainey's Marlboro Roberts Yamaha teammate Luca Cadalora shook off a miserable performance in Suzuka, and the possibility of retirement, to fmish well back in fifth. Schwantz completed the 27 laps (74.21 miles) of the 2.75-mile circuit in 47 minutes, 39.627 seconds at an average speed of 93.421 mph. With his second win, to match Rainey's season total, Schwantz closed the championship gap to four points, 86 to Rainey's 90. Rothmans Honda's Daryl Beattie, sixth today with an understeering machine on an unfamiliar track, is third with 59 points. Among the non-finishers was Cagiva's Doug Chandler, the Californian snapping a rod on the Cagiva V593 on the fifth lap while in seventh place. His teammate Mat Mladin also carded a DNF with a broken cush drive on the rear wheel. The 250cc class continues to be dominated by Telkor Valesi Racing's Tetsuya Harada, the 22-year-old Japanese rider storming to the front at the start, pulling out a six-second lead, and holding it comfortably for his third race win in four tries. So confident was Harada that he turned his fastest lap on the second of 26 laps and was still unchallenged. He would officially win by 4.717 seconds with Rothmans Kanemoto Honda's Max Biaggi withstanding the race-long pressure of Aprilia's JeanPhilippe Ruggia to hold onto second. This was the most emotional of his wins, Harada riding under the specter of the dea th of his close friend Noboyuki Wakai the day before in a freakish pit-row accident. Racing Supply'S Wakai was making his way back to the track when a guest of the Aprilia team, who didn't have the proper credential, walked in front of him near the end of the pit lane. Wakai, 25, struck the spectator falling to his right and hitting the side of his head on the step up to the pit row signalling area. Heroic efforts were made to revive him, and he was taken to a hospital in Seville, but he was pronounced dead soon after the crash. The following day's podium ceremony was canceled and, following his win, Harada was sobbing openly and unable to attend the post-race press conference. Lucky Strike Suzuki's John Kocinski rode valiantly to fourth after completing the first lap in 12th. The little Suzuki was no match for the Honda, Aprilia, or Yamaha and Kocinski had to ride as hard as he could just to finish fourth. Fifth place, his best finish this year, went to HB Honda's Helmut Bradl, despite having chosen too wide a front rim that caused him to nearly run off the tire. Harada completed the 26-lap, 71.45mile race in 46 minutes, 22519 seconds at an average speed of 92.454 mph. Four races.into the 14-race season and Harada holds a commanding 40point lead, 95-55, over Rothmans Honda's Tadayuki Okada, seventh today after running off the track on the first lap and spending the rest of the race re£overing. After finishing second to Dirk Raudies in the first three races, F.C.C. Technical Sports Kazuto Sakata finally won his first 12Sec GP, taking the early lead then holding off a determined Ralf Waldmann at the end. Like his fellow countryman Harada, the 26-year-old Sakata said he had a hard time putting Wakai's death out of his mind until he got into his race rhythm. RilUdies, who'd easily won the first three races, crashed, unhurt, on the first lap in the Angel Nieto Curve after running up the back of Bruno Casanova. Casanova would retire a few laps later with unrelated problems. At the end of the 23-1ap, 63.44 milerace, Sakata's margin of victory was .602-of-a-second. He averaged 87.624 mph. His win, along with Raudies' misfortune, vaults him to the top of the championship standings with 85 points, 10 better than Raudies. Third in the standings, and third today, is Sakata's teammate Takeshi Tsujimura who has 55 points. SOOcc Grand Prix Brilliant, warm sunshine greeted the SOOcc class as the green light flashed for the first European GP of the year. Rainey got his trademark jump on the field, Schwantz hot on his tail followed by Criville, Doohan, Cadalora, Beattie, and Chandler. Just inside the top 10 was Barros who later admitted to botching the start. Schwantz took the lead for the first time on the fourth la p after he and Rainey effectively split from the field. Behind them came the Hondas of Criville and Doohan, with Barros begin-

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