1989 United States motorcycle Grand Prix

  1989 United States Grand Prix

Race details
Race 3 of 15 races in the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	April 16, 1989
Official name	Dunlop USGP[1][2][3]
Location	Laguna Seca Raceway
Course	Permanent racing facility 3.602 km (2.238 mi)
500 cc
Pole position Rider Wayne Rainey Time 1:27.120 Fastest lap Rider Wayne Gardner Time 1:28.000 Podium First Wayne Rainey Second Kevin Schwantz Third Eddie Lawson
250 cc
Pole position Rider John Kocinski Time 1:30.160 Fastest lap Rider John Kocinski Time 1:29.190 Podium First John Kocinski Second Jim Filice Third Luca Cadalora

The 1989 United States motorcycle Grand Prix was the second round of the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of April 14–16, 1989 at Laguna Seca.^[4]

500 cc race report

At the front of the grid, it’s Wayne Rainey, Kevin Schwantz, Wayne Gardner, Kevin Magee and Christian Sarron. Eddie Lawson moves from 6th to 2nd in the first turn. Rainey begins to pull away, with Lawson and Schwantz getting into a scrap that leads Lawson into making a mistake on the entry to the Corkscrew, pushing him back into the group of Gardner, Magee and Sarron.

Gardner crashes out, breaking his leg. Lawson fights his way past Magee on the last lap, making it an all-American podium with Rainey and Schwantz in first and second place.

In the cool-down lap, Bubba Shobert and Kevin Magee collide; Shobert has serious head injuries that end his racing career, and Magee has a broken ankle. With Magee and Gardner both injured, Wayne Rainey’s lead in the standings can be threatened by Lawson getting the Honda set-up properly or Schwantz avoiding DNFs.

500 cc classification

Pos.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	Wayne Rainey	Team Lucky Strike Roberts	Yamaha	58:56.179	20
2	Kevin Schwantz	Suzuki Pepsi Cola	Suzuki	+6.849	17
3	Eddie Lawson	Rothmans Kanemoto Honda	Honda	+19.912	15
4	Kevin Magee	Team Lucky Strike Roberts	Yamaha	+23.732	13
5	Niall Mackenzie	Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini	Yamaha	+28.223	11
6	Christian Sarron	Sonauto Gauloises Blondes Yamaha Mobil 1	Yamaha	+30.595	10
7	Pierfrancesco Chili	HB Honda Gallina Team	Honda	+1:29.901	9
8	Mick Doohan	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda	+1 Lap	8
9	Bubba Shobert	Cabin Racing Team	Honda	+1 Lap	7
10	Dominique Sarron	Team ROC Elf Honda	Honda	+1 Lap	6
11	Alessandro Valesi	Team Iberia	Yamaha	+2 Laps	5
12	Marco Gentile	Fior Marlboro	Fior	+2 Laps	4
13	Simon Buckmaster	Racing Team Katayama	Honda	+2 Laps	3
14	Bruno Kneubuhler	Romer Racing Suisse	Honda	+2 Laps	2
15	Michael Rudroff	HRK Motors	Honda	+3 Laps	1
16	Francisco Gonzales	Club Motocross Pozuelo	Honda	+4 Laps
17	Vincenzo Cascino		Honda	+4 Laps
Ret	Ron Haslam	Suzuki Pepsi Cola	Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Tadahiko Taira	Yamaha Motor Company	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Nicholas Schmassman	FMS	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Freddie Spencer	Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Randy Mamola	Cagiva Corse	Cagiva	Retirement
Ret	David Busby		Honda	Retirement
Ret	Eugene Brown		Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Michael Wild		Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Wayne Gardner	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda	Retirement
Sources: [5][6]

References