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Kevin Schwantz (34) led Michael Doohan briefly in the San Marino GP, but Doohan eventually worked back past an d he ld off the determined Texan to tak e th e vict ory.
His vict ory at Mugell o was Michael Doohan's first since b reaking his leg last year.
Doo an 0 a in
•
an arlno
By Michael Scott
Photos b y Gold & G oose
MUGELLO, ITALY, JULY 18
ichael Doohan is back. After more
than a year and what seemed at
times an end less fight back to fitness after leg injuries sustained at Assen
last yea r, the Au stralian Rothmans
Honda rider produced a dominant laprec ord rid e at th e San Marino Grand
Prix to return to the victory rostrum' that
he last sa w in Jun e of last year.
Dooh an's win cam e in blazing suns h ine in front of a crowd of almos t
60,000. It followed his third successive
p ole p osition, and came at the same
Mu gell o circuit w here last year Kevin
Sch wan tz broke the s pell of th e new
"Big Bang" Honda and pushed Doohan
to second to claim his only race victory
of the year.
This year it was the other wa y round.
Schwantz was challenging for the lead
un til the very last lap , when he su dde nly slowed rapidly and toured around to
fin ish seco nd . Mech anic al trouble had
ro bbed hi m (a nd th e cro w d ) of wha t
pr om ised to be a heroic las t-lap battle
'w ith the outcome impossible to predict.
M
10
The Lucky Strike, Su z u ki rider
declined to attribu te blame, saying only
he wa s glad it was the last lap and he
was able to finish at all, let alone in second. But others had seen his d isintegrating Michelin - a similar pr oblem to that
which s to ppe d Doohan 's w in ni ng
charge at Hockenheim this year.
"It's a real good feeling to win agai n,
but I hop e it's not the las t ti me this
year, " sai d Do ohan, be for e li mp ing
away to depart for Japan to race in the
Suzuka Eigh t-Hour.
Defending cha mpion Wayn e Rainey
was a d istant third, continuing his battle
with the recalcitrant 1993 Yamaha. He
aga in use d th e Roc ch assis, which he
sw itche d to in d esp eration to w in the
pr eviou s race in Barcelona, but troubl e
w ith his own fron t Dunlop meant that
hi s st re n uo us efforts to s ta y wi th the
lead er s d id no t las t past the open ing
s tages. " It wasn' t like I slowed down,
more that they speeded up," the so mber
Team Marlb oro Roberts rider said pos trace.
