1989 United States motorcycle Grand Prix

  1989 United States Grand Prix

Race details
Race 3 of 15 races in the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	April 16, 1989
Official name	Dunlop USGP[1][2][3]
Location	Laguna Seca Raceway
Course	Permanent racing facility 3.602 km (2.238 mi)
500 cc
Pole position Rider Wayne Rainey Time 1:27.120 Fastest lap Rider Wayne Gardner Time 1:28.000 Podium First Wayne Rainey Second Kevin Schwantz Third Eddie Lawson
250 cc
Pole position Rider John Kocinski Time 1:30.160 Fastest lap Rider John Kocinski Time 1:29.190 Podium First John Kocinski Second Jim Filice Third Luca Cadalora

The 1989 United States motorcycle Grand Prix was the second round of the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of April 14–16, 1989 at Laguna Seca.^[4]

500 cc race report[]

At the front of the grid, it’s Wayne Rainey, Kevin Schwantz, Wayne Gardner, Kevin Magee and Christian Sarron. Eddie Lawson moves from 6th to 2nd in the first turn. Rainey begins to pull away, with Lawson and Schwantz getting into a scrap that leads Lawson into making a mistake on the entry to the Corkscrew, pushing him back into the group of Gardner, Magee and Sarron.

Gardner crashes out, breaking his leg. Lawson takes advantage of fuel-delivery problems Magee's Yamaha YZR 500 has on the last lap, making it an all-American podium with Rainey and Schwantz in first and second place.

On the cool-down lap, Magee is frustrated and starts a burnout just past turn five. Bubba Shobert is talking with Eddie Lawson as they cruise at low speed and doesn't see Magee. He accidentally clips Magee on his right side and gets slammed to the pavement. Shobert has serious head injuries that end his racing career, and Magee has a broken ankle. With Magee and Gardner both injured, Wayne Rainey’s lead in the standings can be threatened by Lawson getting the Honda set-up properly or Schwantz finishing races.

500 cc classification[]

Pos.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	Wayne Rainey	Team Lucky Strike Roberts	Yamaha	40	58:56.179	1	20
2	Kevin Schwantz	Suzuki Pepsi Cola	Suzuki	40	+6.849	2	17
3	Eddie Lawson	Rothmans Kanemoto Honda	Honda	40	+19.912	6	15
4	Kevin Magee	Team Lucky Strike Roberts	Yamaha	40	+23.732	4	13
5	Niall Mackenzie	Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini	Yamaha	40	+28.223	7	11
6	Christian Sarron	Sonauto Gauloises Blondes Yamaha Mobil 1	Yamaha	40	+30.595	5	10
7	Pierfrancesco Chili	HB Honda Gallina Team	Honda	40	+1:29.901	11	9
8	Mick Doohan	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda	39	+1 Lap	12	8
9	Bubba Shobert	Cabin Racing Team	Honda	39	+1 Lap	13	7
10	Dominique Sarron	Team ROC Elf Honda	Honda	39	+1 Lap	15	6
11		Team Iberia	Yamaha	38	+2 Laps	16	5
12		Fior Marlboro	Fior	38	+2 Laps	17	4
13	Simon Buckmaster	Racing Team Katayama	Honda	38	+2 Laps	18	3
14	Bruno Kneubuhler	Romer Racing Suisse	Honda	38	+2 Laps	19	2
15	Michael Rudroff	HRK Motors	Honda	38	+3 Laps	21	1
16	Francisco Gonzales	Club Motocross Pozuelo	Honda	37	+4 Laps	23
17			Honda	37	+4 Laps	22
Ret	Ron Haslam	Suzuki Pepsi Cola	Suzuki		Retirement	10
Ret	Tadahiko Taira	Yamaha Motor Company	Yamaha		Retirement	8
Ret		FMS	Honda		Retirement	20
Ret	Randy Mamola	Cagiva Corse	Cagiva		Retirement	14
Ret			Suzuki		Retirement	24
Ret	Wayne Gardner	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda		Retirement	3
DNS	Freddie Spencer	Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini	Yamaha		Did not Start	9
DNQ	David Busby		Honda		Did not Qualify
DNQ			Suzuki		Did not Qualify
Sources: [5][6]

References[]