1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season

1989 F.I.M. Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Previous:	1988	Next:	1990

The 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 41st F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season.

Season summary

Defending champion Eddie Lawson stunned most observers by switching from the Yamaha to Honda in the offseason then proceeded to win the championship, becoming the first man to win two consecutive 500cc championships on two different brands. On why he left Yamaha for Honda: "Giacomo Agostini, the Marlboro Yamaha team manager, started playing games, saying stuff like, 'I don't know if we can pay you the same as we did in 1988.' I'd just won my third title, so that was tough to hear. Also, I found out Ago was talking to Kevin Schwantz. I met with Erv and told him that I needed a change. When Marlboro discovered I was talking with Honda, they doubled their offer, but it was too late. I actually took a pay cut to ride the Honda."

Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz continued to perform impressively while Freddie Spencer made a less than successful comeback attempt with the Marlboro Yamaha team. Australian Wayne Gardner was out for most of the season after breaking his leg at Laguna Seca but not before winning the inaugural Grand Prix in his home country. Another Australian made his Grand Prix debut for the Rothmans Honda team with Mick Doohan scoring a third-place finish at the Hockenheimring. The FIM awarded half points for the rain-drenched Belgian Grand Prix after organisers restarted the race three times contrary to FIM race regulations. The Nations Grand Prix at Misano was boycotted by most of the top riders for safety reasons.

Sito Pons won a second consecutive 250 championship for Honda while Spanish teenager, Àlex Crivillé won the 125 crown on a JJ Cobas. Derbi rider Manuel Herreros had the honor of winning the final 80cc championship as the class would be discontinued after 1989.

Grands Prix

Round	Race	Location	80cc winner	125cc winner	250cc winner	500cc winner	Report
1	Japanese Grand Prix	Suzuka		Ezio Gianola	John Kocinski	Kevin Schwantz	Report
2	Australian Grand Prix	Phillip Island		Àlex Crivillé	Sito Pons	Wayne Gardner	Report
3	United States Grand Prix	Laguna Seca			John Kocinski	Wayne Rainey	Report
4	Spanish Grand Prix	Jerez	Herri Torrontegui	Àlex Crivillé	Luca Cadalora	Eddie Lawson	Report
5	Nations Grand Prix	Misano	Jorge Martínez	Ezio Gianola	Sito Pons	Pierfrancesco Chili	Report
6	German Grand Prix	Hockenheim	Peter Öttl	Àlex Crivillé	Sito Pons	Wayne Rainey	Report
7	Austrian Grand Prix	Salzburgring		Hans Spaan	Sito Pons	Kevin Schwantz	Report
8	Yugoslavian Grand Prix	Rijeka	Peter Öttl		Sito Pons	Kevin Schwantz	Report
9	Dutch TT	Assen	Peter Öttl	Hans Spaan	Reinhold Roth	Wayne Rainey	Report
10	Belgian Grand Prix	Spa		Hans Spaan	Jacques Cornu	Eddie Lawson	Report
11	French Grand Prix	Le Mans		Jorge Martínez	Carlos Cardús	Eddie Lawson	Report
12	British Grand Prix	Donington		Hans Spaan	Sito Pons	Kevin Schwantz	Report
13	Swedish Grand Prix	Anderstorp		Àlex Crivillé	Sito Pons	Eddie Lawson	Report
14	Czechoslovakian Grand Prix	Brno	Herri Torrontegui	Àlex Crivillé	Reinhold Roth	Kevin Schwantz	Report
15	Brazilian Grand Prix	Goiânia			Luca Cadalora	Kevin Schwantz	Report

Final standings

500cc standings

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Team	Machine	JPN	AUS	USA	ESP	NAT	GER	AUT	YUG	NED	BEL	FRA	Points	Wins	Poles	F.Laps
1	Eddie Lawson	1	United States	Rothmans-Kanemoto Honda	NSR500	3	5	3	1	Ret	2	2	3	2	1	1	228	4	1	3
2	Wayne Rainey	3	United States	Lucky Strike-Yamaha	YZR500	2	2	1	2	Ret	1	3	2	1	3	3	210.5	3	4	1
3	Christian Sarron	4	France	Gauloises-Yamaha	YZR500	7	3	6	4	Ret	5	4	5	3	4	4	165.5			1
4	Kevin Schwantz	34	United States	Pepsi-Suzuki	RGV500	1	Ret	2	Ret	Ret	Ret	1	1	Ret	2	2	162.5	6	9	8
5	Kevin Magee	5	Australia	Lucky Strike-Yamaha	YZR500	5	4	4			7	5	4	4	7	5	138.5
6	Pier-Francesco Chili	9	Italy	HB-Honda	NSR500	Ret	Ret	7	6	1	4	6	9	5	6	6	122	1		1
7	Niall Mackenzie	6	United Kingdom	Marlboro-Yamaha	YZR500	6	Ret	5	3	Ret	Ret		12	8	10	7	103
8	Ron Haslam	8	United Kingdom	Pepsi-Suzuki	RGV500	12	7	Ret	7	Ret	Ret	7	8	7	Ret		86
9	Michael Doohan	27	Australia	Rothmans-Honda	NSR500	Ret	8	8	Ret	Ret	3	8	6	9	8	8	81
10	Wayne Gardner	2	Australia	Rothmans-Honda	NSR500	4	1	Ret						6	Ret	Ret	67	1		1
11	Rob McElnea	10	United Kingdom	Cabin - Honda	NSR500					Ret	10	11	11	10	11	9	52.5
12	Simon Buckmaster	35	United Kingdom	Katayama - Honda	NSR500	Ret	12	13	13	2	14	13	14	19	15	14	43.5
13	Alessandro Valesi	15	Italy	Iberna - Yamaha	YZR500	Ret	11	11	10	Ret	13	12	25	12	Ret	13	40
14	Tadahiko Taira	21	Japan	Tech-21 - Yamaha	YZR500	8	6	Ret	8								39		1
15	Dominique Sarron	7	France	Elf-Honda	NSR500	18	10	10	9	Ret	8	10	10	Ret		Ret	39
16	Freddie Spencer	19	USA	Marlboro-Yamaha	YZR500	14	Ret	Ret	5	Ret	9	9	27	13	9	Ret	33,5
17	Randy Mamola	12	USA	Cagiva	c589	16	Ret	Ret	Ret	Ret	12	Ret	7	11	Ret	11	33
18	Marco Gentile	25	Switzerland	Marlboro Fior Team		20	13	12	12	4	Ret	14	24	14	12	Ret	33
19	Adrien Morillas		France													10	26
20	Michael Rudroff		Germany				15	15	20	3	21	19	15	17			18
21	Norihiko Fujiwara		Japan			9				Ret	6	Ret					17
22	Bubba Shobert		USA			11	Ret	9									12
23	Josef Doppler		Austria						18	5	22	16		Ret	Ret		11
24	Alois Mayer		Germany							6	Ret	Ret		25			10
25	Romolo Balbi		Italy							7							9
26	Luca Cadalora		Italy														8
27	Francisco Gonzales		Spain			23	Ret	16	Ret	8	Ret	22	19		16	24	8
28	Niggi Schmassman		Switzerland				14	Ret	Ret	10	Ret	21	20	23	18	21	8
29	Massimo Broccoli		Italy						11	Ret			13				8
30	Michael Dowson		Australia				9										7
31	Andy Leuthe		Luxembourg						Ret	9	Ret		26	Ret		Ret	7
32	Shinichi Ito		Japan			10											6
33	Fabio Biliotti		Italy													15	6
34	Bruno Kneubühler		Switzerland					14	16	Ret	15	15	16	16	Ret	17	6
35	John Kocinski		USA												5		5,5
36	Ernst Gschwender		Germany								11						5
37	Fred Merkel		USA							Ret						Ret	5
38	Thierry Crine		France													12	4
39	Roger Burnett		Great Britain														4
40	Juan Lopez Mella		Spain						14	Ret	19	Ret		Ret		18	4
41	Shuji Yatsushiro		Japan			13											3
42	Alberto Rota		Italy														3
43	Cees Doorakkers		Netherlands											15	13	25	2,5
44	Eddie Laycock		Ireland						15					Ret	14	16	2
45	Peter Linden		Sweden								23			Ret			1
46	Kunio Machii		Japan			15											1
	Hansjoerg Butz		Germany								16						0
	Claude Albert		France						17	Ret			Ret			19	0
	Marco Papa		Italy						Ret	Ret	Ret		17	20	Ret	Ret	0
	Vincenzo Cascino		Italy					17			Ret						0
	Georg Robert Jung		Germany								Ret	17					0
	Rachel Nicotte		France								17			Ret			0
	Takazumi Katayama		Japan			17											0
	Mark Phillips		United Kingdom												17		0
	Stefan Klabacher		Germany							Ret	24	18	18				0
	Vittorio Scatola		Italy							Ret	18		22				0
	Michele Valdo		Italy											18			0
	Hans Klingebiel		Germany								26	25			19		0
	Katunori Shinozaki		Japan			19											0
	Steve Williams		United Kingdom						19								0
	Petr Schleef		Germany								20			21			0
	Karl Dauer		Austria								Ret	20					0
	Jean Paul Lecointe		France													20	0
	Rudolf Zeller		Austria									24	21				0
	Keiji Kinoshita		Japan			21											0
	Ian Pratt		United Kingdom						21								0
	Martin Troesch		Germany								Ret			22			0
	Yoshimasa Matsumoto		Japan			22											0
	Fabien Pilloud		France						22								0
	Pascal Seguela		France													22	0
	Pavel Dekanek		Czech Republic									23		Ret	Ret		0
	Michael Kaplam		Austria										23				0
	Bernard Gitton		France													23	0
	Frederik Beck		Switzerland											24			0
	Helmut Schutz		Germany								25		Ret				0
	Thomas Berghammer		Austria									26					0
	Raymond Roche		France							Ret						Ret	0
	Doug Polen		USA			Ret											0
	Osamu Hiwatashi		Japan			Ret											0
	Hikaru Miyagi		Japan			Ret											0
	Norio Iobe		Japan			Ret											0
	Greg Drew		Australia				Ret										0
	Malcolm Campbell		Australia				Ret										0
	James Judd		Australia				Ret										0
	David Busby		USA					Ret									0
	Eugene Brown		USA					Ret									0
	Michael Wild		USA					Ret									0
	Moreno Vacondio		Italy							Ret							0
	Walther Maier		Germany								Ret						0
	Roland Busch		Germany								Ret						0
	Donato Battistoni		Italy										Ret				0
	Karl Truchsess		Austria											Ret			0
	Stephane Mertens		Belgium											Ret			0
	Patrick Salles		France													Ret	0
	Patrick Larustre		France													Ret	0
	Bernard Andrault		France													Ret	0

250cc standings

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Team	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Sito Pons	1	Spain	Campsa-Honda	NSR250	262	7
2	Reinhold Roth	5	Germany	HB Römer-Honda	NSR250	190	2
3	Jacques Cornu	3	Switzerland	Lucky Strike Elf-Honda	NSR250	187	1
4	Carlos Cardús	9	Spain	Repsol-Honda	NSR250	162	1
5	Luca Cadalora	6	Italy	Marlboro Yamaha-Agostini	YZR250	127	2
6	Masahiro Shimizu	10	Japan	Ajinomoto-Honda	NSR250	116	0
7	Jean-Philippe Ruggia	7	France	Gauloises Blondes-Yamaha	YZR250	110	0
8	Juan Garriga	2	Spain	Ducados-Yamaha	YZR250	98	0
9	Helmut Bradl	17	Germany	HB Rallye Sport-Honda	NSR250	88	0
10	Martin Wimmer	14	Germany	Hein Gericke-Aprilia	RS250	62	0
11	Loris Reggiani					52
12	Didier de Radiguès					51
13	Wilco Zeelenberg					41
14	John Kocinski					40
15	Toshihiko Honma					36
16	Jochen Schmid					36
17	Carlos Lavado					31
18	Alex Barros					30
19	Garry Cowan					25
20	Jim Filice					22
21	Renzo Colleoni					21
22	Ivan Palazzese					19
23	Alberto Puig					18
24	Harald Eckl					18
25	Marcellino Lucchi					17
26	Daniel Amatriain					14
27	Alain Bronec					11
28	Tadayuki Okada					10
29	Toshinobu Shiomori					9
30	Jose Morillas					9
31	Stefano Caracchi					9
32	Fausto Ricci					8
33	Alberto Rota					6
34	Patrick van den Goorbergh					6
35	Daryl Beattie					4
36	Kevin Mitchell					4
37	Paolo Casoli					4
38	Andy Preining					4
39	Maurizio Vitali					2
40	Luis Lavado					2
41	Junya Arai					1
41	Harald Becker					1
41	Manfred Herweh					1
41	August Auinger					1

125cc standings

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Àlex Crivillé	28	Spain	JJ Cobas	166	5
2	Hans Spaan	3	Netherlands	Honda	152	4
3	Ezio Gianola	2	Italy	Honda	138	2
4	Hisashi Unemoto	11	Japan	Honda	104
5	Fausto Gresini	22	Italy	Aprilia	102
6	Koji Takada	18	Japan	Honda	99
7	Stefan Prein	8	West Germany	Honda	92
8	Julian Miralles	4	Spain	Derbi	90
9	Jorge Martínez	1	Spain	Derbi	72	1
10	Alan Scott	12	United States	Honda	54
11	Adi Stadler				53
12	Robin Milton				46
13	Luis Miguel Reyes				35
14	Domenico Brigaglia				34
15	Dirk Raudies				29
16	Alfred Waibel				25
17	Taru Rinne				23
18	Lucio Pietroniro				22
19	Bruno Casanova				20
20	Doriano Romboni				20
21	Flemming Kistrup				18
22	Robin Appleyard				18
23	Thierry Feuz				15
24	Masayuki Hirose				13
25	Herri Torrontegui				13
26	Kenichi Yoshida				11
27	Jean Claude Selini				11
28	Masato Shima				10
29	Corrado Catalano				10
30	Johnny Wickstroem				10
31	Yutaka Fujihara				9
32	Kazuaki Yamashita				8
33	Hubert Abold				8
34	Shinichi Fujiyama				7
35	Kazuja Yamada				6
36	Gerhard Waibel				6
37	Mike Leitner				4
38	Gabriele Debbia				3
39	Jean Pierre Jeandat				3
40	Stuart Edwards				3
42	Bady Hassaine				2
42	Josef Fischer				2
44	Alex Bedford				1
44	Heinz Lüthi				1
44	Herve Duffard				1

80cc standings

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Manuel Herreros	4	Spain	Derbi	92
2	Stefan Dörflinger	3	Switzerland	Krauser	80
3	Peter Öttl	5	West Germany	Krauser	75	3
4	Herri Torrontegui		Spain	Krauser	75	2
5	Gabriele Gnani	10	Italy	Gnani	45
6	Paolo Priori		Italy	Krauser	41
7	Bogdan Nikolov	6	Bulgaria	Krauser	40
8	Jorge Martínez		Spain	Derbi	35	1
9	Jaime Mariano		Spain	Casal	33
10	Jörg Seel		West Germany	Seel	32
11	Andres Sanchez				30
12	Julian Miralles				26
13	Hans Koopman				23
14	Ralf Waldmann				23
15	Josè Saez				20
16	Bernd Völkel				13
17	Jos Van Dongen				13
18	Bert Smit				12
19	Stefan Kurfiss				12
20	Luis Alvaro				10
21	Giuseppe Ascareggi				9
22	Roberto Sassone				7
23	Janos Szabo				6
24	Zdravko Matulja				5
25	Jacques Bernard				5
26	Janez Pintar				4
27	Stefan Brägger				4
28	Thomas Engl				3
29	Günter Schrinhofer				3
30	René Dünki				3
31	Mathias Ehinger				2
32	Heinz Paschen				1
33	Xavier Arumi				1

References

• Büla, Maurice & Schertenleib, Jean-Claude (2001). Continental Circus 1949-2000. Chronosports S.A. ISBN 2-940125-32-5