1992 British motorcycle Grand Prix

  1992 British Grand Prix

Race details
Race 11 of 13 races in the 1992 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	2 August 1992
Official name	Rothmans British Grand Prix[1][2][3]
Location	Donington Park
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.023 km (2.500 mi)
500 cc
Pole position Rider Eddie Lawson Time 1:33.814 Fastest lap Rider Wayne Rainey Time 1:34.194 Podium First Wayne Gardner Second Wayne Rainey Third Juan Garriga
250 cc
Pole position Rider Pierfrancesco Chili Time 1:36.259 Fastest lap Rider Pierfrancesco Chili Time 1:35.857 Podium First Pierfrancesco Chili Second Loris Reggiani Third Doriano Romboni
125 cc
Pole position Rider Bruno Casanova Time 1:42.344 Fastest lap Rider Unknown Podium First Fausto Gresini Second Alessandro Gramigni Third Noboru Ueda

The 1992 British motorcycle Grand Prix was the eleventh round of the 1992 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 31 July-2 August 1992 at Donington Park.

500 cc race report

Mick Doohan’s leg injury became life-threatening and the right leg had to be fused to his left in order for the right to heal. Wayne Rainey commented: “When Mick didn’t show up people started to realize how bad his leg was. I was racing against a ghost.”^[4]

Wayne Gardner announces his retirement, effective at the end of the season. He won the World Championship in 1987, but injuries, American riders and Doohan had stalled his career.

Eddie Lawson on pole, then John Kocinski, Rainey and Gardner. Kocinski gets the start, but Rainey and Lawson are soon through and Schwantz is in 4th.

After the first lap it’s Rainey, Lawson, and Schwantz (lap record holder), but Gardner is moving up.

Gardner passes Schwantz, who passes Lawson. Rainey still up front with a small gap.

Rainey’s front-end is bobbling through Craner Curves with Gardner on his wheel; Gardner passes Rainey at the chicane. The group behind is closing.

Schwantz into second, and it becomes a tight 5-man group: Gardner, Schwantz, Rainey, Lawson and Juan Garriga.

Schwantz through to 1st at the Old Hairpin, and holds Gardner off for a few laps, but Gardner gets him back at the chicane. Rainey through to 2nd at Redgate.

Schwantz through to 2nd at the Old Hairpin. Niall Mackenzie, who had been giving Kocinski a run, leaves with a mechanical. Kocinski also out with a mechanical.

5 laps to go, Schwantz crashes out at Redgate and throws his hands up, looking angrily at the track. As he walks behind the tire barrier he meets Doug Chandler, who crashed in the same place. They’re both now yelling and Schwantz jumps over the barrier as Carl Fogarty goes down, grabs an oil flag and instructs a marshal on its use.

Schwantz:

"I checked nobody was coming and ran across to the flag marshall and grabbed the oil flag because he was just standing there with it not doing anything much and was half way round the corner — I got back up the straight twenty or twenty five yards so that I could flag and signal to everybody to get on the outside line. Kocinski's bike had broken a primary gear and that had come out the side of the cases, gas, oil and everything went everywhere. ... A lot of guys out there thanked me for getting on the flags. Gardner and Rymer said that had I not got the flag out other people would have fallen because the marshals weren't doing what they were supposed to."^[5]

Last lap and Rainey isn’t close enough to pass Gardner. As they cross the line, it looks like Schwantz cheering Rainey on from the side of the track, and Rainey throws a questioning hand up to him.

500 cc classification

Pos.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	Wayne Gardner	Rothmans Kanemoto Honda	Honda	47:38.373	20
2	Wayne Rainey	Marlboro Team Roberts	Yamaha	+0.855	15
3	Juan Garriga	Ducados Yamaha	Yamaha	+5.915	12
4	Eddie Lawson	Cagiva Team Agostini	Cagiva	+26.079	10
5	Peter Goddard	Valvoline Team WCM	ROC Yamaha	+1:04.091	8
6	Terry Rymer	Padgett's Motorcycles	Harris-Yamaha	+1:22.330	6
7	Miguel Duhamel	Yamaha Motor Banco	Yamaha	+1 Lap	4
8	Michael Rudroff	Rallye Sport	Harris-Yamaha	+1 Lap	3
9	Dominique Sarron	Team ROC Banco	ROC Yamaha	+1 Lap	2
10	Toshiyuki Arakaki	Team ROC Banco	ROC Yamaha	+1 Lap	1
11	Serge David	Team ROC Banco	ROC Yamaha	+1 Lap
12	Bruno Bonhuil	Ville de Paris	ROC Yamaha	+1 Lap
13	Nicholas Schmassman	Uvex Racing Team	ROC Yamaha	+1 Lap
14	Peter Graves	Peter Graves Racing Team	Harris-Yamaha	+1 Lap
15	Cees Doorakkers	HEK Racing Team	Harris-Yamaha	+1 Lap
16	Marco Papa	Librenti Corse	Librenti	+1 Lap
Ret	Kevin Schwantz	Lucky Strike Suzuki	Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Eddie Laycock	Milla Racing	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Andreas Leuthe	VRP Racing Team	VRP	Retirement
Ret	Josef Doppler	Uvex Racing Team	ROC Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Àlex Crivillé	Campsa Honda Team	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Kevin Mitchell	MBM Racing	Harris-Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Randy Mamola	Budweiser Team/Global Motorsports	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Carl Fogarty	MBM Racing	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	James Whitham	Padgett's Motorcycles	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Lucio Pedercini	Paton Grand Prix	Paton	Retirement
Ret	Niall Mackenzie	Yamaha Motor Banco	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	John Kocinski	Marlboro Team Roberts	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Doug Chandler	Lucky Strike Suzuki	Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Corrado Catalano	KCS International	ROC Yamaha	Retirement
Sources: [6][7]

References