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, located near the town of Misano Adriatico (Province of Rimini) in the frazione of Santa Monica-Cella.
| Race details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Race 5 of 15 races in the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | 14 May 1989 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Official name | G.P. Delle Nazioni[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Circuito Internazionale Santa Monica | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Course |
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| 500cc | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 250cc | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 125cc | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 80cc | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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500cc Race Report
editBefore the race, riders were concerned about the track surface, considering it too slippery, and should it rain, even dangerous.
Dry track and dark clouds for the green light with Kevin Schwantz on pole. Pierfrancesco Chili got a good start and led briefly, then Schwantz, Wayne Rainey and Christian Sarron settled into the lead. Short afterwards, the rain started and Schwantz raised his hand to stop the race.
The top riders had a meeting and decided they wanted a practice session before restarting in the wet, but the request was refused by the race organizers and the riders decided to boycott the race. Eddie Lawson says, "This place is unique in that the track surface is very, very slippery, and when it has water on it you can’t ride on it. All the top riders felt it was too dangerous, and it is, and so we didn’t ride. It’s as simple as that. … We go to plenty of racetracks where we test all week, in the sunshine, and then it starts to rain; well, we put rain tires on and we race. This place, you can’t do that. Regardless of not testing or anything else, you just can’t ride in the wet, it’s just too dangerous. It was unfortunate."[2]
A notable dissenter is Chili, who wants to race, along with other riders. Chili manages to stay upright in the downpour and wins the race, with Lawson sarcastically cheering from the stands and Sarron blowing a kiss.
500cc Classification
edit| Pos. | Rider | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Pierfrancesco Chili
|
HB Honda Gallina Team | Honda | 33 | 59:21.035 | 3 | 20 | ||
| 2 |  Simon Buckmaster
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Racing Team Katayama | Honda | 33 | 32.271 | 17 | 17 | ||
| 3 |  Michael Rudroff
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HRK Motors | Honda | 33 | 32.599 | 24 | 15 | ||
| 4 |  Marco Gentile
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Fior Marlboro | Fior | 33 | 1:32.451 | 19 | 13 | ||
| 5 |  Josef Doppler
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Honda | 33 | 1:51.120 | 25 | 11 | |||
| 6 | Alois Meyer
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Rallye Sport | Honda | 32 | 1 Lap | 31 | 10 | ||
| 7 | Romolo Balbi
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Honda | 32 | 1 Lap | 23 | 9 | |||
| 8 |  Francisco Gonzales
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Club Motocross Pozuelo | Honda | 32 | 1 Lap | 32 | 8 | ||
| 9 |  Andreas Leuthe
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Librenti Corse | Suzuki | 31 | 2 Laps | 28 | 7 | ||
| 10 | Nicholas Schmassman
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FMS | Honda | 31 | 2 Laps | 29 | 6 | ||
| Ret |  Christian Sarron
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Sonauto Gauloises Blondes Yamaha Mobil 1 | Yamaha | Retirement | 5 | ||||
| Ret | Raymond Roche
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Cagiva Corse | Cagiva | Retirement | 18 | ||||
| Ret | Alessandro Valesi
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Team Iberia | Yamaha | Retirement | 15 | ||||
| Ret |  Norihiko Fujiwara
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Yamaha Motor Company | Yamaha | Retirement | 14 | ||||
| Ret |  Freddie Spencer
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Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini | Yamaha | Retirement | 7 | ||||
| Ret | Ron Haslam
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Suzuki Pepsi Cola | Suzuki | Retirement | 8 | ||||
| Ret | Eddie Lawson
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Rothmans Kanemoto Honda | Honda | Retirement | 2 | ||||
| Ret | Wayne Rainey
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Team Lucky Strike Roberts | Yamaha | Retirement | 4 | ||||
| Ret | Juan Lopez Mella
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Club Motocross Pozuelo | Honda | Retirement | 21 | ||||
| Ret | Massimo Broccoli
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Cagiva Corse | Cagiva | Retirement | 16 | ||||
| Ret | Kevin Schwantz
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Suzuki Pepsi Cola | Suzuki | Retirement | 1 | ||||
| Ret | Rob McElnea
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Cabin Racing Team | Honda | Retirement | 12 | ||||
| Ret | Stefan Klabacher
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Honda | Retirement | 30 | |||||
| Ret | Dominique Sarron
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Team ROC Elf Honda | Honda | Retirement | 13 | ||||
| Ret | Vittorio Scatola
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Suzuki | Retirement | 22 | |||||
| Ret |  Larry Moreno Vacondio
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Suzuki | Retirement | 33 | |||||
| Ret | Bruno Kneubühler
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Romer Racing Suisse | Honda | Retirement | 20 | ||||
| Ret | Fred Merkel
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HB Honda Gallina Team | Honda | Retirement | 10 | ||||
| Ret | Niall Mackenzie
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Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini | Yamaha | Retirement | 6 | ||||
| Ret | Claude Albert
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Suzuki | Retirement | 5 | |||||
| Ret | Marco Papa
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Team Greco | Paton | Retirement | 27 | ||||
| Ret | Randy Mamola
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Cagiva Corse | Cagiva | Retirement | 11 | ||||
| Ret |  Mick Doohan
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Rothmans Honda Team | Honda | Retirement | 9 | ||||
| DNS | Claude Albert
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Suzuki | Did not start | 26 | |||||
| Sources: [3][4] | |||||||||
References
edit- ^ "Grand Prix uitslagen en bijzonderheden 1989" (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 25 July 2015. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
- ^ Duke Video: "Bike GP 500 Review". Videocassette.
- ^ "1989 Nations MotoGP - Motor Sport Magazine Database". 13 June 2017.
- ^ "motogp.com · NATIONS GRAND PRIX · 500cc Race Classification 1989". www.motogp.com.