The 1989 Spanish motorcycle Grand Prix was the fourth round of the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 28–30 April 1989 at the Jerez circuit.
500 cc race report Wayne Rainey on pole goes into the first turn ahead of Pierfrancesco Chili, Eddie Lawson, and Kevin Schwantz. Schwantz wastes little time in catching and passing Rainey. As Schwantz pulls ahead, Rainey battles Lawson for the first time in the season, Lawson seeming to come to terms with the Honda. Rainey can only watch as Lawson passes and claws away at a gap.
Meanwhile, Chili tries passing Ron Haslam on the hairpin leading into the straight by braking late on the inside. Chili clumsily bumps Haslam, who’s in no mood to be shoved and decides to shove back, taking them both off-track, though Haslam’s detour end up being much longer than Chili’s.
Up ahead, Schwantz is enjoying a large lead with 5 laps to go when he throws it away, clutching his head in disbelief as he walks through the gravel. Lawson is handed the win, followed by Rainey and Mackenzie.
Schwantz: "At Jerez there was four laps to go and I was almost six seconds in front of Eddie. I had watched the race the previous year after the bike broke and I remembered watching him haul in Rainey and keep Rainey from winning his first Grand Prix. I was thinking to myself, come on you've just got to keep above those five seconds. Get it down to less than five laps with more than five seconds and there's no way he can catch you.' "
"I had got there and done that. I went over the line and around the back of the big Kodak box that is a scoreboard with all the times on it. As I went past the back it changed to show four laps to go and more than five seconds, I thought, 'yeah I've got it,' and immediately fell off. It was just a loss of concentration, I thought I had it in the bag. I went into the corner, didn't have it down on my knee where I needed to be. The front end pushed and before I could even think, 'Oh shit', I was sitting on the haybales."Schwantz, Kevin: Early GP Years kevinschwantz.com 1994.
The gap between Lawson and Rainey is now 10 points.
500 cc classification Pos. Rider Team ManufacturerLaps Time/RetiredGrid Points 1 Eddie Lawson Rothmans Kanemoto Honda Honda30 55:11.2604 20 2 Wayne Rainey Team Lucky Strike Roberts Yamaha30 +10.1701 17 3 Niall Mackenzie Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini Yamaha30 +17.4803 15 4 Christian Sarron Sonauto Gauloises Blondes Yamaha Mobil 1 Yamaha30 +27.3005 13 5 Freddie Spencer Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini Yamaha30 +51.0006 11 6 Pierfrancesco Chili HB Honda Gallina Team Honda30 +1:19.0408 10 7 Ron Haslam Suzuki Pepsi Cola Suzuki30 +1:29.45010 9 8 Tadahiko Taira Yamaha Motor Company Yamaha30 +1:43.4407 8 9 Dominique Sarron Team ROC Elf Honda Honda30 +1:46.87012 7 10 Alessandro Valesi Team Iberia Yamaha30 +1:53.86013 6 11 Massimo Broccoli Cagiva Corse Cagiva29 +1 Lap16 5 12 Marco Gentile Fior Marlboro Fior29 +1 Lap14 4 13 Simon Buckmaster Racing Team Katayama Honda29 +1 Lap15 3 14 Juan Lopez Mella Club Motocross Pozuelo Honda29 +1 Lap17 2 15 Eddie Laycock Honda29 +1 Lap21 1 16 Bruno Kneubuhler Romer Racing Suisse Honda29 +1 Lap18 17 Claude Albert Suzuki29 +1 Lap24 18 Josef Doppler Honda29 +1 Lap25 19 Steve Williams Flower Motorcycles Honda29 +1 Lap22 20 Michael Rudroff HRK Motors Honda29 +1 Lap23 21 Ian Pratt Racing Team Katayama Honda29 +1 Lap27 22 Fabian Pilloud Honda29 +1 Lap29 Ret Nicholas Schmassman FMS Honda Retirement20 Ret Andreas Leuthe Librenti Corse Suzuki Retirement26 Ret Kevin Schwantz Suzuki Pepsi Cola Suzuki Retirement2 Ret Randy Mamola Cagiva Corse Cagiva Retirement9 Ret Francisco Gonzales Club Motocross Pozuelo Honda Retirement28 Ret Marco Papa Team Greco Paton Retirement19 Ret Mick Doohan Rothmans Honda Team Honda Retirement11 DNQ Larry Moreno Vacondio Suzuki Did not qualify Sources:
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