1989 German motorcycle Grand Prix

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.[4]

  1989 German Grand Prix

Race details
Race 6 of 15 races in the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	28 May 1989
Official name	Großer Preis von Deutschland für Motorräder[1][2][3]
Location	Hockenheimring
Course	Permanent racing facility 6.789 km (4.218 mi)
500 cc
Pole position Rider Kevin Schwantz Time 2:02.620 Fastest lap Rider Kevin Schwantz Time 2:02.680 Podium First Wayne Rainey Second Eddie Lawson Third Mick Doohan
250 cc
Pole position Rider Helmut Bradl Time 2:11.040 Fastest lap Rider Sito Pons Time 2:10.990 Podium First Sito Pons Second Reinhold Roth Third Masahiro Shimizu
125 cc
Pole position Rider Ezio Gianola Time 2:23.640 Fastest lap Rider Julián Miralles Time 2:24.160 Podium First Àlex Crivillé Second Ezio Gianola Third Julián Miralles
80 cc
Pole position Rider Stefan Dörflinger Time 2:32.240 Fastest lap Rider Unknown Podium First Peter Öttl Second Manuel Herreros Third Herri Torrontegui

500 cc race report

The front of the grid is Kevin Schwantz, Wayne Rainey and Eddie Lawson, who stay in that order through the first few turns, though Mick Doohan soon takes third spot behind Lawson and Rainey, pushing Schwantz into third.

Lawson seems to miss a shift at a chicane, and lets Rainey and Schwantz through, who have become the leading group of three. The group is tight, and Schwantz still hasn’t broken himself of the habit of looking behind him for no good reason.

Lawson puts himself at the front again, while back down the field Niall Mackenzie crashes out.

Schwantz develops a mechanical and drops out, leaving Lawson and Rainey to fight it out for first and Doohan and Christian Sarron for third place.

Last lap: Lawson ahead for the first half, but Rainey gets past on the brakes to a chicane. Going into the stadium section, Rainey is doing everything to keep Lawson behind him, doing a tremendous slide on his Dunlops. Rainey takes a very close win from Lawson, with a big gap to Doohan, then Pierfrancesco Chili and Sarron.

Two DNFs in a row seem to have ended Schwantz' hope for the championship, who was already pessimistic since his crash at Jerez. Schwantz can still affect the outcome of the championship by getting between Lawson and Rainey and denying the latter some points. Rainey and Lawson needle each other after the race and then say nothing to each other for the rest of the season.

500 cc classification

Pos.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	Wayne Rainey	Team Lucky Strike Roberts	Yamaha	39:14.750	20
2	Eddie Lawson	Rothmans Kanemoto Honda	Honda	+0.270	17
3	Mick Doohan	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda	+20.710	15
4	Pierfrancesco Chili	HB Honda Gallina Team	Honda	+25.720	13
5	Christian Sarron	Sonauto Gauloises Blondes Yamaha Mobil 1	Yamaha	+37.000	11
6	Norihiko Fujiwara	Yamaha Motor Company	Yamaha	+42.980	10
7	Kevin Magee	Team Lucky Strike Roberts	Yamaha	+43.540	9
8	Dominique Sarron	Team ROC Elf Honda	Honda	+44.980	8
9	Freddie Spencer	Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini	Yamaha	+53.020	7
10	Rob McElnea	Cabin Racing Team	Honda	+1:08.530	6
11	Ernst Gschwender	Suzuki Deutschland	Suzuki	+1 Lap	5
12	Randy Mamola	Cagiva Corse	Cagiva	+1 Lap	4
13	Alessandro Valesi	Team Iberia	Yamaha	+1 Lap	3
14	Simon Buckmaster	Racing Team Katayama	Honda	+1 Lap	2
15	Bruno Kneubuhler	Romer Racing Suisse	Honda	+1 Lap	1
16	Hansjoerg Butz	Autobus Butz Racing Team	Honda	+1 Lap
17	Rachel Nicotte		Chevallier Yamaha	+1 Lap
18	Vittorio Scatola		Honda	+1 Lap
19	Juan Lopez Mella	Club Motocross Pozuelo	Honda	+1 Lap
20	Petr Schleef	Schuh Racing Team	Honda	+1 Lap
21	Michael Rudroff	HRK Motors	Honda	+1 Lap
22	Josef Doppler		Honda	+1 Lap
23	Peter Linden	Team Heukeroff	Honda	+1 Lap
24	Stefan Klabacher		Honda	+1 Lap
25	Helmut Schutz	Rallye Sport	Honda	+1 Lap
26	Hans Klingebiel		Suzuki	+1 Lap
Ret	Ron Haslam	Suzuki Pepsi Cola	Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Georg Robert Jung	Romer Telefix	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Marco Gentile	Fior Marlboro	Fior	Retirement
Ret	Kevin Schwantz	Suzuki Pepsi Cola	Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Roland Busch	Schuh Racing Team	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Karl Dauer	PC Racing	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Alois Meyer	Rallye Sport	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Martin Troesch		Honda	Retirement
Ret	Nicholas Schmassman	FMS	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Niall Mackenzie	Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini	Yamaha	Retirement
DNQ	Marco Papa	Team Greco	Paton	Did not qualify
DNQ	Andreas Leuthe	Librenti Corse	Suzuki	Did not qualify
DNQ	Francisco Gonzales	Club Motocross Pozuelo	Honda	Did not qualify
DNQ	Vincenzo Cascino	Honda	Did not qualify
DNQ	Walther Maier	Rallye Sport	Honda	Did not qualify
Sources:[5][6]

References

1. "Grand Prix uitslagen en bijzonderheden 1989". Archive.li. Archived from the original on 2015-07-25. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
2. Mitchell, Malcolm. "1989 500cc Class (FIM Grand Prix World Championship) Programmes - The Motor Racing Programme Covers Project". www.progcovers.com.
3. "Info". Archived from the original on 2018-05-20. Retrieved 2018-05-21.
4. "Moto GP statistics". Moto GP. Retrieved 2018-02-19.
5. "1989 German MotoGP - Motor Sport Magazine Database". 13 June 2017.
6. "motogp.com · WEST GERMANY GRAND PRIX · 500cc Race Classification 1989". www.motogp.com.

Previous race: 1989 Nations Grand Prix	FIM Grand Prix World Championship 1989 season	Next race: 1989 Austrian Grand Prix
Previous race: 1988 German Grand Prix	German Grand Prix	Next race: 1990 German Grand Prix