1992 British motorcycle Grand Prix

  1992 British Grand Prix

Race details
Race 11 of 13 races in the 1992 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	2 August 1992
Location	Donington
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.023 km (2.5 mi)
500 cc
Pole position
Rider	Eddie Lawson
Time	1:33.814
Fastest lap
Rider	Wayne Rainey
Time	1:34.194
Podium
First	Wayne Gardner
Second	Wayne Rainey
Third	Juan Garriga
250 cc
Pole position
Rider	Pierfrancesco Chili
Time	1:36.259
Fastest lap
Rider	Pierfrancesco Chili
Time	1:35.857
Podium
First	Pierfrancesco Chili
Second	Loris Reggiani
Third	Doriano Romboni
125 cc
Pole position
Rider	Bruno Casanova
Time	1:42.344
Fastest lap
Rider	Unknown
Podium
First	Fausto Gresini
Second	Alessandro Gramigni
Third	Noboru Ueda

The 1992 British motorcycle Grand Prix was the eleventh round of the 1992 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 31 July-2 August 1992 at Donington Park.

500 cc race report

Mick Doohan’s leg injury became life-threatening and the right leg had to be fused to his left in order for the right to heal. Wayne Rainey commented: “When Mick didn’t show up people started to realize how bad his leg was. I was racing against a ghost.”^[1]

Wayne Gardner announces his retirement, effective at the end of the season. He won the World Championship in 1987, but injuries, American riders and Doohan had stalled his career.

Eddie Lawson on pole, then John Kocinski, Rainey and Gardner. Kocinski gets the start, but Rainey and Lawson are soon through and Schwantz is in 4th.

After the first lap it’s Rainey, Lawson, and Schwantz (lap record holder), but Gardner is moving up.

Gardner passes Schwantz, who passes Lawson. Rainey still up front with a small gap.

Rainey’s front-end is bobbling through Craner Curves with Gardner on his wheel; Gardner passes Rainey at the chicane. The group behind is closing.

Schwantz into second, and it becomes a tight 5-man group: Gardner, Schwantz, Rainey, Lawson and Juan Garriga.

Schwantz through to 1st at the Old Hairpin, and holds Gardner off for a few laps, but Gardner gets him back at the chicane. Rainey through to 2nd at Redgate.

Schwantz through to 2nd at the Old Hairpin. Niall Mackenzie, who had been giving Kocinski a run, leaves with a mechanical. Kocinski also out with a mechanical.

5 laps to go, Schwantz crashes out at Redgate and throws his hands up, looking angrily at the track. As he walks behind the tire barrier he meets Doug Chandler, who crashed in the same place. They’re both now yelling and Schwantz jumps over the barrier as Carl Fogarty goes down, grabs an oil flag and instructs a marshal on its use.

Schwantz:

"I checked nobody was coming and ran across to the flag marshall and grabbed the oil flag because he was just standing there with it not doing anything much and was half way round the corner — I got back up the straight twenty or twenty five yards so that I could flag and signal to everybody to get on the outside line. Kocinski's bike had broken a primary gear and that had come out the side of the cases, gas, oil and everything went everywhere. ... A lot of guys out there thanked me for getting on the flags. Gardner and Rymer said that had I not got the flag out other people would have fallen because the marshals weren't doing what they were supposed to."^[2]

Last lap and Rainey isn’t close enough to pass Gardner. As they cross the line, it looks like Schwantz cheering Rainey on from the side of the track, and Rainey throws a questioning hand up to him.

500 cc classification

Pos	Rider	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	Wayne Gardner	Honda	47:38.373	20
2	Wayne Rainey	Yamaha	+0.855	15
3	Juan Garriga	Yamaha	+5.915	12
4	Eddie Lawson	Cagiva	+26.079	10
5	Peter Goddard	ROC Yamaha	+1:04.091	8
6	Terry Rymer	Harris-Yamaha	+1:22.330	6
7	Miguel Duhamel	Yamaha	+1 Lap	4
8	Michael Rudroff	Harris-Yamaha	+1 Lap	3
9	Dominique Sarron	ROC Yamaha	+1 Lap	2
10	Toshiyuki Arakaki	ROC Yamaha	+1 Lap	1
11	Serge David	ROC Yamaha	+1 Lap
12	Bruno Bonhuil	ROC Yamaha	+1 Lap
13	Nicholas Schmassman	ROC Yamaha	+1 Lap
14	Peter Graves	Harris-Yamaha	+1 Lap
15	Cees Doorakkers	Harris-Yamaha	+1 Lap
16	Marco Papa	Librenti	+1 Lap
Ret	Kevin Schwantz	Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Eddie Laycock	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Andreas Leuthe	VRP	Retirement
Ret	Josef Doppler	ROC Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Àlex Crivillé	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Kevin Mitchell	Harris-Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Randy Mamola	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Carl Fogarty	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	James Whitham	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Lucio Pedercini	Paton	Retirement
Ret	Niall Mackenzie	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	John Kocinski	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Doug Chandler	Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Corrado Catalano	ROC Yamaha	Retirement

References

1. Scott, Michael: "Wayne Rainey", page 171. Haynes Publishing, 1997.
2. Schwantz, Kevin: Blurred Past kevinschwantz.com 1994.