Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

By Henny Ray Abrams EASTERN CREEK, AUSIRAUA, MAR. 26 n the absence of any serious competition, Repsol Honda's Mick Doohan began the defense of his SOOcc title by serving notice that it will be a very long season for anyone trying to wrest it away from him . The 29-year-old Queenslander was in fron t for every inch of the 30-lap Australian Gran d Prix and was able to easily control his own destiny before a crow d of 53,340 enthusiastic compatrio ts . In the early stages of the race, run on a wann and ove rcast day at Eastern Creek Raceway, he pulled awa y by nearly a second a lap, then kept an eye on his pit board to mak e su re the win was decisive. "It's grea t to win any race. It' s especially grea t to w in the Au stralian GP," Doohan, who'd been critical of the condition of the Eastern Creek circuit all weekend, said . "It's goo d to get the first win out of the way . We won here in 1992 and it's the same sort of feeling. It's good to win one in front of the home crowd. It's . also good to have a one-two result for Australia," Doohan sa id, noting that Team Lucky Strike Suzuki's Aussie rider Daryl Beattie finished second. "It's happened before with me and Wayne Gardner, b u t it 's good to have it happen I ALI (Abo ve) Repso l Honda's Mick Doohan (1) begins the defense of his 500Cc World Championship by taking the lead on the first lap of the Australian GP, Lucky Strike Suzuki's Daryl Beattie (4) and the Marlboro Roberts Yamahas of Luca Cadalora (2) and Norifuml Abe (17) give chase. (Left) Queenslanders Mick Doohan (right) and Daryl Beattie (left) celebrate a 1-2 Aussie finish by spraying champagne, It was on ly the second time Aus tra lians had scored a 1-2 fin ish In the ir home Grand Prix. again ." .In his first race as a member of Lucky Strike Suzuki, Beattie could do little more than sit back and admire Doohan's total mastery. After following the Team Marlboro Roberts Yamahas for two laps, Beattie sprinted to second place just in time to wa tch Doohan sail into the distance. "I've got no excuses," the 24-year-old Queenslan der said after finishing 13.446 seconds behind Doohan. "Mick was just gone. My main worry was the start, but that went well. I just got a bit raggedy at the end there and was ou t of the sea t a few times." What w as cau sing h is mistake s w as the impending arrival of Repsol Ho nda's Alex Criville. The Spaniar d passe d Luca Cadalora to move int o third on the seven th lap, bu t Cada lora kep t the heat on , for mu ch of the race befo re fading with tire problems an d Criv ille d id n't ma ke much of a run on Beattie until the final stages. By then it was too late and he had to settle for a very ·secure third.- "It was a difficult race, but I'm very ha p py w ith third p lace, " Criville said, adding that he'd spent a month in Australia prior to the race training and testing. . Cadalora fell back in the later stages of the race to take fourth, fin d ing that chassis changes he' d made for the race couldn 't com pensa te for the lack of grip. A t the end he was being h ound ed by Lucky Strike Suz uk i's Kevin Schwantz, w ho' d stalled at the line and had to push to get started. Fifteenth at the end of the first lap, the Texan worked his way up to fifth where he foun d himself in a tussle w ith fo rm e r te amma te Al ex Ba rros almost to the end of the race, wh en he nearly caught Cadalo ra. "On the last lap, I coul d see Cadalora's Yamaha comi ng backw ards toward me. He'd been two seconds ahea d on the second-to-last lap and I was righ t on him over the line. But I wa s already going as - fast as I could so there wasn't much more I could do," Schwantz said . That Schwantz even started the race was something of a mira cle. He crashed at the end of the front straight in the morning warmup when his engine tied up at "full stick," better than 170 mph. Luckily, he slid to a stop without injury . Barros, in his first ride on the Kanemoto Ho nda, was sixth, followed by Fortuna Ho nda Pons' Albe rto Puig. Puig hurt his left hand in qualifying and never fe lt comforta ble o n th e b ik e. Eighth in his 500cc debut was Marlboro Team Pileri's Loris Capirossi, who struggled with an ill-han dling bike that wore ou t his tires. Japanese teenager Norifu mi Abe was ninth on the Marlbo ro Roberts Yamaha after running in seco nd in the opening laps. Like Cadalora, he was let down by his tires. Riding with an injured left hand, Rep- sol Hond a's Shinichi Itoh finished tenth, in considerable pain. In his Grand Prix debut, Starsport's Scott Gray finished last after being penalized for jum ping the start, then suffered mechanical difficulties. In winning the 20th GP of his career, Doohan ave raged 95.352 mph and comp leted the 30-lap, 73.2-m ile race in 46 minutes, 6.030 seconds. Afte r the first of 14 scheduled races, Dooha n lead s the championship with 25 poi nts, five better than Beattie and nine ahead of Crivi lle. As pred ictable as the 500cc race was, the 250 race was jus t the op posite. Three ride rs were very nearly inse parable for the entire race and there was a pho to finish, bu t only for second . The winner was clear and he was HB Honda's Ralf Waldma nn . After leadin g for the firstIf laps, Wald mann fell back to thir d in one lap, the n moved his.way back 'to retak e the

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