1989 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix
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| Race 2 of 15 races in the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | 9 April 1989 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Official name | Swan Premium Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Course |
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| 500 cc | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 250 cc | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 125 cc | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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 it and went to the front with the leaders, while Magee hung on in the 4th spot. Spencer fell off and did not finish the race.
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 would get him to slide his way past Gardner, but nothing worked, with Gardner winning the race, followed by Rainey and Sarron.
During the race, Wayne Rainey and Wayne Gardner had some close encounters on the track.
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 | Michael Dowson | Yamaha | 30 | +1:27.820 | 16 | 7 | |||
| 10 | Dominique Sarron | Team ROC Elf Honda | Honda | 29 | +1 Lap | 17 | 6 | ||
| 11 | Alessandro Valesi | Team Iberia | Yamaha | 29 | +1 Lap | 19 | 5 | ||
| 12 | Simon Buckmaster | Racing Team Katayama | Honda | 29 | +1 Lap | 20 | 4 | ||
| 13 | Marco Gentile | Fior Marlboro | Fior | 29 | +1 Lap | 18 | 3 | ||
| 14 | Nicholas Schmassman | FMS | Honda | 27 | +3 Laps | 22 | 2 | ||
| 15 | Michael Rudroff | HRK Motors | Honda | 27 | +3 Laps | 21 | 1 | ||
| Ret | Greg Drew | PRP | Retirement | 23 | |||||
| Ret | Freddie Spencer | Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini | Yamaha | Retirement | 8 | ||||
| Ret | Randy Mamola | Cagiva Corse | Cagiva | Retirement | 14 | ||||
| Ret | Malcolm Campbell | 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 | James Judd | Yamaha | Retirement | 25 | |||||
| Ret | Pierfrancesco Chili | HB Honda Gallina Team | Honda | Retirement | 10 | ||||
| DNS | Craig Harwood | Yamaha | Did not start | ||||||
| Sources: | |||||||||