ROAD RACE
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROAD RACE SERIES
By Henny Ray Abrams
Photos by Gold & Goose
SUZUKA, JAPAN, APR. 5
his is the greatest victory in
my life," Max Biaggi said after
stunning the old guard with a
runaway victory in his 500cc debut in
the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.
The four-time 250cc World Champion
and his Team Kanemoto Honda NSR500
jetted away from his record-setting pole
position, brushed off a hectic first lap,
and then established himself at the front
to start the second lap. By the fourth tour
of the 3.64-mile circuit, the 26-year-old
Italian had nearly two seconds in hand.
He then increased it to over 10 seconds,
and auised on his way to becoming the
first rider since Jamo Saarinen in 1973 to
win in his 500cc debut.
Biaggi ended up winning the 21-lap,
76.52-miJe race by 5.416 seconds. He did
so in front of 52,000 spectators.
"What I tried to say to him is, you
need to show these guys what a fourtime 250cc champion can do," team
owner Erv Kanemoto said of his lastminute instructions to Biaggi. "I felt
there was no question he couId do what
he needed to do:' 00
Biaggi wasn't the only one .to disap0\ pear and, at the end of the day, the
0\
...... established order in the class had been
turned completely upside down.
Four-time 500cc World Champion
Mick Doohan ran off the track in turn
one on the third lap, then broke a crankshaft while running 11 th with less than
six laps to go. It was his first mechanical
DNF since his nonfinish in the Australian Grand Prix in 1993.
.
Round 1: Japanese Grand Prix
With Doohan, who had qualified
fourth, a nonfactor, others were left to
fill the void and it fell to the locals.
There was a three~way dice for second
between Yamaha Team Rainey's Norick
Abe, Repsol Honda's Tadayuki Okada
and Yamaha wild card oriyuki Haga.
Abe wa the first man out, though it
took a while. He was forced off the track
when Okada nearly high-sided exiting
the Spoon Curve, a looping left-hander.
When Abe rejoined the race, he hooked
up with Repsol Honda's Alex Criville
and his lap times got quicker. But an illadvised move on the outside of a oneline corner sent him into the gravel,
(Above) The first 500cc Grand Prix of llle
season belonged to four-time 250Cc World
Champion Max Blaggi. Here, Blaggi (6) and
his Honda leads the Yamahas of Noriyuki
Haga (hidden), Norick Abe (hidden) and Kyoji
Nanba (21) early In the Japanese Grand Prix.
(Below) Abe (5) battles with Ha98 (SO) as
Alex Crlville (4), Mlck Doohan (1) and
Tadayukl Okada (2) try to catch up.
