Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

e R~ AAa~ili~W~~ _dRa_ce_se_rie_s:_~_OO_d_7 ~R_oa _ m The race for fourth was between Doug Chandler (5), Alex Criville (8) and Wayne Rainey (1) and ultimately won by Chandler. led fro m the first lap on, and, though Steve Webster and Gavin Simmons tried to stay close, the result was never much in d oub t. Padgett's Racing Team's Darren Dixon and Andy Hetherington finished third. The 17-1ap, 63.9-mile race was completed in 37 minutes, 3.424 seconds by Biland at an av erage sp eed of 103.462 mph. He crossed the line 4.23 seconds in front of Webster. After three of nine sidecar rounds, Biland leads Webster 70 to 47 in the point standin gs. Loris Capirossi won his first-ever 250cc Gran d Prix with a convincing victory. J.P. Ruggia (17), Tetsuya Harada (31) and John Kocinski struggle over second place. Harada barely beat Kocinski to earn the runnerup spot and maintain his points lead. 18 500ccGP Fears of impending showers were allayed at the start of the 500cc race, the sky a leaden blue, bright, but overcast, and the likelihood great that the race would be run in the dry. Schwantz was first out of the gate with Beattie, Criville, Doohan, and Chandler in tow. Doohan ended the first lap in second, then took over the lead on the second as the race lost two riders, one of them his teammate Beattie. Going into turn one, a looping 90-degree ri ghthander at the end of the front straight, Beattie went off the track when his front forks bottomed out. He was unhurt, but Cagiva's Ma t Mla d in, who was close behind, wasn't so lucky. The 21-year-old .Australia n ran off in the grass trying to dodge the riders avoiding Beattie - breaking his right collarbone and tearin g ligaments in his left knee. Out front, a number of separa te races were for ming up . Doohan, Sch wantz, and now Barros were contesting the lead , Rainey was dueling with Criville and Chandle r farth er back, Itoh was running alone, and Cadalora and Mackenzie were getting into a race-long swapfest. Barros moved past Schwantz on the fifth lap , then took over the lead on the seventh, Doohan back to second, then to third on the eighth. Two laps later Schwantz was in front for three laps, Barros second, and Doohan third, before Barros reasserted himself on the 13th lap to take the lead with an inside move at the end of the front straight. There wasn't a whole lot of difference among them, as the riders pointed out afterwards. " Th in g s changed every lap, " Sch wantz said. "1 was following Mick and he had mid-comer speed on us. Alex and I would rush into the comers a little bit. And the Honda had a little at the end of the back straightaway. " • _ "My Honda wa s very much better th is week," Doohan said. "With new cylinders improving its rideability. Before it was very difficult to get out of the comers." . On the 16th lap Schwantz was again in front as they crossed the line. Four laps to go and the leading trio covered by less than a second. Barros and Doohan swapped second for the next two laps, before the Brazilian took the lead on the . 19th lap . "When the Honda went ahead I decided to attack. There were less than two laps left and I went ahead of both of them and tried to push on for my first victory," Barros said . Attack he did, setling the fastest lap of the race on the 18th. But soon after he went into the fifth-gear kink too fast, pu shing the front for a long time before tumbling to his end. "Until then I was really enjoying it, riding smoothly and comfortably. I could match Kevin's pace and I was watching Doohan," he said. "Then again I felt my front wheel tu cking under and I knew my race was over." It would come down to the last lap and Doohan knew his only hope was in the final chicane. "Every time with Kevin I couldn't get up with him on the brakes. I tried to run up on him close in the last left-hand er before the chicane to force him wide . I pulled up beside him going into the chicane and he shu t me down. Everywhere else he was pretty well covered," Doohan said. "Points are points, Schwantz said about his champioinship hopes . "They' re hard to get in any si tu a tion. We could lose momentum tom orrow and s ta r t going in the othe r direction. We'v e got ha lf the season ahead of us and we' ve got to keep our head down." Asked if there was any possibility of team orders to keep Barros at bay, Schwantz replied: "We'll be lucky if there are any at South Africa (the final race of the year)." Rainey looked able to finish in front of the second trio for much of the middle part of the race. Though he gradually lost touch with the leaders, he was able to slightly distance himself from Criville and Chan d ler until Criville caught him near the halfway point in the race. Chandler decided early on not to bum up his tires in pursuit of the leaders, making his move late in the race. By the 13th lap it was a three-rider affa ir, Criville taking the front of the pack with six laps to go, Chandler moving up a lap later . As the ra ce w o re on, Criville noticed that Rainey' s machine wasn 't as sharp. "In the first part of the race Rainey's bike ran q uite w el l. But after tha t it moved around a lot and I passed him," said Cri ville, who rod e in consid erable pain. "The best thing is that I was able to fig ht with th e to p rid er s despite m y injury." Rainey said afterwards that the reason he slowed to ward th e end was a fuel starvation probl em. "We ran low on gas. The motor started surging with about three laps to go. I think I had Criville and Doug handled, I could' ve had third, but I had to knock it back to make sure I finished the race," a frustrated Rainey said after the race. Chandler was at' the front of the fight with three laps to go and held the spot until halfway through the final lap when Criville used his horsepower edge to run him down on the long backstretch. Top speed wasn't the only deficit that the Cagiva suffered. "Acceleration was the biggest thing," Chandler said. "Even Wayne's bike was bettter off the comers. They make a lot of time on me in the back in the second gear comers. With two or three laps to go I wanted to put in some good laps. I saw the yellow flag and dirt flying from Alex H

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