1987 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season

The 1987 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 39th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season.

Season summary[]

Wayne Gardner became Australia's first-ever 500cc World Champion in a season that saw him score points in every Grand Prix.^[1] Randy Mamola would finish second yet again, one point ahead of Eddie Lawson despite Lawson's five victories.^[1] The first Japanese Grand Prix in 20 years was held at the Suzuka Circuit. Along with rounds in Brazil and Argentina, the championship was becoming a real world championship.^[1]

Venezuelan Carlos Lavado's defense of his 250 crown was spoiled by injuries sustained in a pre-season crash.^[1] Anton Mang stepped up to claim his fifth world championship ahead of four other Hondas.^[1] A new brand would announce its arrival in the 250 class when an Aprilia ridden by Loris Reggiani won the San Marino Grand Prix.^[1] Garelli's Fausto Gresini won ten out of eleven races in the 125 class, but ruined his bid for a perfect season when he crashed at the last round in Jarama.^[2] Spain's Jorge Martinez won the 80cc crown for the second consecutive year.^[3]

The Portuguese round was held in Jarama, Spain because the Portuguese Federation had transferred their rights to the Jarama organisers.^[1] 1987 would be the first year that saw clutch starts replace push starts on the grounds of safety.^[1] The FIM also announced that the 80cc class would be discontinued after 1989 and that the 125 class would be restricted to single cylinder machines.^[1]

The last round was in Argentina, which had not hosted a motorcycle Grand Prix since 1982. But appalling organization of the event saw the race nearly boycotted by the riders and their teams, and the race turned out to be a farcical embarrassment for the organizers. The safety of the Autodromo Buenos Aires (which was an arena-type circuit that was comparably easy to make safe, compared to other circuits) was totally unsuitable for racing; the organization of this Grand Prix was so bad that spectators had easy access to the circuit while the races were going on. The Argentine Grand Prix did not return until 1994.^[4]

1987 Grand Prix season calendar[]

The following Grands Prix were scheduled to take place in 1987:^[5][6]

Round	Date	Grand Prix	Circuit
1	29 March	Grand Prix of Japan	Suzuka Circuit
2	26 April	Marlboro Gran Premio de España	Circuito Permanente de Jerez
3	17 May	Großer Preis von Deutschland	Hockenheimring
4	24 May	Gran Premio delle Nazioni	Autodromo Nazionale Monza
5	7 June	Großer Preis von Österreich	Salzburgring
6	14 June	Yu Grand Prix	Automotodrom Rijeka
7	27 June	Dutch TT	TT Circuit Assen
8	19 July	Grand Prix de France	Bugatti Circuit
9	2 August	Shell Oils British Motorcycle Grand Prix	Donington Park
10	9 August	Swedish TT	Scandinavian Raceway
11	23 August	Grand Prix ČSSR-Brno	Brno Circuit
12	30 August	Grand Prix San Marino	Circuito Internazionale Santa Monica
13	13 September	Gran Premio Marlboro de Portugal	Circuito Permanente Del Jarama
14	27 September	GP Brasil	Autódromo Internacional de Goiânia
15	4 October	Gran Prix da la República Argentina	Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez

Calendar changes[]

• The Japanese Grand Prix was added to the calendar after a 20-year absence. The venue hosting the race was the Suzuka Circuit instead of the previously used Fuji Speedway.
• The Spanish Grand Prix moved from the Jarama to the Jerez circuit.
• The Spanish Grand Prix was moved back, from 4 May to 29 April.
• The German Grand Prix moved from the Nürburgring to the Hockenheimring.
• The British Grand Prix moved from the Silverstone circuit to Donington Park.
• The Portuguese Grand Prix was added to the calendar. The Autódromo do Estoril was not yet suited for racing, so the Jarama circuit in Spain was chosen to host the venue instead.
• The Brazilian and Argentine Grand Prix were added to the calendar. The Brazilian round was completely new, while the Argentine round returned after a 4-year absence.

Results and standings[]

Grands Prix[]

Round	Date	Race	Location	80cc winner	125cc winner	250cc winner	500cc winner	Report
1	29 March	Japanese Grand Prix	Suzuka				Randy Mamola	Report
2	26 April	Spanish Grand Prix	Jerez	Jorge Martínez	Fausto Gresini	Martin Wimmer	Wayne Gardner	Report
3	17 May	German Grand Prix	Hockenheim	Gerhard Waibel	Fausto Gresini	Anton Mang	Eddie Lawson	Report
4	24 May	Italian Grand Prix	Monza	Jorge Martínez	Fausto Gresini	Anton Mang	Wayne Gardner	Report
5	7 June	Austrian Grand Prix	Salzburgring	Jorge Martínez	Fausto Gresini	Anton Mang	Wayne Gardner	Report
6	14 June	Yugoslavian Grand Prix	Automotodrom Rijeka	Jorge Martínez		Carlos Lavado	Wayne Gardner	Report
7	27 June	Dutch TT	Assen	Jorge Martínez	Fausto Gresini	Anton Mang	Eddie Lawson	Report
8	19 July	French Grand Prix	Le Mans		Fausto Gresini	Reinhold Roth	Randy Mamola	Report
9	2 August	British Grand Prix	Donington	Jorge Martínez	Fausto Gresini	Anton Mang	Eddie Lawson	Report
10	9 August	Swedish Grand Prix	Anderstorp		Fausto Gresini	Anton Mang	Wayne Gardner	Report
11	23 August	Czechoslovakian Grand Prix	Brno	Stefan Dörflinger	Fausto Gresini	Anton Mang	Wayne Gardner	Report
12	30 August	San Marino Grand Prix	Misano	Manuel Herreros	Fausto Gresini	Loris Reggiani	Randy Mamola	Report
13	13 September	Portuguese Grand Prix	Jarama	Jorge Martínez	Paolo Casoli	Anton Mang	Eddie Lawson	Report
14	27 September	Brazilian Grand Prix	Goiania			Dominique Sarron	Wayne Gardner	Report
15	4 October	Argentine Grand Prix	Buenos Aires			Sito Pons	Eddie Lawson	Report

Participants[]

500cc participants[]

Team Constructor Motorcycle No. Rider Rounds Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 1 Eddie Lawson All 5 Rob McElnea 1-14 21 Tadahiko Taira 1-7, 9-15 Rothmans Honda/HRC Honda Honda NSR500 2 Wayne Gardner All 16 Shunji Yatsushiro All Rothmans Racing Honda Honda NSR500 12 Roger Burnett 1-13 Team Lucky Strike Roberts Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 3 Randy Mamola All 4 Mike Baldwin 1-2, 13-15 33 2-12 Team Roberts Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 40 17 34 Kevin Magee 1, 7, 13 Team Sonauto Gauloises Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 6 Christian Sarron 1-5, 7-15 Team Cagiva - Alstare Cagiva Cagiva C587 7 Didier de Radiguès 1-5, 7-15 8 Raymond Roche 1-8, 11-15 Team Elf-ROC Honda Elf Honda NSR500 9 Ron Haslam 1-13 HB Honda Gallina Honda Honda NSR500 10 Pierfrancesco Chili All HB Honda/HRC Honda Honda NSR500 11 Niall Mackenzie 1-5, 7-15 Honda Racing Corporation Honda Honda NSR500 19 Freddie Spencer 9-12 Hein Gericke Racing Honda Honda NSR500 14 1-6, 8-9, 12-13 HG-Honda ?? 36 34 3-5, 7-10, 12 Servisco Honda Honda NS500 15 2-6, 9-13 Heron Suzuki GB Ltd Heron/Suzuki Suzuki RGV500 18 1-12 34 Kevin Schwantz 2, 4, 8 34 3 Duckhams NLM Honda Honda 22 Simon Buckmaster 1-3, 5-13 Team Iberna Honda 23 1-2, 4-13 Frankonia-Suzuki Suzuki 24 1-2, 4-14 Lucky Strike Fior Fior-Honda 25 All Fior-SNCF Fior-Honda 53 26 2-4 55 72 Hervé Guilleux 5-11, 13 Suzuki Japan Suzuki Suzuki RGV500 32 1 Andy Leuthe Honda 40 4-6, 8 ?? Honda 42 78 29 3-4, 6-13 Bruno Kneubühler Honda 45 65 55 Bruno Kneubühler 2-13 Honda Britain Honda Honda NS500 57 33 2-12 H.D.J. B.Y Honda 61 44 2-3, 5, 8-10 FE-GO Honda 75 50 Silvo Habat 6 ?? Honda ?? 2-7, 10-11 Yamaha Japan Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 ?? 1 ?? 1 Source:[7]

Key Regular Rider Wildcard Rider Replacement Rider

250cc participants[]

Team Constructor Motorcycle No. Rider Rounds HB-Venemotos Yamaha 1 Carlos Lavado 2-10, 13-15 Campsa-Honda Honda Honda NSR250 2 Sito Pons All Rothmans Honda France Honda Honda NSR250 3 Dominique Sarron 1-6, 8-15 Rothmans Honda Honda Honda NSR250 4 Anton Mang All Pole Position/Ville d’Hyeres Honda Honda RS250R 5 Jean-François Baldé 1, 3-6, 8-14 Defi Defi-Rotax ?? 5 Jean-François Baldé 1, 3-6, 8-14 Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini Yamaha 6 Martin Wimmer 1-2, 5-15 22 Luca Cadalora 1-5, 7-15 ?? ?? Team Parisienne-Elf Honda Honda NSR250 7 Jacques Cornu 1-10 23 10-15 Honda RS250R 55 2, 9, 11, 13 Team Iberna Honda Honda RS250R 8 Fausto Ricci 1-2, 12-13 ?? Honda Honda RS250R 10 1-13 Pepsi/Ehrlich Automotive EMC-Rotax ?? 10 1-13 Team Ducados Angel Nieto Honda Honda NSR250 12 Carlos Cardús 1, 3-15 Racing Team Katayama Sekitoba-Honda Honda RS250R 14 Stéphane Mertens All 15 Virginio Ferrari 1 Team Italia Garelli Garelli 16 Maurizio Vitali 1-6, 9-13 Sonauto Gauloises Yamaha 17 1-5, 7-15 21 Jean-Philippe Ruggia All Sonauto Yamaha Yamaha 21 Jean-Philippe Ruggia All ?? Chevallier-Yamaha 19 2-3, 6-8, 10, 12-15 Atomic Road Racing Team Honda Honda RS250R 20 Hans Lindner 3-11 HB Römer Team Honda Honda NSR250 24 Reinhold Roth All Römer Racing Team Honda Honda RS250R 34 32 1-13 Honda France Honda Honda RS250R 25 All ?? Honda Honda RS250R 27 Manfred Herweh 1-2, 4-13 Ducados-Yamaha Racing Yamaha 31 Joan Garriga 1-7, 11-15 Team Aprilia Aprilia AFI-Rotax ?? 32 18 30 41 36 34 Loris Reggiani 2-6, 8-15 Pave d’Affinois Honda Honda RS250R 36 Guy Bertin All D Gallacher - Bradgate Containers Yamaha Honda Honda RS250R 38 Kevin Mitchell 1, 6-7, 9-11 East West Transport Honda Honda RS250R 41 3, 5-9, 11-12 Ajinomoto Honda Honda NSR250 43 45 Masahiro Shimizu 1, 14-15 44 1 HOMA Racing Team Honda Honda RS250R 43 2, 5-7 Mitsui-Yamaha Yamaha 45 Jochen Schmid 2-10, 12 M.T.D Honda Honda RS250R 48 1-4, 6, 8, 10-15 F.M.V. Yamaha 49 33 Iván Palazzese 6, 11-12 Gazzaniga Corse ?? ?? 2, 4, 7-10, 12-15 Angelo Gazzaniga Honda Honda RS250R 49 2, 4, 7-10, 12-15 ?? Yamaha 55 2-13 ?? Honda Honda RS250R ?? 2, 6, 8-11, 13-15 Moriwaki Honda Honda NSR250 ?? Alan Carter 1 ?? Honda Honda RS250R ?? 2, 8-10, 14-15 ?? Honda Honda RS250R ?? 10-15 ?? Honda Honda RS250R ?? 2-3, 12-13 Source: [8]

Key Regular Rider Wildcard Rider Replacement Rider

Final standings[]

500cc standings[]

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Team	Machine	Points	Wins	Poles	F.Laps
1	Wayne Gardner	2	Australia	Rothmans-Honda	NSR500	178	7	10	8
2	Randy Mamola	3	United States	Team Lucky Strike-Roberts	YZR500	158	3	1	3
3	Eddie Lawson	1	United States	Marlboro-Yamaha Team Agostini	YZR500	157	5	2	1
4	Ron Haslam	9	United Kingdom	Elf-Honda	Elf4-NSR500	72	0	0	0
5	Niall Mackenzie	11	United Kingdom	HB-Honda	NSR500	61	0	1	0
6	Tadahiko Taira	21	Japan	Marlboro-Yamaha Team Agostini	YZR500	56	0	0	1
7	Christian Sarron	6	France	Team Sonauto-Gauloises	YZR500	52	0	1	0
8	Pier-Francesco Chili	10	Italy	HB-Honda	NS500	47	0	0	0
9	Shunji Yatsushiro	16	Japan	Rothmans-Honda	NSR500	40	0	0	0
10	Rob McElnea	5	United Kingdom	Marlboro-Yamaha Team Agostini	YZR500	39	0	0	0
11	Roger Burnett	12	United Kingdom	Rothmans-Honda	NSR500	25	0	0	0
12	Didier de Radiguès	7	Belgium	Team Cagiva-Alstare	GP500	21	0	0	1
13	Raymond Roche	8	France	Team Cagiva-Alstare	GP500	15	0	0	0
14		18	United Kingdom	Heron-Suzuki	RGB500	12	0	0	0
15	Kevin Magee	40	Australia	Team Lucky Strike-Roberts	YZR500	11	0	0	0
16	Kevin Schwantz	34	United States	Heron-Suzuki	RGB500	11	0	0	0
17	Takumi Ito[9]	32	Japan	Suzuki-Japan	RGB500	10	0	0	0
18	Mike Baldwin	4	United States	Team Lucky Strike-Roberts	YZR500	6	0	0	0
19		14	West Germany	Hein Gericke Racing	RS500/NS500	5	0	0	0
20	Freddie Spencer	19	United States	HRC-Honda	NSR500	4	0	0	0
21			Japan	Yamaha-Japan	YZR500	4	0	0	0
22	Richard Scott[10]	57/33	New Zealand	Honda-Britain / Team Lucky Strike-Roberts	RS500/NS500/YZR500	3	0	0	0
23	Shinjii Katayama		Japan	Yamaha-Japan	YZR500	2	0	0	0
24		25	Italy	Lucky Strike Fior	NS500	1	0	0	0
-	Fabio Barchitta	42	San Marino		RS500	0	0	0	0
-	Fabio Biliotti	15	Italy	Servisco	RS500	0	0	0	0
-	Simon Buckmaster	22	United Kingdom	Duckhams NLM Honda	RS500	0	0	0	0
-	Maarten Duyzers	61	Netherlands	H.D.J.B.Y.	RS500	0	0	0	0
-	Gerold Fischer		West Germany		RS500	0	0	0	0
-	Manfred Fischer	36	West Germany	Hein Gericke Racing	RS500	0	0	0	0
-	Hervé Guilleux	55	France	Fior-SNCF	RS500	0	0	0	0
-	Silvo Habat	75	Yugoslavia	FE-GO	RS500	0	0	0	0
-	Bruno Kneubühler	45	Switzerland	Bruno Kneubühler	RS500	0	0	0	0
-	Andreas Leuthe	40	Luxembourg	Andreas Leuthe	RS500	0	0	0	0
-	Donnie McLeod	34	United Kingdom	Heron-Suzuki	RGB500	0	0	0	0
-	Wolfgang von Muralt	24	Switzerland	Franconia-Suzuki	RGB500	0	0	0	0
-	Thierry Rapicault	53	France	Fior-SNCF	RS500	0	0	0	0
-	Kenny Roberts, Jr.	51	United States	Team Lucky Strike-Roberts	YZR500	0	0	0	0

^[11][12]

250cc standings[]

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Team	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Anton Mang	4	West Germany	Rothmans-Honda	NSR250	136	8
2	Reinhold Roth	24	West Germany	HB Römer-Honda	NSR250	108	1
3	Sito Pons	2	Spain	Campsa-Honda	NSR250	108	1
4	Dominique Sarron	3	France	Rothmans-Honda France	NSR250	97	1
5	Carlos Cardús	12	Spain	Ducados-Honda	NSR250	70	0
6	Loris Reggiani	32	Italy	Aprilia	RS250	68	1
7	Luca Cadalora	22	Italy	Marlboro-Yamaha	YZR250	63	0
8	Martin Wimmer	6	West Germany	Marlboro-Yamaha	YZR250	61	1
9	Jacques Cornu	7	Switzerland	Parisienne Elf-Honda	NSR250	50	0
10	Carlos Lavado	1	Venezuela	HB Venemotos-Yamaha	YZR250	46	1
11	Juan Garriga		Spain	Ducados-Yamaha	YZR250	46
12			France	Yamaha	YZR250	42
13	Masahiro Shimizu		Japan	Honda		20
14			Japan	Honda		15	1
15	Manfred Herweh		West Germany			11
16	Ivan Palazzese		Venezuela			9
17	Jean Philippe Ruggia		France	Yamaha		7
18	Jean-François Baldé		France			6
19	Maurizio Vitali		Italy			6
20			Austria			5
21			Switzerland			5
22			United Kingdom			4
23	Stephane Mertens		Belgium			2
24			Japan			2
25	Guy Bertin		France			1
26			France			1
27			Japan			1

^[13][14]

125cc standings[]

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Fausto Gresini	2	Italy	Garelli	150	10
2	Bruno Casanova	23	Italy	Garelli	88	0
3	Paolo Casoli	14	Italy	AGV	61	1
4	Domenico Brigaglia	3	Italy	AGV	58	0
5	August Auinger	4	Austria	MBA	54	0
6	Ezio Gianola	5	Italy	Honda	45	0
7	Pier Paolo Bianchi	8	Italy	MBA	43	0
8		26	Spain	Ducados	40	0
9		7	Belgium	MBA	32	0
10		22	Austria	MBA	32	0
11			Finland		21
12			Italy		17
13			France		16
14			Switzerland		13
15			Finland		10
16			West Germany		9
17			Venezuela		8
18			Italy		6
19			Italy		6
20			Finland		4
21			Belgium		4
22			Sweden		2
23			United Kingdom		2
24			Algeria		2
25			Denmark		1
26			West Germany		1
27			Argentina		1

^[15]

80cc standings[]

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Jorge Martínez	1	Spain	Derbi	129	7
2	Manuel Herreros	2	Spain	Derbi	86	1
3	Gerhard Waibel	5	West Germany	Krauser	82	1
4	Stefan Dörflinger	3	Switzerland	Krauser	75	1
5		5	United Kingdom	Krauser	51	0
6		6	West Germany		38	0
7	Hubert Abold	9	West Germany	Krauser	33	0
8		22	Spain		31	0
9		9	Austria	Krauser	19	0
10	Julián Miralles		Spain	Derbi	18	0
11	Àlex Crivillé				12
12					12
13	Hans Spaan				11
14					10
15					10
16					9
17	Alex Barros				8
18					5
19					4
20					3
21	Peter Öttl				3
22					2
23	Herri Torrontegui				1
24	Theo Timmer				1
25					1
26	Ralf Waldmann				1

^[16]

Further reading[]

• Büla, Maurice & Schertenleib, Jean-Claude (2001). Continental Circus 1949-2000. Chronosports S.A. ISBN 2-940125-32-5

References[]

External links[]

• "The Official MotoGP website". Retrieved 2010-07-06.