Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127665
(Left) Luca Cadalora (5) got the Jump on the field . at the start of the 500cc Japanese Grand Prix. (Right) Cadalora was caug ht by a trio that Included Norlfume Abe (56), Mick Doohan (4) and Kevin Schwantz; Schwantz went on to take the win , his fourth at Suzuka. (Below) The 250cc GP featured a heated battle batwen Tadayukl Okada (8), Loris Capirossi (2), Tohru Ukawa (56) and Max Blaggl (4). seconds on lap three to less than half-asecond on lap nine. Abe was the first to take the lead , at the loopi ng Spoon Curve on lap nine, only to run w ide and lose the pla ce again. He promptly attacked once more on the straight, then as they tipped to the left for the fast sweeper, Cadalora had a massive slide and a fearsome wobble that threw him out of the seat. He sa ved it, but his time up front was over. The Dunlop men later explained: "We shouldn't ha ve let him ch oose such a soft-compound front tire." Abe led for one more lap as Schwantz tailed the troubled Cadalora briefly, then the Suzuki led for the first time at the end of the straight on lap 11. From then on, Schwantz, Abe and Doohan were at it with a vengeance. All took tums to lead, with Doohan -clearly ha v in g an a dvan tag e on power, Schwantz into the turns, and Abe on plain craziness. "It was pretty scary at times," said Doohan later. "1 don 't think 1 was that brave wh en 1 was 18, but he wasn't comp letely in control." Abe surv ived one near crash, and Schwantz st arted to pull away, wi th a gap of exactly one second at the end of lap 14. Then he was slowed by a backmarker, so they were all togeth er again. But the Texan was riding like a true champion for the first time all year, and escaped again. "There weren't any tactics," he said. "It was just flat out." Doohan might ha ve gone with him, but he kept finding Abe in his way . Twice he shook his head as the Japanese rider cam e sliding pas t under brakes into the chicane - the second time the fates got his message. Doohan ran alongside past the pits, then Abe outb raked him for the first comer. Bu t it was one risk to o man y. Leaving a long black stripe as his fron t tire slid away, he went somersaulting into the sand-trap more like an aircraft crashing than a motorcycle accident, lucky to escape wi thout injury. It was a fittingly dramatic end to an electrifying GP debut. "I was sure I could have come second," he said later, "b u t I wanted to win." Doohan was sliding somewhat, an d too far behind Schwantz to catch up , but he did pull away from Itoh, who had joined in up front after recovering from a poor start. He complained of problems getting out of the slower comers at the race finish. Thus finished the top three in what may easily stand as the best race of the year. Behind them, Cadalora soldiered on with his ruined front tire, finishing 20 seconds adrift of Itch, but comfortably eight seconds in front of the next battle.