1989 German motorcycle Grand Prix

  1989 German Grand Prix

Race details
Race 6 of 15 races in the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	28 May 1989
Location	Hockenheimring
Course	Permanent racing facility 5.148 km (3.2 mi)
500 cc
Pole position
Rider	Kevin Schwantz
Time	2:02.620
Fastest lap
Rider	Kevin Schwantz
Time	2:02.680
Podium
First	Wayne Rainey
Second	Eddie Lawson
Third	Mick Doohan
250 cc
Pole position
Rider	Helmut Bradl
Time	2:11.040
Fastest lap
Rider	Sito Pons
Time	2:10.990
Podium
First	Sito Pons
Second	Reinhold Roth
Third	Masahiro Shimizu
125 cc
Pole position
Rider	Ezio Gianola
Time	2:23.640
Fastest lap
Rider	Julian Miralles
Time	2:24.160
Podium
First	Àlex Crivillé
Second	Ezio Gianola
Third	Julian Miralles
80 cc
Pole position
Rider	Stefan Dörflinger
Time	2:32.240
Fastest lap
Rider	Unknown
Podium
First	Peter Öttl
Second	Manuel Herreros
Third	Herri Torrontegui

The 1989 German motorcycle Grand Prix was the sixth round of the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 26–28 May 1989 at the Hockenheimring circuit.

500 cc race report

The front of the grid is Kevin Schwantz, Wayne Rainey and Eddie Lawson, who stay in that order through the first few turns, though Mick Doohan soon takes third spot behind Lawson and Rainey, pushing Schwantz into third.

Lawson seems to miss a shift at a chicane, and lets Rainey and Schwantz through, who have become the leading group of three. The group is tight, and Schwantz still hasn’t broken himself of the habit of looking behind him for no good reason.

Lawson puts himself at the front again, while back down the field Niall Mackenzie crashes out.

Schwantz develops a mechanical and drops out, leaving Lawson and Rainey to fight it out for first and Doohan and Christian Sarron for third place.

Last lap: Lawson ahead for the first half, but Rainey gets past on the brakes to a chicane. Going into the stadium section, Rainey is doing everything to keep Lawson behind him, doing a tremendous slide on his Dunlops. Rainey takes a very close win from Lawson, with a big gap to Doohan, then Pierfrancesco Chili and Sarron.

Two DNFs in a row seem to have ended Schwantz' hope for the championship, who was already pessimistic since his crash at Jerez. Schwantz can still affect the outcome of the championship by getting between Lawson and Rainey and denying the latter some points. Rainey and Lawson needle each other after the race and then say nothing to each other for the rest of the season.

500 cc classification

Pos	Rider	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	Wayne Rainey	Yamaha	39:14.750	20
2	Eddie Lawson	Honda	+0.270	17
3	Mick Doohan	Honda	+20.710	15
4	Pierfrancesco Chili	Honda	+25.720	13
5	Christian Sarron	Yamaha	+37.000	11
6	Norihiko Fujiwara	Yamaha	+42.980	10
7	Kevin Magee	Yamaha	+43.540	9
8	Dominique Sarron	Honda	+44.980	8
9	Freddie Spencer	Yamaha	+53.020	7
10	Rob McElnea	Honda	+1:08.530	6
11	Ernst Gschwender	Suzuki	+1 Lap	5
12	Randy Mamola	Cagiva	+1 Lap	4
13	Alessandro Valesi	Yamaha	+1 Lap	3
14	Damon Buckmaster	Honda	+1 Lap	2
15	Bruno Kneubuhler	Honda	+1 Lap	1
16	Hansjoerg Butz	Honda	+1 Lap
17	Rachel Nicotte	Chevallier Yamaha	+1 Lap
18	Vittorio Scatola	Honda	+1 Lap
19	Juan Lopez Mella	Honda	+1 Lap
20	Petr Schleef	Honda	+1 Lap
21	Michael Rudroff	Honda	+1 Lap
22	Josef Doppler	Honda	+1 Lap
23	Peter Linden	Honda	+1 Lap
24	Stefan Klabacher	Honda	+1 Lap
25	Helmut Schutz	Honda	+1 Lap
26	Hans Klingebiel	Suzuki	+1 Lap
Ret	Andreas Leuthe	Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Ron Haslam	Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Georg Robert Jung	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Marco Gentile	Fior	Retirement
Ret	Kevin Schwantz	Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Walther Maier	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Roland Busch	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Karl Dauer	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Francisco Gonzales	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Marco Papa	Paton	Retirement
Ret	Alois Meyer	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Martin Troesch	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Vincenzo Cascino	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Nicholas Schmassman	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Niall Mackenzie	Yamaha	Retirement