1989 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix

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.

  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 Robin Milton Third Alan Scott

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	Time/Retired	Points
1	Wayne Gardner	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda	48:15.940	20
2	Wayne Rainey	Team Lucky Strike Roberts	Yamaha	+0.350	17
3	Christian Sarron	Sonauto Gauloises Blondes Yamaha Mobil 1	Yamaha	+0.470	15
4	Kevin Magee	Team Lucky Strike Roberts	Yamaha	+1.510	13
5	Eddie Lawson	Rothmans Kanemoto Honda	Honda	+10.970	11
6	Tadahiko Taira	Yamaha Motor Company	Yamaha	+12.570	10
7	Ron Haslam	Suzuki Pepsi Cola	Suzuki	+32.460	9
8	Mick Doohan	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda	+47.660	8
9	Michael Dowson		Yamaha	+1:27.820	7
10	Dominique Sarron	Team ROC Elf Honda	Honda	+1 Lap	6
11	Alessandro Valesi	Team Iberia	Yamaha	+1 Lap	5
12	Simon Buckmaster	Racing Team Katayama	Honda	+1 Lap	4
13	Marco Gentile	Fior Marlboro	Fior	+1 Lap	3
14	Nicholas Schmassman	FMS	Honda	+3 Laps	2
15	Michael Rudroff	HRK Motors	Honda	+3 Laps	1
Ret	Greg Drew		PRP	Retirement
Ret	Freddie Spencer	Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Randy Mamola	Cagiva Corse	Cagiva	Retirement
Ret	Malcolm Campbell		Honda	Retirement
Ret	Kevin Schwantz	Suzuki Pepsi Cola	Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Bubba Shobert	Cabin Racing Team	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Francisco Gonzales	Club Motocross Pozuelo	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Niall Mackenzie	Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	James Judd		Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Pierfrancesco Chili	HB Honda Gallina Team	Honda	Retirement
DNS	Craig Harwood		Yamaha	Did not start
Sources:[5][6]

References

1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 25 July 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
2. Mitchell, Malcolm. "1989 500cc Class (FIM Grand Prix World Championship) Programmes – The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project". www.progcovers.com.
3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 21 May 2018. Retrieved 21 May 2018.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
4. Scott, Michael: "Wayne Rainey", page 136. Haynes Publishing, 1997.
5. "1989 Australian MotoGP – Motor Sport Magazine Database". 13 June 2017.
6. "motogp.com · AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX · 500cc Race Classification 1989". www.motogp.com.