1989 Swedish motorcycle Grand Prix

  1989 Swedish Grand Prix

Race details
Race 13 of 15 races in the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	13 August 1989
Location	Anderstrop
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.025 km (2.51 mi)
500 cc
Pole position
Rider	Wayne Rainey
Time	1:32.490
Fastest lap
Rider	Christian Sarron
Time	1:31.990
Podium
First	Eddie Lawson
Second	Christian Sarron
Third	Wayne Gardner
250 cc
Pole position
Rider	Carlos Cardús
Time	1:36.740
Fastest lap
Rider	Sito Pons
Time	1:36.360
Podium
First	Sito Pons
Second	Reinhold Roth
Third	Jacques Cornu
125 cc
Pole position
Rider	Àlex Crivillé
Time	1:43.610
Fastest lap
Rider	Àlex Crivillé
Time	1:42.770
Podium
First	Àlex Crivillé
Second	Hans Spaan
Third	Koji Takada

The 1989 Swedish motorcycle Grand Prix was the thirteenth round of the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 11–13 August 1989 at the Anderstorp circuit.

500 cc race report

Wayne Rainey takes pole, then it’s Kevin Schwantz and Eddie Lawson. Rainey gets the start, and Lawson moves into second, followed by Schwantz.

A lead group forms, with Rainey, a small gap to Lawson, then another small gap to Schwantz, Kevin Magee and Christian Sarron.

Schwantz cruises into the pits with a mechanical, and Lawson closes the gap to Rainey and moves into the lead. Sarron is in third a couple of bike lengths behind, and Wayne Gardner passes Magee for fourth spot.

With two laps to go, Rainey is right behind Lawson and highsides on the exit of a right-hander. It's a long tumble, but he gets up and doesn’t try to pick up the bike. Though it’s Rainey’s only real mistake all year, Lawson’s consistency and improvement brings him the win and a lead in the standings by 13.5 points. Sarron takes second, Gardner third.

Says Lawson of the lap that saw Rainey go down: "That was my fastest lap of the race; I'd never got on the throttle that early all race. When I cracked it open, Wayne followed me, and there was no way the Dunlop was going to do that. It wasn’t Wayne, it was the tyres."^[1]

500 cc classification

Pos	Rider	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	Eddie Lawson	Honda	46:31.950	20
2	Christian Sarron	Yamaha	+5.650	17
3	Wayne Gardner	Honda	+25.030	15
4	Niall Mackenzie	Yamaha	+31.630	13
5	Kevin Magee	Yamaha	+51.550	11
6	Ron Haslam	Suzuki	+55.450	10
7	Pierfrancesco Chili	Honda	+55.660	9
8	Adrien Morillas	Honda	+55.840	8
9	Rob McElnea	Honda	+1:33.500	7
10	Tadahiko Taira	Yamaha	+1 Lap	6
11	Alessandro Valesi	Yamaha	+1 Lap	5
12	Damon Buckmaster	Honda	+1 Lap	4
13	Fabio Biliotti	Honda	+2 Laps	3
14	Bruno Kneubuhler	Honda	+2 Laps	2
15	Juan Lopez Mella	Honda	+2 Laps	1
16	Nicholas Schmassman	Honda	+2 Laps
17	Timo Paavilainen	Suzuki	+2 Laps
Ret	Torbjorn Bastiansen	Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Andreas Leuthe	Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Wayne Rainey	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Alan Carter	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Josef Doppler	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Kevin Schwantz	Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Marco Gentile	Fior	Retirement
Ret	Rachel Nicotte	Chevallier Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Peter Linden	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Luca Cadalora	Yamaha	Retirement

References

1. ↑ Scott, Michael: "Wayne Rainey", page 140. Haynes Publishing, 1997