nobody else; and wi th 12 bi kes entered
to Honda ' s 14 (plus th ree Yam ahas ),
they number some heavy h itte rs amo ng
th e .troops. Th e factory b ike is ridden
again by former cham pion Kazu to Sakata, w ith w orks backin g also for rising
Itali an Stefan o Perugini. There are some
not abl y strong privateers as well. Th e
Ditter Pla sti c te am has fas t Japanese
rid er Masaki Tokudome, backed by hot
new Briton Dar ren Barton; while vet eran former mu lti-champion Jorge Mar-
tin ez has switche d to Aprilia a fter a bad
time with Yam aha.
Yamah a h ave only three bikes ou t
there, one for fact ory-backed Yoshia ki
Katoh , plus Japanese' newcom er You shi
Vi, cer tai n ly the sh ortest name ever in
GP racing, and vetera n Gabrielle Debbia,
The nature of the class makes it the
least predictable of all. But if we knew
who w as going to w in, they wou ld n ' t
need to go racing, after all.
(~
A m o v in g,--=-.e==-a=..= t
f -= . : s--=-T
_
here are 15 races scheduled for 1996, two more than last year, with Argentina
off the calend ar, but th ree new events: Sentul in Indonesia, the Imola GP in
Italv, and the retu rn of the Austrian round at a new circuit, the red esigned and
rebuild Osterreichring near Zeltweg .
Other track changes feature the return to Paul Ricard in France, after two years at
the unpopular Le Mans short circuit. Ricard , outs ide Le Cas telle t near the holiday
coast of the South of France, is a welco me additi on to the schedu le.
Sadly, there is still no U.S. GP, after the late cancellation last year at the new
Elkhart Lake ven ue.
J2A1];;
March 31
April 7
Ap ril 21
May 12
May 26
June 9
June 29
Ju ly 7
July 21
August 4
August 18
September I
September 15
October 6
-October 20
GRAND PRIX
Ma laysia
Indonesia
Japan
Spai n
Italy
Franc e
Netherlands
Germany
Great Britain
Austria
Czech Republic
Imola
Catalunya
Rio
Australia
ShahAlam
Sentul
Suzuka
Jerez
Mugello
Paul Ricard
Assen
Nurburgring
Donington
Os terr ichring
Brno
Italy
Catalunya
Jacarepagua
Eastern Creek
Believe it or not, young Norifumi Abe will be Kenny Roberts '
most experienced racer in 1996. The Japanes e ace returns to
lead Team Marlboro Roberts in the 500Cc Grand Prix class.
PJ1is a registered trademark 01 PJH BRANDS.
