1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season

1989 World Champions

Eddie Lawson (pictured at Suzuka) became the 500cc world champion

Sito Pons (pictured at Suzuka) became the 250cc world champion

The 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 41st F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season.

Season summary[]

Defending champion Eddie Lawson stunned most observers by switching from the Yamaha to Honda in the offseason then proceeded to win the championship, becoming the first man to win two consecutive 500cc championships on two different brands. On why he left Yamaha for Honda: "Giacomo Agostini, the Marlboro Yamaha team manager, started playing games, saying stuff like, 'I don't know if we can pay you the same as we did in 1988.' I'd just won my third title, so that was tough to hear. Also, I found out Ago was talking to Kevin Schwantz. I met with Erv and told him that I needed a change. When Marlboro discovered I was talking with Honda, they doubled their offer, but it was too late. I actually took a pay cut to ride the Honda."^[1]

Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz continued to perform impressively while Freddie Spencer made a less than successful comeback attempt with the Marlboro Yamaha team. Australian Wayne Gardner was out for most of the season after breaking his leg at Laguna Seca but not before winning the inaugural Grand Prix in his home country. Another Australian made his Grand Prix debut for the Rothmans Honda team with Mick Doohan scoring a third-place finish at the Hockenheimring. The FIM awarded half points for the rain-drenched Belgian Grand Prix after organisers restarted the race three times contrary to FIM race regulations. The Nations Grand Prix at Misano was boycotted by most of the top riders for safety reasons.

Sito Pons won a second consecutive 250 championship for Honda while Spanish teenager, Àlex Crivillé won the 125 crown on a Rotax-powered JJ Cobas motorcycle designed by Antonio Cobas. Derbi rider Manuel Herreros had the honor of winning the final 80cc world championship as the class would be discontinued after 1989.

1989 Grand Prix season calendar[]

The following Grands Prix were scheduled to take place in 1989:^[2][3]

Round	Date	Grand Prix	Circuit
1	26 March	Grand Prix of Japan	Suzuka Circuit
2	9 April	Swan Premium Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix	Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit
3	16 April	Dunlop USGP	Laguna Seca Raceway
4	30 April	Marlboro Gran Premio de España de Motociclismo	Circuito Permanente de Jerez
5	14 May	G.P. Delle Nazioni	Circuito Internazionale Santa Monica
6	28 May	Großer Preis von Deutschland für Motorräder	Hockenheimring
7	4 June	Großer Preis von Österreich	Salzburgring
8	11 June	Yu Grand Prix	Automotodrom Rijeka
9	24 June	Dutch TT	TT Circuit Assen
10	2 July	Belgium Motorcycle Grand Prix	Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps
11	16 July	Grand Prix de France	Bugatti Circuit
12	6 August	Shell British Motorcycle Grand Prix	Donington Park
13	13 August	Swedish TT	Scandinavian Raceway
14	27 August	Grand Prix CSSR-Brno	Brno Circuit
15	17 September	Brazilian Grand Prix	Autódromo Internacional de Goiânia

Calendar changes[]

• The Australian Grand Prix was added to the calendar.
• The Expo 92 Grand Prix was taken off the calendar, as well as the Jarama circuit.
• The Nations Grand Prix moved from the Imola circuit to the Circuito Internazionale Santa Monica.
• The German Grand Prix moved from the Nürburgring to the Hockenheimring.
• The French Grand Prix moved from the Paul Ricard circuit to the Bugatti Circuit in Le Mans.

Participants[]

500cc participants[]

Team Constructor Motorcycle No. Rider Rounds Team Rothmans/Kanemoto Honda Honda Honda NSR500 1 Eddie Lawson 1-4, 6-15 Rothmans Honda/HRC Honda Honda NSR500 2 Wayne Gardner 1-3, 9-13, 15 17 Roger Burnett 12 27 Mick Doohan 1-11, 15 Team Lucky Strike Roberts Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 3 Wayne Rainey 1-4, 6-15 5 Kevin Magee 1-3, 6-15 Team Roberts Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 49 John Kocinski 10 Team Gauloises Blondes Mobil 1 Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 4 Christian Sarron 1-4, 6-15 Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 6 Niall Mackenzie 1-4, 6, 8-15 19 Freddie Spencer 1-4, 6-11 53 Luca Cadalora 12 25 14 Team Elf Honda/ROC Honda Honda NSR500 7 Dominique Sarron 1-4, 6-8, 12, 15 55 56 Adrien Morillas 11, 13-15 Team Pepsi Suzuki Suzuki Suzuki RGV500 8 Ron Haslam 1-4, 6-9, 12-15 34 Kevin Schwantz All HB Honda Gallina Team Honda Honda NSR500 9 Pierfrancesco Chili All 33 84 Fred Merkel 5, 11-12 Cabin Racing Team Honda Honda NSR500 10 Rob McElnea 6-15 25 Bubba Shobert 1-3 Cagiva Corse Cagiva Cagiva C589 12 Randy Mamola 1-4, 6-11, 14-15 29 4-6 29 Raymond Roche 11 HRK Motors Honda 14 Michael Rudroff 2-9, 14 54 56 Cees Doorakkers 9-12, 14 Team Iberna Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 15 All Team Greco - Paton Paton 16 Marco Papa 4-5, 8-12, 14 Tech-21/Team Yamaha Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 21 Tadahiko Taira 1-4, 13-14 Yamaha [Tech-21] Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 26 1 5-6 Römer Racing Switzerland Honda 24 Bruno Kneubühler 3-4, 6-14 Marlboro Fior Team 32 Marco Gentile 1-12 Racing Team Katayama Honda 35 46 36 Simon Buckmaster All 44 4, 12 54 11-14 ?? Honda 35 4-7, 9-10, 12, 14 Racing Team Librenti Corse Suzuki ?? Suzuki RGV500 36 37 4-5, 8-9, 11-14 ?? Honda 40 33 1-8, 10-12, 14-15 Club Moto Cross Pozuelo Honda 41 30 Juan López Mella 4-7, 9, 11-15 ?? Honda 56 38 2-15 Marlboro Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 42 2 HRC Honda Honda NSR500 11 Shunji Yatsushiro 1 Source: [4]

Key Regular Rider Wildcard Rider Replacement Rider

250cc participants[]

Team Constructor Motorcycle No. Rider Rounds Campsa Honda Team Honda Honda NSR250 1 Sito Pons All Ducados Yamaha Team Yamaha 2 Joan Garriga All Team Lucky Strike Elf Honda Honda NSR250 3 Jacques Cornu All Aprilia Racing Team Aprilia-Rotax 4 Didier de Radiguès All 18 Iván Palazzese 2-5 Aprilia Aprilia-Rotax ?? Marcellino Lucchi 6, 9 HB Römer Team Honda Honda NSR250 5 Reinhold Roth All Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini Yamaha 6 Luca Cadalora All Team Gauloises Blondes Yamaha Yamaha 7 Jean-Philippe Ruggia 1-11 Team Repsol Honda Honda Honda NSR250 8 Carlos Cardús All Ajinomoto Honda/HRC Honda Honda NSR250 9 Masahiro Shimizu 1-7, 9-15 FMV Honda Honda RS250R 10 Carlos Lavado ?? Team Rudy Project Aprilia-Rotax 10 Carlos Lavado 9-15 31 1-6 HB CR1 Racing Team Honda Honda Honda NSR250 13 Loris Reggiani 1-4, 6-12, 15 Team Hein Gericke Aprilia-Rotax 14 Martin Wimmer 1-13, 15 55 37 ?? Levior Yamaha 15 Manfred Herweh 7, 10, 12-14 Hostettler / SPI Yamaha 16 August Auinger 1-14 HB Rallye Sport Team Honda Honda NSR250 17 Helmut Bradl All Team Yamaha Yamaha 19 John Kocinski 1, 3 Team Uvex Aprilia Telefix Aprilia-Rotax 20 All Team Italia Aprilia-Rotax 21 Fausto Ricci 1-4, 7-14 52 54 14 Team Elit Aprilia-Rotax 22 4-12, 14-15 SK Vöst Aprilia-Rotax 23 1-14 Racing Team Katayama Honda Honda RS250R 24 ?? RTK Lotus Quartz Honda Honda NSR250 40 49 1-14 Venemotos Racing Team Yamaha 25 Alex Barros 1-3, 5, 7-15 26 1-2, 10-11, 14-15 Yamaha Racing Team Yamaha 28 1, 11-13 Team Ducados Yamaha Puig Yamaha 30 Alberto Puig All Samson Sharp Racing Honda Honda RS250R 32 Wilco Zeelenberg 4-14 Docshop Wevamed Racing Team Yamaha 33 All 50 48 1-2, 4, 8-14 Team Ciampini Honda Honda RS250R 35 3-6, 8-10, 12-14 St Yrian Motos Yamaha 36 2-5, 7-8, 11, 13-14 Schwabengarage & Reifenzenter Zürn Honda Honda RS250R 38 41 Jochen Schmid 1-8, 11-15 D Gallacher/Bradgate Containers Yamaha 39 Kevin Mitchell 1, 4, 7-8, 11-12 Motul Forza Shoei Yamaha 41 44 Jean-François Baldé 1-3, 5-9, 12-15 Clermont Ferrand Yamaha 43 Adrien Morillas 11, 13-15 Aprilia France Aprilia-Rotax 45 4-8, 10-15 Nava Racing Team Seel-Yamaha 46 34 5-13 AGV Pileri LM Honda Honda RS250R 51 59 45 Paolo Casoli 1-2, 4, 11-15 70 46 48 42 Maurizio Vitali 5-14 Swiss Yamaha Team Yamaha 56 50 5, 8, 14 ?? Yamaha 57 2 Cabin Honda Honda NSR250 58 Tadayuki Okada 1 Gazzaniga Corse ?? 60 46 Virginio Ferrari 6-7, 14 Edwin Honda Honda NSR250 65 Jim Filice 1, 3 ?? Yamaha ?? 1 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	26 March	Japanese Grand Prix	Suzuka		Ezio Gianola	John Kocinski	Kevin Schwantz	Report
2	9 April	Australian Grand Prix	Phillip Island		Àlex Crivillé	Sito Pons	Wayne Gardner	Report
3	16 April	United States Grand Prix	Laguna Seca			John Kocinski	Wayne Rainey	Report
4	30 April	Spanish Grand Prix	Jerez	Herri Torrontegui	Àlex Crivillé	Luca Cadalora	Eddie Lawson	Report
5	14 May	Nations Grand Prix	Misano	Jorge Martínez	Ezio Gianola	Sito Pons	Pierfrancesco Chili	Report
6	28 May	German Grand Prix	Hockenheim	Peter Öttl	Àlex Crivillé	Sito Pons	Wayne Rainey	Report
7	4 June	Austrian Grand Prix	Salzburgring		Hans Spaan	Sito Pons	Kevin Schwantz	Report
8	11 June	Yugoslavian Grand Prix	Automotodrom Rijeka	Peter Öttl		Sito Pons	Kevin Schwantz	Report
9	24 June	Dutch TT	Assen	Peter Öttl	Hans Spaan	Reinhold Roth	Wayne Rainey	Report
10	2 July	Belgian Grand Prix	Spa		Hans Spaan	Jacques Cornu	Eddie Lawson	Report
11	16 July	French Grand Prix	Le Mans		Jorge Martínez	Carlos Cardús	Eddie Lawson	Report
12	6 August	British Grand Prix	Donington		Hans Spaan	Sito Pons	Kevin Schwantz	Report
13	13 August	Swedish Grand Prix	Anderstorp		Àlex Crivillé	Sito Pons	Eddie Lawson	Report
14	27 August	Czechoslovakian Grand Prix	Brno	Herri Torrontegui	Àlex Crivillé	Reinhold Roth	Kevin Schwantz	Report
15	17 September	Brazilian Grand Prix	Goiânia			Luca Cadalora	Kevin Schwantz	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 Bike JPN AUS USA ESP NAT GER AUT YUG NED BEL FRA GBR SWE CZE BRA Pts[6] 1 Eddie Lawson Honda 3 5 3 1 Ret 2 2 3 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 228 2 Wayne Rainey Yamaha 2 2 1 2 Ret 1 3 2 1 3 3 3 Ret 3 3 210.5 3 Christian Sarron Yamaha 7 3 6 4 Ret 5 4 5 3 4 4 5 2 4 8 165.5 4 Kevin Schwantz Suzuki 1 Ret 2 Ret Ret Ret 1 1 Ret 2 2 1 Ret 1 1 162.5 5 Kevin Magee Yamaha 5 4 4 7 5 4 4 7 5 6 5 7 6 138.5 6 Pierfrancesco Chili Honda Ret Ret 7 6 1 4 6 9 5 6 6 9 7 5 Ret 122 7 Niall Mackenzie Yamaha 6 Ret 5 3 Ret Ret 12 8 10 7 4 4 6 9 103 8 Ron Haslam Suzuki 12 7 Ret 7 Ret Ret 7 8 7 7 6 8 5 86 9 Mick Doohan Honda Ret 8 8 Ret Ret 3 8 6 9 8 8 4 81 10 Wayne Gardner Honda 4 1 Ret 6 Ret Ret Ret 3 7 67 11 Rob McElnea Honda Ret 10 11 11 10 11 9 10 9 12 12 52.5 12 Simon Buckmaster Honda 12 13 13 2 14 13 14 19 15 14 15 12 21 14 43.5 13 Yamaha Ret 11 11 10 Ret 13 12 Ret 12 Ret 13 Ret 11 14 13 40 14 Tadahiko Taira Yamaha 8 6 Ret 8 10 9 39 15 Dominique Sarron Honda 18 10 10 9 Ret 8 10 10 Ret Ret 39 16 Freddie Spencer Yamaha 14 Ret 5 Ret 9 9 Ret 13 9 Ret 11 38.5 17  [nl] Fior 20 13 12 12 4 Ret 14 Ret 14 12 Ret 13 33 18 Randy Mamola Cagiva 16 Ret Ret Ret Ret 12 Ret 7 11 23 11 11 11 33 19 Adrien Morillas Honda 10 8 10 10 26 20 Michael Rudroff Honda 15 15 20 3 21 19 15 17 20 18 21 Yamaha 9 Ret 6 17 22 Bubba Shobert Honda 11 Ret 9 12 23 Honda 18 5 22 16 Ret 16 21 24 11 24 Honda 6 Ret Ret 25 10 25 Honda 7 9 26 Honda 23 Ret 16 Ret 8 DNQ 22 19 DNQ 21 24 22 DNQ 25 16 8 27 Luca Cadalora Yamaha 8 8 28 Cagiva 11 Ret 13 8 29 Honda 14 Ret Ret 10 Ret 21 20 23 19 21 Ret 16 Ret 17 8 30 Yamaha 9 7 31 Suzuki Ret 9 DNQ Ret Ret Ret 20 Ret 23 7 32 Shinichi Ito Honda 10 6 33 Honda 15 14 13 19 6 34 Bruno Kneubühler Honda 14 16 Ret 15 15 16 16 17 17 18 14 18 6 35 John Kocinski Yamaha 5 5.5 36 Suzuki 11 5 37 Roger Burnett Honda 12 4 38 Suzuki 12 4 39 Juan Manuel Lopez Mella Honda 14 Ret 19 Ret Ret 18 Ret 15 16 15 4 40 Yamaha 13 3 41 Shunji Yatsushiro Honda 13 3 42 Cees Doorakkers Honda 15 13 25 Ret Ret 2.5 43 Eddie Laycock Honda 15 Ret 14 16 DNQ 17 2 44 Yamaha 15 1 45 Honda 23 Ret Ret 15 1 46 Honda 16 0 47 Marco Papa Paton Ret Ret DNQ 17 20 18 Ret 16 Ret 0 48 Yamaha 17 0 49 Honda 17 DNQ 26 Ret 0 50 Suzuki 17 19 19 0 51 Honda 17 Ret Ret 0 52 Honda Ret 17 0 53 Robert Holden Honda 17 0 54 Suzuki 17 0 55 Vittorio Scatola Honda Ret 18 Ret DNQ 0 56 Honda Ret 24 18 18 22 0 57 Honda 18 0 58 Suzuki 19 0 59 Yamaha 19 0 60 Honda 20 21 0 61 Honda Ret 20 Ret 0 62 Honda 26 25 20 0 63 Suzuki 20 0 64 Honda 21 0 65 Honda 21 DNQ Ret DNQ 0 66 Manhattan 24 21 27 0 67 Honda 22 0 68 Honda 22 0 69 Honda Ret 22 0 70 Suzuki 22 Ret 0 71 Honda 22 0 72 Honda 23 Ret Ret 28 0 73 Fior 23 0 74 Peter Graves Honda 23 0 75 Honda 24 0 76 Honda 25 DNQ Ret 0 77 Suzuki 26 0 78 Honda 29 0 79 Suzuki 30 0 80 Honda Ret 31 0 81 Alan Carter Honda Ret Ret 0 82 Honda Ret Ret 0 83 Doug Polen Suzuki Ret 0 84 Honda Ret 0 85 Honda Ret 0 86 Suzuki Ret 0 87 PRP Ret 0 88 Yamaha Ret 0 89 Honda Ret 0 90 Suzuki Ret 0 91 Suzuki DNQ Ret DNQ DNQ 0 92 Raymond Roche Cagiva Ret Ret 0 93 Honda Ret 0 94 Honda Ret 0 95 Stephane Mertens Honda Ret 0 96 Honda Ret 0 97 Fior Ret 0 98 Fior Ret 0 99 Suzuki Ret 0 100 Suzuki Ret 0 101 Suzuki Ret 0 250cc standings[] Place Rider Number Country Team Machine Points Wins 1 Sito Pons 1 Spain Campsa-Honda NSR250 262 7 2 Reinhold Roth 5 Germany HB Römer-Honda NSR250 190 2 3 Jacques Cornu 3 Switzerland Lucky Strike Elf-Honda NSR250 187 1 4 Carlos Cardús 9 Spain Repsol-Honda NSR250 162 1 5 Luca Cadalora 6 Italy Marlboro Yamaha-Agostini YZR250 127 2 6 Masahiro Shimizu 10 Japan Ajinomoto-Honda NSR250 116 0 7 Jean-Philippe Ruggia 7 France Gauloises Blondes-Yamaha YZR250 110 0 8 Juan Garriga 2 Spain Ducados-Yamaha YZR250 98 0 9 Helmut Bradl 17 Germany HB Rallye Sport-Honda NSR250 88 0 10 Martin Wimmer 14 Germany Hein Gericke-Aprilia RS250 62 0 11 Loris Reggiani 52 12 Didier de Radiguès 51 13 Wilco Zeelenberg 41 14 John Kocinski 19 USA Team Yamaha 40 2 15 36 16 Jochen Schmid 36 17 Carlos Lavado 31 18 Alex Barros 30 19 25 20 Jim Filice 22 21 21 22 Ivan Palazzese 19 23 Alberto Puig 18 24 18 25 Marcellino Lucchi 17 26 14 27 11 28 Tadayuki Okada 10 29 9 30 9 31 9 32 Fausto Ricci 8 33 6 34 Hans Spaan 6 35 Daryl Beattie 4 36 Kevin Mitchell 4 37 Paolo Casoli 4 38 4 39 Maurizio Vitali 2 40 2 41 1 41 1 41 Manfred Herweh 1 41 August Auinger 1 [7][8] 125cc standings[] Place Rider Number Country Machine Points Wins 1 Àlex Crivillé 28 Spain JJ Cobas 166 5 2 Hans Spaan 3 Netherlands Honda 152 4 3 Ezio Gianola 2 Italy Honda 138 2 4 11 Japan Honda 104 5 Fausto Gresini 22 Italy Aprilia 102 6 18 Japan Honda 99 7 Stefan Prein 8 West Germany Honda 92 8 Julián Miralles 4 Spain Derbi 90 9 Jorge Martínez 1 Spain Derbi 72 1 10 12 United States Honda 54 11 53 12 46 13 35 14 Domenico Brigaglia 34 15 Dirk Raudies 29 16 25 17 Taru Rinne 23 18 22 19 Bruno Casanova 20 20 Doriano Romboni 20 21 18 22 Robin Appleyard 18 23 15 24 13 25 Herri Torrontegui 13 26 11 27 11 28 10 29 10 30 10 31 9 32 8 33 Hubert Abold 8 34 7 35 6 36 Gerhard Waibel 6 37 4 38 Gabriele Debbia 3 39 3 40 Stuart Edwards 3 42 2 42 2 44 1 44 1 44 1 80cc standings[] Place Rider Number Country Machine Points Wins 1 Manuel Herreros 4 Spain Derbi 92 2 Stefan Dörflinger 3 Switzerland Krauser 80 3 Peter Öttl 5 West Germany Krauser 75 3 4 Herri Torrontegui Spain Krauser 75 2 5 10 Italy 45 6 Italy Krauser 41 7 6 Bulgaria Krauser 40 8 Jorge Martínez Spain Derbi 35 1 9 Spain Casal 33 10 West Germany 32 11 30 12 Julián Miralles 26 13 23 14 Ralf Waldmann 23 15 20 16 13 17 13 18 12 19 12 20 10 21 9 22 7 23 6 24 5 25 5 26 Janez Pintar 4 27 4 28 3 29 3 30 3 31 2 32 1 33 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. ^ Ienatsch, Nick (December 2009). "Eddie Lawson: 20 Years Later". CycleWorld.com. Retrieved 2009-12-18. ^ "Grand Prix uitslagen en bijzonderheden 1989". Archive.li. Archived from the original on 2015-07-25. Retrieved 2018-06-12. ^ "1989 World Motorcycle Championship". 12 June 2017. ^ "Motorcycle Racing Online - 500cc Grand Prix entry list for 1989". ^ "Motorcycle Racing Online - 250cc Grand Prix entry list for 1989". ^ The points for the Belgian round were halved because of too many restarts. ^ "motogp.com · 250cc World Standing 1989". www.motogp.com. ^ "250cc Grand Prix entry list for 1989".