Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

~ ROAD E~~~~~Road Rac~ Series: Round 12 RA,...-.-.C"..""...... ~ Wayne Rainey led every lap of the race on the Interlagos circuit and dosed within two points of series points leader Michael Doohan, who finished 12th. Rainey's Marlboro Yamaha teammate John Kocinski (4) battled with Doug Chandler (10) throughout the race and finished second. Chandler finished third. Rainey romps in Brazil By Henny·Ray Abrams Photos by David Goidman INTERLAGOS, BRAZIL, AUG. 23 arlboro Team Roberts Yamaha's Wayne Rain.ey came to Brazil and he did what he had to do, not just win the race to keep his championship hopes alive, but take a leadership position among the riders to scuttle any chance of a boycott. Not that a boycott wasn't warranted on purely safety concerns. The Interlagos circuit, tucked in a cauldron of urban squalor south of Sao Paolo, proved clearly unsafe on a 500cc race bike. But Rainey said their rider's rep had inspected the track and had committed them to ride and there was no question he would. "The weather was dodgy, the atmosphere was dodgy. We got the race off and everyone's okay;" Rainey said after winning his third Grand Prix of the year and closing the championship gap on leader Mick Doohan to two points with one race remaining. Dooh'an rode valiantly; and at one juncture was in the points, but he dropped back to finish 12th and left Brazil with the same points he'd left Hockenheim with. "I gave it my very best shot, and, as you can imagine, the whole team is bitterly disappointed that we didn't score any points," Doohan said before returning to Italy to continue rehabilitating the leg he broke in the Dutch TT at Assen. "At least I proved today I can ride a 28lap race and I'm sure that the two week gap between the race here in Brazil and M 10 the race in South A~ca will allow me to be a lot stronger and fitter. Certainly, nobody on our team has any intention of writing off the World Championship. I've said from the start that this championship isn't over until it's over." The gap is 130 for Rothmans Honda's Doohan to 128 for Rainey as they head for the season-ending South African GP on September 6. If Rainey was confident of a third title, he didn't show it. "I feel better, but.I'm still behind, like I've been all year. Mick's injuries are going to be better there (South Africa). I still have to go down there and get a good finish, and win there," the 31:yearold Californian, who led every lap of the race, said. Rainey completed the 28-lap, 75.22 mile race in 48 minutes, 33.359 seconds at an average speed of 92.938 mph before a crowd of 10,000; 4,600 were paying spectators, the rest were given tickets by the government. Joining Rainey on the podium was his disgruntled teammate John Kocinski, the 24-year-old Californian nearly coming off on the first lap before getting the best of a race-long battle with Lucky Strike Suzuki's Doug Chandler for third. "Basically, the bike wore me out," Kocinski, who suspected a broken rear shock, said. "Doug and I were havmg a contest to see who could get their feet off the pegs the most." _ Kocinski would finish more than 13 seconds behind Rainey, but better than six in front of Chandler, who noticed early on that his machine wasn't working as good as the leading Yamahas. "I was fortunate to finish third," Chandler, who was one of the most vocal opponents of the track, said. "I had to ride the circuit at my own pace. I'm glad it's done and over. Now we can go to the next race." Fourth went to Rothmans Kanemoto Honda's Wayne Gardner, his NSR500 going flat on the warm-up lap and never improving, forcing him to battle for the spot with a pair of riders he rarely races with, Miguel DuHamel and Alex Criville. In a photo finish, Yamaha Motor France/Banco's DuHamel got the best of Campsa Honda's Criville for a career best fifth, the Spaniard taking sixth .020 seconds back. Slowed by a water circulation problem caused by a broken engine stud, Lucky Strike Suzuki's Kevin Schwantz dropped from an early second to seventh, safely in front of Brazilian Alex Barros on the Cagiva. Yamaha Motor France/Banco's Niall MacKenzie was ninth, with Budweiser Racing's Randy Mamola 10th after nearly being taken out by the falling Juan Garriga on the first lap. Cagiva's Eddie Lawson, who w~s bitterly opposed to racing on the Interlagos track, finished 11tho The 250cc race belonged to World Champion Luca Cadalora, the Rothmans Kanemoto Honda-mounted Italian controlling the race nearly from the start and never challenged in notching his seventh win of the year. Taking over the lead on the third of 26 laps, he pulled away from Telkor Valesi Racing's Max Biaggi to win by 3.650 seconds at the end of the 70.18 mile race. Cadalora averaged 91.571 mph. "It was not a hard race for me. All I was trying to do was not make any mistakes because I did not know the track too well," Cadalora said. "After I passed Biaggi I tried to hold a steady advantage to the end of the race. Toward the end, I slowed down because I was sure about the victory." Biaggi nipped fellow Aprilia rider Loris Reggiani at the flag, beating him by .272 sees. HB Honda's Doriano Romboni was fourth, about 3.5 sees. back, but almost nine in front of Mitsui Yamaha's Jochen Schmid, the German making up for a bad start. The order of the top three in the championship is set, Cadalora will be number one, Reggiani number two, and Telkor Valesi Racing's Pier-Francesco Chili third. Chili dropped out with 10 laps to go when his gearbox failed. Europa Raudies' Dirk Raudies won his first-ever 125cc GP, taking the lead on the fourth of 24 laps and pulling away to a convincing win in what's normallya highly contested class. Though the Honda-mounted German had a relatively easy day, the fight for second was fierce, less than half a second covering second through fourth places. Coronas Elf's Jorge Martinez recovered from a practice spill to take over second w~th five laps to go and hold onto the runner-up spot, though just barely. Aprilia Unlimited Jeans's Alessandro Gramigni was third, .408 seconds back, with Scot Racing's Bruno Casanova a mere .003 seconds behind Gramigni in fourth. Gramigni increased his championship lead to eight points over Marlboro Team Pileri's Fausto Gresini (sixth today), 122 to 114. Zwafink Racing's Ralf Waldmann, who's third with 106 points, failed to score a point, finishing 15th with myriad machine ailments. ."There's nothing good to say about the race," Waldmann said. 'The bike just wasn't working." Raudies completed the 24-lap, 64.47 mile race in 44 minutes, 37.091 seconds, at an average speed of 86.698 mph. 500cc GP The day started with a downpour, and though it had stopped by the time morning practice began, the track was still slick and dangerous. But soon after, a warm front moved in and the clouds, though not departing, were less ominous as the temperature rose to about 70 degrees. As the riders gridded, the track . was still wet in spots, but slicks were the obvious choice of tires. From the drop of the green flag to the wave of the checkered the race belonged to Wayne Rainey. No one even got close to matching his blistering pace, the top ·seven fastest laps of the race belonging to the blonde-haired Californian. There was some concern about the primary gear on the Yamaha "droner" motor, Kocinski's and MacKenzie's having failed at Donington with Rainey's just surviving. But the part has since been strengthened and Rainey pushed most of the race until he realized he had better than a 10-second lead. The cushion was 10 seconds by the 10th lap, but Rainey couldn't see his full pit board and thought the lead was much less. "I was going down the front straight so fast that all I saw was .8. I thought Gardner was there the whole time. I pushed it for about eight laps and the next time I looked I saw the 10. Then it shocked me for a few laps," said Rainey, who was racing with yet another new chassis. . . "The track was fairly easy on the tires. You don't use a lot of throttle because of the bumps. A lot of the corners are quarter-throttle. You stop, tum, and gas it," Rainey said. As easy as it was for Rainey, it was that much of a struggle for the others. Kevin Schwantz was away with Rainey, but noticed early on that his -temperature gauge wasn't registering. "It didn't have the guts it needed," Schwantz said. Unable to tell how the engine was running, Schwantz was forced to back off, dropping from second on the fourth lap to an eventual seventh. "It just gradually seemed to get a little slower," Schwantz said. Worried that it might seize at any minute, the Texan was forced to change his race strategy. "I was trying to keep myself on the inside of the corners in case something happened. That was so I could get the thing stood up if I had to." A post-race teardown showed that a cylinder stud had pulled out of the case allowing water to escape. That the bike finished the race on just the uncirculating water in the cylinders was something of a surprise, that it didn't seize was even more surprising. . Moving up to contest second were Kocinski and Chandler, the two battling every inch of the way, the Yamaha a little,better in the corners. Chandler took the spot back on the 11th lap, holding it until the 14th when Kocinski was past for good. "My bike wasn't working as good as John's and Wayne's," Chandler said. "I was losing a bit of time in the tighter comers. They were qUicker coming into them. On the backstraight, I couldn't get on or off that comer for nothing." Kocinski knew where his bike was working better, though he was surprised at where he could pass. "Up the front," he said. "It's one of the few times this year that it actually ran down the straights." But Kocinski was having other problems, problems he noticed when he was

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