1989 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix

  1989 Australian Grand Prix

Race details
Race 2 of 15 races in the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	9 April 1989
Official name	Swan Premium Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix[1][2][3]
Location	Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.445 km (2.762 mi)
500 cc
Pole position Rider Kevin Schwantz Time 1:34.990 Fastest lap Rider Pierfrancesco Chili Time 1:35.280 Podium First Wayne Gardner Second Wayne Rainey Third Christian Sarron
250 cc
Pole position Rider Jean-Philippe Ruggia Time 1:38.830 Fastest lap Rider Luca Cadalora Time 1:38.490 Podium First Sito Pons Second Jean-Philippe Ruggia Third Luca Cadalora
125 cc
Pole position Rider Jorge Martínez Time 1:45.530 Fastest lap Rider Jorge Martínez Time 1:46.530 Podium First Àlex Crivillé Second Third

The 1989 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix was the second round of the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 7–9 April 1989 at Phillip Island and was the first ever World Championship Motorcycle Grand Prix to take place in Australia.

500 cc race report[]

Green light on the 5-row grid sees Wayne Rainey, Tadahiko Taira and Kevin Schwantz head into the first turn in front of the field, with Wayne Gardner in 4th. Second lap in 2nd place, Schwantz gets on the throttle while looking behind him and highsides out of Turn Ten; as he walked away from his Suzuki, he looked like he wished he did not know the guy who just binned it so foolishly.

Rainey pulled out a lead of more than a second, followed by Kevin Magee, Taira, Gardner, Mick Doohan and Eddie Lawson. Eventually, Gardner got past Magee at Turn Four, and Pierfrancesco Chili crashed out for the second successive race. Gardner caught Rainey and began to swap the lead, while Magee, Christian Sarron, Freddie Spencer and Lawson closed in. Sarron caught and goes to the front, with the leaders, while Magee hung on in 4th spot. Spencer fell off and did not finish.

Last lap: Gardner, Rainey, Sarron and a small gap to Magee. Rainey's early break may have cost him rubber, because he seemed desperate to find a different line that will get him to slide his way past Gardner, but nothing works, with Gardner winning the race, followed by Rainey and Sarron.

Rainey: "Gardner ran into the back of me twice, and didn’t even notice. He was one of the sloppiest guys I ever raced – he reminded me of a bulldog on a bike. When he was on a good day, he could ride that thing right out of the saddle. He was a bit like Kevin, but more out of control. Not a thinking racer: he rode by the excitement of the crowd. If nobody was there I think he wouldn’t do much".^[4]

500 cc classification[]

Pos.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	Wayne Gardner	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda	30	48:15.940	3	20
2	Wayne Rainey	Team Lucky Strike Roberts	Yamaha	30	+0.350	2	17
3	Christian Sarron	Sonauto Gauloises Blondes Yamaha Mobil 1	Yamaha	30	+0.470	5	15
4	Kevin Magee	Team Lucky Strike Roberts	Yamaha	30	+1.510	6	13
5	Eddie Lawson	Rothmans Kanemoto Honda	Honda	30	+10.970	7	11
6	Tadahiko Taira	Yamaha Motor Company	Yamaha	30	+12.570	4	10
7	Ron Haslam	Suzuki Pepsi Cola	Suzuki	30	+32.460	11	9
8	Mick Doohan	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda	30	+47.660	12	8
9			Yamaha	30	+1:27.820	16	7
10	Dominique Sarron	Team ROC Elf Honda	Honda	29	+1 Lap	17	6
11		Team Iberia	Yamaha	29	+1 Lap	19	5
12	Simon Buckmaster	Racing Team Katayama	Honda	29	+1 Lap	20	4
13		Fior Marlboro	Fior	29	+1 Lap	18	3
14		FMS	Honda	27	+3 Laps	22	2
15	Michael Rudroff	HRK Motors	Honda	27	+3 Laps	21	1
Ret					Retirement	23
Ret	Freddie Spencer	Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini	Yamaha		Retirement	8
Ret	Randy Mamola	Cagiva Corse	Cagiva		Retirement	14
Ret			Honda		Retirement	15
Ret	Kevin Schwantz	Suzuki Pepsi Cola	Suzuki		Retirement	1
Ret	Bubba Shobert	Cabin Racing Team	Honda		Retirement	13
Ret	Francisco Gonzales	Club Motocross Pozuelo	Honda		Retirement	24
Ret	Niall Mackenzie	Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini	Yamaha		Retirement	9
Ret			Yamaha		Retirement	25
Ret	Pierfrancesco Chili	HB Honda Gallina Team	Honda		Retirement	10
DNS			Yamaha		Did not start
Sources:[5][6]

References[]