1989 British motorcycle Grand Prix

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.[4]

  1989 British Grand Prix

Race details
Race 12 of 15 races in the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	6 August 1989
Official name	Shell British Motorcycle Grand Prix[1][2][3]
Location	Donington
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.023 km (2.500 mi)
500 cc
Pole position Rider Kevin Schwantz Time 1:34.050 Fastest lap Rider Eddie Lawson Time 1:34.510 Podium First Kevin Schwantz Second Eddie Lawson Third Wayne Rainey
250 cc
Pole position Rider Luca Cadalora Time 1:38.310 Fastest lap Rider Sito Pons Time 1:38.330 Podium First Sito Pons Second Reinhold Roth Third Masahiro Shimizu
125 cc
Pole position Rider Hans Spaan Time 1:43.750 Fastest lap Rider Hans Spaan Time 1:44.670 Podium First Hans Spaan Second Àlex Crivillé Third Ezio Gianola

500 cc race report

Luca Cadalora is brought in to replace Freddie Spencer, who’s been released by team manager Giacomo Agostini.

In the first lap Wayne Rainey’s in front of a group of 4 riders, with Kevin Schwantz, Christian Sarron and Eddie Lawson. Rainey and Schwantz trade the lead, while Niall Mackenzie comes up from behind. Mackenzie is having a good day, as he passes Lawson and Rainey to move into second behind Schwantz. Mackenzie takes the lead for half a lap, but Schwantz gets it back at the chicane, and soon Lawson passes him as well. Wayne Gardner retires with a mechanical.

Rainey passes Mackenzie, but Schwantz and Lawson have gotten far ahead. Schwantz takes the win from Lawson by a few bike lengths, and Rainey comes in third. With 3 rounds to go, Lawson is less than 7 points away from Rainey with 60 points still to be decided.

Race winner Kevin Schwantz, celebrating after winning the 500cc race.

500 cc classification

Pos.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	Kevin Schwantz	Suzuki Pepsi Cola	Suzuki	47:45.670	20
2	Eddie Lawson	Rothmans Kanemoto Honda	Honda	+0.970	17
3	Wayne Rainey	Team Lucky Strike Roberts	Yamaha	+8.600	15
4	Niall Mackenzie	Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini	Yamaha	+10.940	13
5	Christian Sarron	Sonauto Gauloises Blondes Yamaha Mobil 1	Yamaha	+28.310	11
6	Kevin Magee	Team Lucky Strike Roberts	Yamaha	+38.490	10
7	Ron Haslam	Suzuki Pepsi Cola	Suzuki	+47.360	9
8	Luca Cadalora	Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini	Yamaha	+51.770	8
9	Pierfrancesco Chili	HB Honda Gallina Team	Honda	+1:27.710	7
10	Rob McElnea	Cabin Racing Team	Honda	+1 Lap	6
11	Fred Merkel	HB Honda Gallina Team	Honda	+1 Lap	5
12	Roger Burnett	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda	+1 Lap	4
13	Marco Gentile	Fior Marlboro	Fior	+1 Lap	3
14	Fabio Biliotti	Racing Team Katayama	Honda	+1 Lap	2
15	Simon Buckmaster	Racing Team Katayama	Honda	+1 Lap	1
16	Marco Papa	Team Greco	Paton	+2 Laps
17	Robert Holden		Honda	+2 Laps
18	Bruno Kneubühler	Romer Racing Suisse	Honda	+2 Laps
19	Claude Albert		Suzuki	+2 Laps
20	Andreas Leuthe	Librenti Corse	Suzuki	+2 Laps
21	Josef Doppler		Honda	+2 Laps
22	Francisco Gonzales	Club Motocross Pozuelo	Honda	+2 Laps
23	Peter Graves		Honda	+2 Laps
Ret	Ian Pratt	Racing Team Katayama	Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Wayne Gardner	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Mark Phillips		Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Dominique Sarron	Team ROC Elf Honda	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Nicholas Schmassman	FMS	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Rachel Nicotte		Chevallier Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Juan Lopez Mella	Club Motocross Pozuelo	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Cees Doorakkers	HRK Motors	Honda	Retirement
Ret	John Mossey		Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	David Crampton		Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Alessandro Valesi	Team Iberia	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Alan Carter		Honda	Retirement
DNS	Andy McGladdery		Honda	Did not start
DNQ	Larry Moreno Vacondio		Honda	Did not qualify
DNQ	Eddie Laycock		Honda	Did not qualify
Sources: [5][6]

References

1. "Alle Grand-Prix uitslagen en bijzonderheden, van 1973 (het jaar dat Jack begon met racen) tot heden". Archive.li. Archived from the original on 25 July 2015. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
2. Mitchell, Malcolm. "1989 500cc Class (FIM Grand Prix World Championship) Programmes - The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project". Progcovers.com. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-05-21. Retrieved 2018-05-21.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
4. "Moto GP statistics". Moto GP. Retrieved 2018-02-19.
5. "1989 British MotoGP - Motor Sport Magazine Database". Motorsportmagazine.com. 13 June 2017. Retrieved 14 September 2018.
6. "BRITISH GRAND PRIX · 500cc Race Classification 1989". Motogp.com. Retrieved 14 September 2018.