Race details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Race 10 of 15 races in the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date | 2 July 1989 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Official name | Belgium Motorcycle Grand Prix [1] [2] [3] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Location | Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Course |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
500 cc | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
250 cc | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
125 cc | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The 1989 Belgian motorcycle Grand Prix was the tenth round of the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 30 June-2 July 1989 at Spa-Francorchamps.
Kevin Schwantz makes it six poles in a row, and John Kocinski makes his 500 debut.
The first turns go to Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey and Schwantz. Christian Sarron watches from fourth as the three ahead scrape fairings. The quartet get well clear, but wet patches begin to appear on the track.
Rainey and Schwantz raise their hands to stop the race, but ahead of them Lawson and Sarron continue at race pace. Lawson soon becomes aware of the water and raises his hand too, but Sarron, perhaps under the mistaken impression that he’s dropping the other three, seems too enthusiastic to stop and loses the front-end on a fast left. The riders pit with 5 laps raced.
It looks like the restart on aggregate time will be dry, and again Lawson, Rainey and Schwantz get away at the front, though the sky darkens. Again, the leaders raise their hands after the 9th lap, but before everyone can pit, Mick Doohan and Kocinski collide, sliding without serious injury.
The podium of the second leg is Lawson, Schwantz and Rainey, but the race organizers decide to run a third leg in the wet.
The third race sees Schwantz get away from Rainey, while Lawson gets into a tussle with Kocinski for third. On the last lap, with a comfortable lead, Schwantz crashes out on the brakes, and Rainey wheelies in for the lead, followed by Kocinski and Lawson. However, the results of the third race are later nullified, giving Lawson the win and closing the gap to Rainey. The points are later halved when a rule is discovered that only one restart is allowed.
The FIM had decided by 1989 that there could be no more than two starts and that after the second race, started on slicks, was stopped due to rain, the race would be deemed complete.
In an interesting footnote, the 1989 Belgium Grand Prix in Spa Francorchamps, scheduled for 18 laps and 73.3 miles, was entered in the books as a “complete” eight-lap, 34.5-mile sprint race victory for Eddie Lawson. But if you look at the old magazines you’ll see Kevin Schwantz celebrating the victory atop a wet podium and John Kocinski standing third in his 500 debut.
In fact, the race director, fearing a riot if he sent the fans home after only seeing two aborted starts and eight recorded laps, decided to appease the crowd by sending the riders out again even though it was clearly against the rules. Word was that the “promoter” ordered the race director to do this. The “promoter” was Bernie Ecclestone. Eventually half points were awarded and the FIM realized that something had to be done.
Thus the “wet race” and “dry race” rules were instituted. Under these rules if a race starts in the dry with riders on slicks and rain begins to the extent that the race director believes that there is insufficient traction for slick tires, he orders red flags. If three or more laps have been run, the original race distance, minus the number of laps run and minus one additional lap, is established for the second leg. However, regardless of the conditions at the start of the second part, the race is declared “wet,’ meaning that it would not be stopped simply because it begins to rain. Riders go out for part two with the understanding that, if they opted for the wrong tires, they either have to wobble around like Steve Manship at Silverstone or come in for a change. The final results are then to be based on aggregate times.This worked from the late eighties until 2003 when Dorna, protecting their TV coverage against long delays, overrode strong MSMA (Motorcycle Sport Manufacturers Association) objections and managed to introduce the first of three variants of “flag to flag” racing -- races which would not be stopped and restarted due to rain. [4]
Pos. | Rider | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Time/Retired | Points | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Eddie Lawson | Rothmans Kanemoto Honda | Honda | 8 | 19:46.260 | 10 | ||
2 | Kevin Schwantz | Suzuki Pepsi Cola | Suzuki | 8 | +0.920 | 8.5 | ||
3 | Wayne Rainey | Team Lucky Strike Roberts | Yamaha | 8 | +1.520 | 7.5 | ||
4 | Christian Sarron | Sonauto Gauloises Blondes Yamaha Mobil 1 | Yamaha | 8 | +11.430 | 6.5 | ||
5 | John Kocinski | Team Lucky Strike Roberts | Yamaha | 8 | +15.220 | 5.5 | ||
6 | Pierfrancesco Chili | HB Honda Gallina Team | Honda | 8 | +18.870 | 5 | ||
7 | Kevin Magee | Team Lucky Strike Roberts | Yamaha | 8 | +20.720 | 4.5 | ||
8 | Mick Doohan | Rothmans Honda Team | Honda | 8 | +27.230 | 4 | ||
9 | Freddie Spencer | Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini | Yamaha | 8 | +27.850 | 3.5 | ||
10 | Niall Mackenzie | Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini | Yamaha | 8 | +32.840 | 3 | ||
11 | Rob McElnea | Cabin Racing Team | Honda | 8 | +32.970 | 2.5 | ||
12 | Marco Gentile | Fior Marlboro | Fior | 8 | +1:25.460 | 2 | ||
13 | Cees Doorakkers | HRK Motors | Honda | 8 | +1:34.460 | 1.5 | ||
14 | Eddie Laycock | Honda | 8 | +1:37.060 | 1 | |||
15 | Simon Buckmaster | Racing Team Katayama | Honda | 8 | +1:37.590 | 0.5 | ||
16 | Josef Doppler | Honda | 7 | +1 Lap | ||||
17 | Bruno Kneubuhler | Romer Racing Suisse | Honda | 7 | +1 Lap | |||
18 | Marco Papa | Team Greco | Paton | 7 | +1 Lap | |||
19 | Nicholas Schmassman | FMS | Honda | 7 | +1 Lap | |||
20 | Hans Klingebiel | Suzuki | 7 | +1 Lap | ||||
21 | Fernando Gonzales | Club Motocross Pozuelo | Honda | 7 | +1 Lap | |||
22 | Mark Phillips | Suzuki | 7 | +1 Lap | ||||
23 | Randy Mamola | Cagiva Corse | Cagiva | 7 | +1 Lap | |||
Ret | Alessandro Valesi | Team Iberia | Yamaha | Retirement | ||||
Ret | Wayne Gardner | Rothmans Honda Team | Honda | Retirement | ||||
Ret | Pavel Dekanek | Honda | Retirement | |||||
DNS | Ron Haslam | Suzuki Pepsi Cola | Suzuki | Did not start | ||||
DNQ | Patrick Chavanne | Honda | Did not qualify | |||||
Sources: [5] [6] |
The 1988 German motorcycle Grand Prix was the sixth round of the 1988 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 27–29 May 1988 at the Nürburgring circuit.
The 1988 Belgian motorcycle Grand Prix was the ninth round of the 1988 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 1–3 July 1988 at Spa-Francorchamps.
The 1988 French motorcycle Grand Prix was the eleventh round of the 1988 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 22–24 July 1988 at the 5.81 km (3.61 mi) Paul Ricard Circuit.
The 1988 British motorcycle Grand Prix was the twelfth round of the 1988 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 5–7 August 1988 at Donington Park.
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.
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.
The 1989 Nations motorcycle Grand Prix was the fifth race of the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 12–14 May 1989 at the Misano circuit.
The 1989 German motorcycle Grand Prix was the sixth round of the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 26–28 May 1989 at the Hockenheimring circuit.
The 1989 Austrian motorcycle Grand Prix was the seventh round of the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 2–4 June 1989 at the Salzburgring.
The 1989 Yugoslavian motorcycle Grand Prix was the eighth round of the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 9–11 June 1989 at the Automotodrom Grobnik circuit, near Rijeka.
The 1989 French motorcycle Grand Prix was the eleventh round of the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 14–16 July 1989 at the Bugatti Circuit located in Le Mans.
The 1989 British motorcycle Grand Prix was the twelfth round of the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 4–6 August 1989 at Donington Park.
The 1989 Swedish motorcycle Grand Prix was the thirteenth round of the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 11–13 August 1989 at the Anderstorp circuit.
The 1989 Czechoslovak motorcycle Grand Prix was the penultimate round of the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 25–27 August 1989 at the Masaryk Circuit located in Brno, Czechoslovakia.
The 1990 Yugoslavian motorcycle Grand Prix was the seventh round of the 1990 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 15–17 June 1990 at the Rijeka circuit.
The 1990 Belgian motorcycle Grand Prix was the ninth round of the 1990 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 5–7 July 1990 at Spa-Francorchamps.
The 1991 German motorcycle Grand Prix was the sixth round of the 1991 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 24–26 May 1991 at the Hockenheim circuit.
The 1991 British motorcycle Grand Prix was the eleventh round of the 1991 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 2–4 August 1991 at Donington Park.
The 1992 Hungarian motorcycle Grand Prix was the ninth round of the 1992 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 10–12 July 1992 at the Hungaroring circuit.
The 1992 British motorcycle Grand Prix was the eleventh round of the 1992 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 31 July-2 August 1992 at Donington Park.
Previous race: 1989 Dutch TT | FIM Grand Prix World Championship 1989 season | Next race: 1989 French Grand Prix |
Previous race: 1988 Belgian Grand Prix | Belgian Grand Prix | Next race: 1990 Belgian Grand Prix |