1989 Nations Grand Prix

Race details
Race 5 of 15 races in the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	14 May 1989
Official name	G.P. Delle Nazioni[1]
Location	Circuito Internazionale Santa Monica
Course	Permanent racing facility 3.488 km (2.167 mi)
500 cc
Pole position Rider Kevin Schwantz Time 1:17.424 Fastest lap Rider Eddie Lawson Time 1:19.169 Podium First Pierfrancesco Chili Second Simon Buckmaster Third Michael Rudroff
250 cc
Pole position Rider Luca Cadalora Time 1:19.750 Fastest lap Rider Juan Garriga Time 1:20.342 Podium First Sito Pons Second Jean-Philippe Ruggia Third Jacques Cornu
125 cc
Pole position Rider Hans Spaan Time 1:25.530 Fastest lap Rider Àlex Crivillé Time 1:25.768 Podium First Ezio Gianola Second Hans Spaan Third Fausto Gresini
80 cc
Pole position Rider Stefan Dörflinger Time 1:29.616 Fastest lap Rider Peter Öttl Time 1:30.136 Podium First Jorge Martínez Second Gabriele Gnani Third Herri Torrontegui

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.

500 cc race report

Before 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.

500 cc classification

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	Racing Team Katayama	Honda	33	+32.271	17	17
3	Michael Rudroff	HRK Motors	Honda	33	+32.599	24	15
4	Marco Gentile	Fior Marlboro	Fior	33	+1:32.451	19	13
5	Josef Doppler		Honda	33	+1:51.120	25	11
6	Alois Meyer	Rallye Sport	Honda	32	+1 Lap	31	10
7	Romolo Balbi		Honda	32	+1 Lap	23	9
8	Francisco Gonzales	Club Motocross Pozuelo	Honda	32	+1 Lap	32	8
9	Andreas Leuthe	Librenti Corse	Suzuki	31	+2 Laps	28	7
10	Nicholas Schmassman	FMS	Honda	31	+2 Laps	29	6
Ret	Christian Sarron	Sonauto Gauloises Blondes Yamaha Mobil 1	Yamaha		Retirement	5
Ret	Raymond Roche	Cagiva Corse	Cagiva		Retirement	18
Ret	Alessandro Valesi	Team Iberia	Yamaha		Retirement	15
Ret	Norihiko Fujiwara	Yamaha Motor Company	Yamaha		Retirement	14
Ret	Freddie Spencer	Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini	Yamaha		Retirement	7
Ret	Ron Haslam	Suzuki Pepsi Cola	Suzuki		Retirement	8
Ret	Eddie Lawson	Rothmans Kanemoto Honda	Honda		Retirement	2
Ret	Wayne Rainey	Team Lucky Strike Roberts	Yamaha		Retirement	4
Ret	Juan Lopez Mella	Club Motocross Pozuelo	Honda		Retirement	21
Ret	Massimo Broccoli	Cagiva Corse	Cagiva		Retirement	16
Ret	Kevin Schwantz	Suzuki Pepsi Cola	Suzuki		Retirement	1
Ret	Rob McElnea	Cabin Racing Team	Honda		Retirement	12
Ret	Stefan Klabacher		Honda		Retirement	30
Ret	Dominique Sarron	Team ROC Elf Honda	Honda		Retirement	13
Ret	Vittorio Scatola		Suzuki		Retirement	22
Ret	Larry Moreno Vacondio		Suzuki		Retirement	33
Ret	Bruno Kneubühler	Romer Racing Suisse	Honda		Retirement	20
Ret	Fred Merkel	HB Honda Gallina Team	Honda		Retirement	10
Ret	Niall Mackenzie	Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini	Yamaha		Retirement	6
Ret	Claude Albert		Suzuki		Retirement	5
Ret	Marco Papa	Team Greco	Paton		Retirement	27
Ret	Randy Mamola	Cagiva Corse	Cagiva		Retirement	11
Ret	Mick Doohan	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda		Retirement	9
DNS	Claude Albert		Suzuki		Did not start	26
Sources: [3][4]

References