1990 Swedish motorcycle Grand Prix

The 1990 Swedish motorcycle Grand Prix was the twelfth round of the 1990 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 10th-12th August, 1990 at the Anderstorp

500 cc race report

Last year, Wayne Rainey lost any chance at the championship by crashing on this track, and this year he has a points advantage on Kevin Schwantz, but a DNF would just about erase the lead. He’s asked:

Q: “Is this going to be one of the occasions when you go for points rather than a win?”
WR: “Well, I’m going to go for both; it’s going to be tough tomorrow for those guys that have been going fast—if they go the same speed tomorrow; so we’re just going to ride around, have some fun and collect all the points we can get.”
Q: “You’ll be satisfied then if you don’t win?”
WR: “No.” [Duke Video: "Bike GP 1990 Review". Videocassette.]

At the light, Rainey gets the start and is followed by Eddie Lawson, Mick Doohan, Randy Mamola, Carl Fogarty and Wayne Gardner. Schwantz is behind with another bad start.

Schwantz soon moves into fourth place, but then crashes out and ends much hope for the championship.

The race develops into two pairs: Rainey and Lawson on the Yamahas, then a small gap to the Hondas of Doohan and Gardner. Will Lawson stay behind Rainey and help him out as he said he would earlier in the season?

Gardner leaves Doohan and shows Lawson a wheel, but Lawson keeps Gardner under control for the moment. Ron Haslam crashes and runs off the track just as the leaders zoom in.

Gardner isn’t able to match Rainey and Lawson’s pace and finishes in third, and Lawson’s second place may have been deliberate in order to help teammate Rainey.

500cc classification

References

MotoGP_race_report
Name_of_race = Swedish Grand Prix
Year_of_race = 1990
Previous_race_in_season = 1990 British Grand Prix
Next_race_in_season = 1990 Czechoslovakian Grand Prix
Previous_year's_race = 1989 Swedish Grand Prix
Next_year's_race = None