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RACE WATCH
Rainey/Schwantz take Japanese, Spanish and Austrian GPs
Just as they did in the late 1980s aboard AMA Superbikes, Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz are pushing each other to the limit in this year’s 500cc GP series. After splitting wins in the opening two races in Australia and Malaysia, Schwantz and Rainey again traded victories in rounds three, four, and five, with Rainey winning in Suzuka, Japan, and Schwantz taking top honors later in Jerez, Spain and in Salzburg, Austria.
Rainey’s Suzuka victory was hardwon, with four riders battling for the lead throughout the race. Joining Rainey and Schwantz at the front were Rothmans Honda riders Daryl Beattie and Shinichi Itoh. All led at one time or another, with Rainey barely edging Schwantz at the finish, winning by less than a tenth of a second. Beattie came home third, two-tenths back, with Itoh a couple seconds behind the Aussie.
Round four at Jerez went to > Schwantz, though the win-the Texan’s 21st 500cc victory-required a bit of luck. Schwantz’s teammate Alex Barros, who’d gotten a poor start and was buried mid-pack early on, made a dramatic run to the front, passing the entire field to take the lead. But Barros crashed near the end of the race, handing the win to Schwantz.
Schwantz struck again at the Austrian GP. Starting from the pole-his fifth straight-with an increasingly confident Michael Doohan alongside him, he raced closely with Doohan and with Barros for much of the race. When it was over, Schwantz was clear of Doohan, riding with a thumbactuated rear brake and a carbonfiber brace on his still-recovering right leg, by half a second. Rainey finished third, after passing Barros on the last lap, his Yamaha working well in some of the Salzburgring’s corners, but unable to match the top speeds of Schwantz’s Suzuki and Doohan’s Honda on the track’s long, open straights. This victory put the likeable Texan ahead of Rainey by five points in the championship series.
Notably absent from rounds three, four and five was Yamaha France’s Freddie Spencer, who after crashing during practice at Suzuka, broke both wrists and suffered severe damage to the ring finger on his right hand. Despite the injuries, Spencer hopes to return to GP racing this year.
1993 Supercross title to McGrath
IVith resounding wins at rounds 12, 13 and 14 of the 16-race AMA Camel Supercross Series, Team Honda’s Jeremy McGrath clinched the 1993 supercross title with two races still to go.
After finishing second to current series runner-up Mike Kiedrowski of Team Kawasaki in the opening round of the Pontiac, Michigan, doubleheader, McGrath rebounded the following evening with a win, and backed that up with another victory at the Indianapolis Hoosier Dome a week later. Then came the clincher in Pasadena’s famed Rose Bowl, where McGrath got his usual holeshot and blasted away without challenge. Jeff Emig, aboard a Yamaha, and Suzukimounted Guy Cooper stayed close through the first few corners, but McGrath soon opened a 10-second gap back to second, and that’s what he > maintained for the remainder of the race, while both Emig and Cooper faded far back into the field.
Said one observer, “It was really pretty dull; there was no dicing for the lead.” There was dicing for the place and show spots, though, with Mike Kiedrowski, aboard his Kawasaki, passing Honda-mounted Jeff Stanton to grab second, and Damon Bradshaw plugging along, several laps down after crashing hard on his Yamaha, to finish 18th.
The Rose Bowl win was McGrath’s ninth of the season, tying him with Bradshaw’s 1992 record, and making him the first man to win the AMA Supercross championship in his freshman year.
Kiedrowski, Henry lead outdoor MX series
lVith wins in the opening two events, three-time outdoor national champion Mike Kiedrowski of Team Kawasaki is off to a flying start in this year’s 250cc national championhip series.
After a win at the Gainesville, Florida, opener, Kiedrowski traded moto wins at round two in the deep sand at Southwick, Massachusetts, with Team Honda’s Jeff Stanton, the 1992 250cc national champion. Kiedrowski took the overall victory by virtue of his win in moto number two. Team Kawasaki’s Mike LaRocco rounded out the top > three at Southwick.
After two of eight rounds, Kiedrowski leads Stanton 97-87 in points, with Kawasaki-mounted privateer John Dowd currently third.
Team Honda’s Doug Henry is off to a similarly hot start in the 125cc national championship series. The New England rider scored overall victories at both the Gainesville and Southwick nationals, and holds a solid, 21point lead over current 125cc series runner-up Jeremy McGrath. But with the pressures of the supercross championship at an end, Henry is sure to have his hands full holding off McGrath as the 125cc outdoor nationals progress into the summer. □
