1988 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season

The 1988 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 40th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season.

Season summary[]

Eddie Lawson would recapture the championship from Wayne Gardner in a season that witnessed several fierce duels. Two newcomers joined the Grand Prix circuit with Americans Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz each winning races in their first full year. This was Rainey’s debut in the 500s; he had ridden a 250 in 1984 and gotten 1 podium of 12 starts. Alan Cathcart’s pre-season assessment in Cycle News was that “Rainey is a good rider, but he'll never be a great rider. And he'll certainly never be a Randy Mamola.”^[1]

The V4 machines used by the factories were extremely powerful and in combination with rigid chassis produced power slides that sometimes caused violent highsides, throwing the riders into the air. Cagiva joined the racing with Randy Mamola as their rider. The first United States Grand Prix in 23 years was held in Monterrey, California.

Sito Pons beat out fellow countryman Juan Garriga for the 250 title winning four races to Garriga's three. Spain's Jorge Martinez captured double championships in the 80 and 125 classes for the Spanish firm Derbi.

1988 Grand Prix season calendar[]

The following Grands Prix were scheduled to take place in 1988:^[2][3]

Round	Date	Grand Prix	Circuit
1	27 March	Grand Prix of Japan	Suzuka Circuit
2	10 April	United States International Grand Prix	Laguna Seca Raceway
3	24 April	Gran Premio Marlboro de España	Circuito Permanente Del Jarama
4	1 May	Gran Premio Campsa	Circuito Permanente de Jerez
5	22 May	Nations Grand Prix	Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari
6	29 May	Großer Preis von Deutschland	Nürburgring
7	12 June	Großer Preis von Österreich	Salzburgring
8	25 June	Dutch-TT	TT Circuit Assen
9	3 July	G.P. of Belgium Gauloises Blondes	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
10	17 July	Yu Grand Prix	Automotodrom Rijeka
11	24 July	Grand Prix de France	Circuit Paul Ricard
12	7 August	Shell Oils British Motorcycle Grand Prix	Donington Park
13	14 August	Swedish TT	Scandinavian Raceway
14	28 August	Grand Prix CSSR-Brno	Brno Circuit
15	17 September	Brazilian Grand Prix	Autódromo Internacional de Goiânia

Calendar changes[]

• The United States Grand Prix was added to the calendar after a 23-year absence.
• The Spanish Grand Prix moved from the Jerez to the Jarama circuit.
• The Expo 92 Grand Prix was added as a one-off race to replace the Portuguese Grand Prix which was held in Spain at the Jarama circuit. The venue hosting the Grand Prix was the Jerez circuit.
• The Nations Grand Prix moved from the Monza to the Imola circuit.
• The German Grand Prix moved from the Hockenheimring to the Nürburgring.
• The German Grand Prix was moved back, from 17 to 29 May.
• The Belgian Grand Prix returned after a one-year absence.
• The French Grand Prix moved from the Bugatti Circuit in Le Mans to the Paul Ricard circuit.
• The San Marino Grand Prix was taken off the calendar.
• The Argentine Grand Prix was removed from the calendar because of bad organisation and unsafe track conditions.

Participants[]

500cc participants[]

Team Constructor Motorcycle No. Rider Rounds Rothmans Honda/HRC Honda Honda NSR500 1 Wayne Gardner All 9 Shunji Yatsushiro 1-11 9 11 Roger Burnett 12-15 Cagiva Corse Cagiva Cagiva C588 2 Randy Mamola 1, 5-15 21 Raymond Roche 1-5, 10, 12-14 29 36 5-7 Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 3 Eddie Lawson All 12 Didier de Radiguès All Team Elf-ROC Elf 5-Honda Honda NSR500 4 Ron Haslam All ?? 10-11 HB-Honda Racing Corporation Honda Honda NSR500 5 Niall Mackenzie All Yamaha Racing Team Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 6 Tadahiko Taira 1, 5, 12-14 54 1, 12-13 Team Gauloises Blondes Yamaha Mobil 1 Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 7 Christian Sarron All 14 1, 5-12, 14-15 HB Honda Gallina Team Honda Honda NSR500 8 Pierfrancesco Chili 1-3, 5-15 Racing Team Katayama Honda ?? Roger Burnett 5 18 Mike Baldwin 9-12 31 28 46 3-6, 8-15 51 49 9-11, 15 ?? ?? Team Pepsi Suzuki Suzuki Suzuki RGV500 10 Rob McElnea All 34 Kevin Schwantz 1-9, 11-15 Team Lucky Strike Roberts Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 16 Kevin Magee All 17 Wayne Rainey All ?? Honda 18 Mike Baldwin 2-3 Team Hein Gericke Honda 20 Manfred Fischer 1, 5-9, 11, 14 26 3, 7 Team Greco Honda 22 30 Marco Papa 3-11, 14 Ducados Honda 23 28 3-14 Marlboro Fior Team Fior-Honda 25 Marco Gentile All Team Iberna Honda 27 1-11, 13-15 Team Amaranto Paton Honda 28 55 3, 5, 7-14 Römer Racing Suisse Honda 29 Bruno Kneubühler 3-15 ?? Honda 30 3-9, 11-14 ?? Suzuki Suzuki RG 500G 31 3-5 ?? Suzuki Suzuki RG 500G 39 3, 6, 10-14 ?? Suzuki 40 3-4, 6-10, 12 ?? Suzuki 42 ?? Rukka Oy Honda 44 10 ?? Honda Honda NSR500 45 1 ?? Honda 45 4, 6-9, 11, 14 Seed Honda Honda NSR500 46 Shinichi Ito 1 HDJ International Honda 50 33 3-6, 8-13 PVI Racing / Jacadi Honda 51 32 3-5, 9, 11-12, 14 Millar Racing Honda 52 Eddie Laycock 3-4, 8-12, 14 Source: [4]

Key Regular Rider Wildcard Rider Replacement Rider

250cc participants[]

Team Constructor Motorcycle No. Rider Rounds Rothmans-Honda Germany Team Honda Honda NSR250 1 Anton Mang 1-10 Team Anton Mang Honda Honda NSR250 ?? Helmut Bradl 1-3, 5-11, 13-15 ?? Jochen Schmid 4, 6-15 HB-Römer Team Honda Honda NSR250 2 Reinhold Roth 2-15 Römer-TM Team Aprilia-Rotax 33 Reinhold Roth 2-12, 14-15 Campsa Honda Team Honda Honda NSR250 3 Sito Pons All Rothmans-Honda France Honda Honda NSR250 4 Dominique Sarron All Team Ducados Ángel Nieto Honda Honda NSR250 5 Carlos Cardús 1-3, 7-15 Honda RS250R Honda NSR250 32 Alberto Puig 1-6, 13, 15 Team Aprilia Aprilia 6 Loris Reggiani 1-5, 8-15 Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini Yamaha 7 Luca Cadalora All Team Hein Gericke Yamaha 8 Martin Wimmer 2-9, 11-15 Team Parisienne-Elf Honda Honda NSR250 9 Jacques Cornu All Honda RS250R Honda NSR250 25 1-11, 13-15 Venemotos HB Yamaha Yamaha 10 Carlos Lavado 1-9, 12-15 Ducados Yamaha Team Yamaha 11 Joan Garriga All Ajinomoto-Honda/HRC Honda Honda NSR250 12 Masahiro Shimizu 3-15 15 1 HRC Honda Honda NSR250 65 Jim Filice 2 ?? 1 ?? Yamaha 14 Manfred Herweh 3-10, 12, 14-15 ?? Défi-Rotax ?? 16 Jean-François Baldé 1, 3-5, 7-15 Team Gauloises Blondes Yamaha Mobil 1 Yamaha 17 Jean-Philippe Ruggia All Team Italia Aprilia 18 Bruno Casanova 1-8, 10-14 Pileri Corse Garelli 19 Paolo Casoli 2-6, 9-14 ?? Aprilia-Rotax 20 3, 5-11, 14 Eckert Motorradtechnik Honda Honda RS250R 22 Jochen Schmid 4, 6-15 Team 7-Up/EMC EMC-Rotax ?? 24 9-11, 15 Team Manoca Yamaha 26 Iván Palazzese 4, 7-8, 12-14 Gazzaniga Rotax ?? 28 Maurizio Vitali 3-11, 13-14 Atomic Road Racing Team Honda Honda RS250R 29 4, 6-7, 10, 12-14 ?? Aprilia-Rotax 30 August Auinger All Racing Team Docshop/Wevamed Yamaha 31 1-5, 8-15 35 Wilco Zeelenberg 8-9 49 12, 4, 6, 10-11, 14 Team San Remo Honda Honda RS250R 34 3-15 ?? Yamaha 36 5-6, 8-9, 11, 13-15 Team Hurst/East West Honda Yamaha Honda RS250R 37 43 3-4, 7-12, 14 Schuh Racing Team Yamaha 37 6-12, 14-15 D Gallacher/Bradgate Containers Yamaha 41 Kevin Mitchell 1, 3-7, 11-12, 14 Team Lucky Strike Roberts Yamaha 44 80 27 John Kocinski 1-2, 5-6 ?? Yamaha 44 Guy Bertin 3, 7, 9-11, 15 NMC Renzo Pasolini Yamaha 45 3, 5, 7, 9-11, 14 Kung Racing Team Schweiz Yamaha 47 5, 10-14 Assmex Yamaha 52 Wilco Zeelenberg 12-13 Team MacLean Camel Honda Honda NSR250 75 Bubba Shobert 2 ?? Honda Honda RS250R ?? 4, 6, 10-11, 13 ?? Fior-Rotax ?? ?? 6, 8, 10-12 ?? Honda Honda RS250R ?? Helmut Bradl 1-3, 5-11, 13-15 ?? Yamaha Honda Honda RS250R ?? 3-6, 9, 13 ?? Honda Honda RS250R ?? 6, 11 Racing Team UCC Yamaha ?? 1 SNCF Fior-Rotax ?? ?? 11 ?? Yamaha ?? 6-7, 9, 15 Source: [5]

Key Regular Rider Wildcard Rider Replacement Rider

Results and standings[]

Grands Prix[]

Round	Date	Race	Location	80cc winner	125cc winner	250cc winner	500cc winner	Report
1	27 March	Japanese Grand Prix	Suzuka			Anton Mang	Kevin Schwantz	Report
2	10 April	United States Grand Prix	Laguna Seca			Jim Filice	Eddie Lawson	Report
3	24 April	Spanish Grand Prix	Jarama	Stefan Dörflinger	Jorge Martínez	Sito Pons	Kevin Magee	Report
4	1 May	Expo 92 Grand Prix	Jerez	Jorge Martínez		Juan Garriga	Eddie Lawson	Report
5	22 May	Italian Grand Prix	Imola	Jorge Martínez	Jorge Martínez	Dominique Sarron	Eddie Lawson	Report
6	29 May	German Grand Prix	Nürburgring	Jorge Martínez	Ezio Gianola	Luca Cadalora	Kevin Schwantz	Report
7	12 June	Austrian Grand Prix	Salzburgring		Jorge Martínez	Jacques Cornu	Eddie Lawson	Report
8	25 June	Dutch TT	Assen	Jorge Martínez	Jorge Martínez	Juan Garriga	Wayne Gardner	Report
9	3 July	Belgian Grand Prix	Spa		Jorge Martínez	Sito Pons	Wayne Gardner	Report
10	17 July	Yugoslavian Grand Prix	Rijeka	Jorge Martínez	Jorge Martínez	Sito Pons	Wayne Gardner	Report
11	24 July	French Grand Prix	Paul Ricard		Jorge Martínez	Jacques Cornu	Eddie Lawson	Report
12	7 August	British Grand Prix	Donington		Ezio Gianola	Luca Cadalora	Wayne Rainey	Report
13	14 August	Swedish Grand Prix	Anderstorp		Jorge Martínez	Sito Pons	Eddie Lawson	Report
14	28 August	Czechoslovakian Grand Prix	Brno	Jorge Martínez	Jorge Martínez	Juan Garriga	Wayne Gardner	Report
15	17 September	Brazilian Grand Prix	Goiânia			Dominique Sarron	Eddie Lawson	Report

500cc riders' standings[]

Scoring system

Points are awarded to the top fifteen finishers. A rider has to finish the race to earn points.

Pos Rider Team Machine JPN USA ESP AND NAT GER AUT NED BEL YUG FRA GBR SWE CZE BRA Pts 1 Eddie Lawson Marlboro Yamaha-Agostini YZR500 3 1 2 1 1 4 1 2 2 10 1 6 1 2 1 252 2 Wayne Gardner Rothmans Honda-HRC NSR500 2 2 3 5 2 8 Ret 1 1 1 4 2 2 1 2 229 3 Wayne Rainey Lucky Strike Yamaha-Roberts YZR500 6 4 6 2 3 2 3 7 5 3 5 1 5 3 Ret 189 4 Christian Sarron Sonauto Gauloises-Yamaha YZR500 8 6 4 4 Ret 3 Ret 3 Ret 2 2 3 3 Ret 5 149 5 Kevin Magee Lucky Strike Yamaha-Roberts YZR500 7 Ret 1 3 5 5 6 4 Ret 5 9 5 6 Ret 6 138 6 Niall Mackenzie HB-Honda NSR500 4 3 5 7 11 9 Ret 5 11 Ret Ret 4 4 6 4 125 7 Didier de Radiguès Marlboro Yamaha-Agostini YZR500 9 8 8 6 Ret 7 2 12 4 6 7 7 7 Ret 9 120 8 Kevin Schwantz Pepsi-Suzuki RGV500 1 5 Ret Ret 4 1 4 8 Ret 3 Ret 12 Ret 3 119 9 Pierfrancesco Chili HB Honda-Gallina NSR500 14 Ret 7 6 6 5 6 8 11 8 8 9 4 7 110 10 Rob McElnea Pepsi-Suzuki RGV500 Ret 9 12 8 12 11 9 10 6 8 11 Ret 13 8 8 83 11 Ron Haslam Team Elf-ROC Elf5-RS500 12 7 10 Ret 16 Ret 8 13 7 9 10 14 11 7 Ret 68 12 Randy Mamola Cagiva GP500 Ret 7 Ret Ret Ret 3 4 6 11 10 Ret Ret 58 13 Shunji Yatsushiro Rothmans Honda-HRC NSR500 10 Ret 9 Ret 8 10 7 11 9 7 Ret 57 14 Sonauto Gauloises-Yamaha YZR500 13 15 12 10 9 10 12 Ret 16 Ret 9 10 44 15 Tadahiko Taira Yamaha Japan YZR500 5 10 10 14 5 36 16 Team Iberna RS500 19 11 13 10 13 16 Ret Ret 12 Ret 14 Ret Ret 13 Ret 19 17 Marco Papa Team Greco RS500 Ret 9 24 14 Ret 14 14 Ret 18 Ret 12 17 18 Roger Burnett Katayama Racing Team RS500 Ret 9 8 Ret Ret 15 19 Mike Baldwin Katayama Racing Team RS500 10 Ret 20 14 13 13 14 20 Raymond Roche Cagiva GP500 Ret Ret 11 Ret 9 Ret Ret Ret 15 Ret 13 21 Fabio Barchitta Katayama Racing Team RS500 18 18 Ret Ret 29 16 15 18 16 10 11 12 22 Bruno Kneubühler Römer Racing Suisse RS500 15 14 19 25 12 17 25 15 Ret Ret 20 15 Ret 9 23 Donnie McLeod Katayama Racing Team RS500 13 13 16 13 9 24 Marco Gentile Marlboro Fior Fior-RS500 Ret Ret Ret Ret 14 17 Ret 15 30 Ret 17 20 19 11 Ret 8 25 Daniel Amatriain Ducados-Honda RS500 14 11 Ret Ret Ret 18 22 19 Ret 19 Ret Ret 7 26 Hikaru Miyagi Honda NSR500 11 5 27 Gustav Reiner Team Hein Gericke RS500 Ret 11 Ret 5 28 Steve Manley Gateford Motors RG500 16 12 Ret Ret 4 29 Malcolm Campbell Team Elf-ROC Elf5-RS500 Ret 12 4 30 Norihiko Fujiwara Yamaha Japan YZR500 Ret 12 17 4 31 Francisco Gonzales Katayama Racing Team RS500 12 4 32 Fabio Biliotti Team Amaranto Paton-RS500 Ret Ret 13 16 16 17 19 15 Ret 16 4 33 Rachel Nicotte PVI Racing / Jacadi RS500 17 13 23 19 Ret Ret 20 3 34 Peter Schleef Schuh Racing Team RS500 13 Ret 3 35 Massimo Broccoli Cagiva GP500 Ret Ret 14 2 36 Peter Linden Honda Sweden RS500 Ret 18 14 2 37 Osamu Hiwatashi Suzuki Japan RGV500 15 1 38 Maarten Duyzers HDJ International RS500 21 15 25 19 Ret Ret Ret 24 22 Ret 1 39 Michael Rudroff RS500 15 19 Ret 1 40 Manfred Fischer Team Hein Gericke RS500 Ret Ret Ret 15 Ret Ret 20 19 1 41 Cees Doorakkers Grundig-Daf Racing Team RS500 Ret 15 1 42 YZR500 16 0 43 Nicholas Schmassman FMS RS500 19 16 26 24 19 Ret 28 23 25 Ret 22 0 44 Andreas Leuthe RG500 Ret Ret Ret 16 Ret 27 21 Ret Ret 0 45 Masaru Mizutani RG500 17 0 46 Josef Doppler MRC Grieskirchen RS500 17 20 18 21 21 0 47 Alberto Rota RS500 17 0 48 Franz Holzmeier RS500 17 0 49 Eddie Laycock Millar Racing RS500 Ret Ret 20 17 20 21 17 Ret 0 50 Wolfgang van Muralt RG500 Ret 18 23 Ret Ret 22 17 0 51 Keiji Kinoshita RS500 18 0 52 Ian Pratt RG500 Ret 18 0 53 Kees van der Endt Autobedrijf Koens RS500 22 18 24 0 54 Karl Truchsess RS500 Ret 18 21 0 55 Silvo Habat Fego Racing Team RS500 23 22 18 0 56 Jean Luc Demierre RG500 20 Ret 24 Ret 0 57 Romolo Balbi RS500 20 0 58 Georg Jung RS500 Ret 20 24 25 0 59 Ari Ramo RS500 21 22 26 Ret 0 60 Helmut Schutz RS500 21 21 26 0 61 Dave Leach RG500 21 0 62 Peter Skold RS500 22 23 21 0 63 Chris Buerki RS500 22 Ret 26 0 64 Claude Arciero RS500 22 0 65 Johann Ten Napel RG500 23 0 66 Simon Buckmaster RS500 23 23 Ret 0 67 Claus Wulff RS500 31 24 23 0 68 Pavel Dekanek RS500 Ret 24 0 69 Ake Dahli RG500 25 0 70 Lars Johansson RG500 27 0 71 Hisashi Yamana RG500 Ret 0 72 Katunori Shinozaki RG500 Ret 0 73 John Long YZR500 Ret 0 74 Claude Albert RG500 Ret 0 75 Vincenzo Cascino RS500 Ret Ret 0 76 Larry Moreno Vacondio RS500 Ret Ret Ret 0 77 Tony Carey RG500 Ret 0 78 Hans Klingbiel RG500 Ret 0 79 Hansjörg Butz RS500 Ret 0 80 Koos van Leyen RG500 Ret 0 81 Vittorio Scatola Team Amaranto Paton-RS500 Ret Ret 0 82 Eric Sabatier RS500 Ret 0 83 Thierry Rapicault Marlboro Fior Fior-RS500 Ret 0 84 Darren Dixon RG500 Ret 0 85 Steve Spray RG500 Ret 0 86 Thomas Aronsson Nicco Bakker-RS500 Ret 0 250cc standings[] Place Rider Number Country Team Machine Points Wins 1 Sito Pons 3 Spain Campsa-Honda NSR250 231 4 2 Juan Garriga 11 Spain Ducados-Yamaha YZR250 221 3 3 Jacques Cornu 9 Switzerland Parisienne Elf-Honda NSR250 166 2 4 Dominique Sarron 4 France Rothmans-Honda France NSR250 158 2 5 Reinhold Roth 2 West Germany HB Römer-Honda NSR250 158 0 6 Luca Cadalora 7 Italy Marlboro-Yamaha YZR250 136 2 7 Jean-Philippe Ruggia 17 France Gauloises Blondes-Yamaha YZR250 104 0 8 Anton Mang 1 West Germany Rothmans-Honda Germany NSR250 87 1 9 Carlos Cardús 5 Spain Ducados-Honda NSR250 71 0 10 Masahiro Shimizu 12 Japan Ajinomoto-Honda NSR250 68 0 11 Carlos Lavado Venezuela 55 12 47 13 Loris Reggiani 44 14 Martin Wimmer 40 15 Manfred Herweh 35 16 August Auinger 31 17 Helmut Bradl 27 18 Ivan Palazzese Venezuela 25 19 John Kocinski United States 24 20 22 21 Jim Filice 20 22 20 23 Bruno Casanova 17 24 15 25 12 26 Maurizio Vitali 12 27 Bubba Shobert 11 28 11 29 10 30 Alberto Puig 10 31 Jean-François Baldé 10 32 8 33 6 34 Jochen Schmid 6 35 5 36 5 37 Guy Bertin 5 38 Wilco Zeelenberg 39 4 40 4 41 4 42 3 43 3 44 Paolo Casoli 3 45 Takehiro Yamamoto 2 46 2 47 1 48 Alan Carter 1 [6][7] 125cc standings[] Place Rider Number Country Machine Points Wins 1 Jorge Martinez 5 Spain Derbi 197 9 2 Ezio Gianola 6 Italy Honda 168 2 3 Hans Spaan 27 Netherlands Honda 110 0 4 Julián Miralles 3 Spain Honda 104 0 5 Domenico Brigaglia 4 Italy Rotax 69 0 6 12 Italy Honda 66 0 7 West Germany Honda 63 0 8 Stefan Prein 35 West Germany Honda 59 0 9 9 Belgium Honda 56 0 10 Gerhard Waibel 6 West Germany Honda 52 0 11 43 12 38 13 36 14 34 15 Manuel Herreros 30 16 30 17 29 18 25 19 Pierpaolo Bianchi 24 20 24 21 Fausto Gresini 22 22 19 23 19 24 Hubert Abold 18 25 14 26 13 27 11 28 10 29 8 30 8 31 7 32 Àlex Crivillé 7 33 6 34 Robin Appleyard 6 35 6 36 Manuel Hernandez 4 37 Stefan Dörflinger 2 38 Taru Rinne 2 39 1 40 1 80cc standings[] Place Rider Number Country Machine Points Wins 1 Jorge Martínez 1 Spain Derbi 137 6 2 Àlex Crivillé Spain Derbi 90 0 3 Stefan Dörflinger 4 Switzerland Krauser 77 1 4 Manuel Herreros 2 Spain Derbi 69 0 5 Peter Öttl 5 West Germany Krauser 65 0 6 Bulgaria Krauser 55 0 7 Hungary Krauser 54 0 8 Netherlands Casal 47 0 9 Italy 46 0 10 Italy 36 0 11 Herri Torrontegui 28 12 27 13 27 14 27 15 25 16 22 17 11 18 10 19 10 20 8 21 8 22 6 23 6 24 Rudolf Kunz 5 25 5 26 Janez Pintar 4 27 3 28 3 29 2 30 Hubert Abold 2 31 1 32 1 References[] Büla, Maurice & Schertenleib, Jean-Claude (2001). Continental Circus 1949-2000. Chronosports S.A. ISBN 2-940125-32-5 "The Official MotoGP website". Retrieved 2010-07-06. ^ Scott, Michael: "Wayne Rainey", page 95. Haynes Publishing, 1997. ^ "Grand Prix uitslagen en bijzonderheden 1988". Archive.li. Archived from the original on 2015-07-25. Retrieved 2018-06-12. ^ "1988 World Motorcycle Championship". 12 June 2017. ^ "Motorcycle Racing Online - 500cc Grand Prix entry list for 1988". ^ "Motorcycle Racing Online - 250cc Grand Prix entry list for 1988". ^ 1988 250cc Final Standings at MotoGP.com ^ 1988 250cc Entries List at www.f1network.net