1988 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix

  1988 Japanese Grand Prix

Race details
Race 1 of 15 races in the 1988 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	27 March 1988
Official name	Grand Prix of Japan
Location	Suzuka Circuit
Course	Permanent racing facility 5.864 km (3.644 mi)
500 cc
Pole position Rider Tadahiko Taira Yamaha Time 2:32.007 Fastest lap Rider Kevin Schwantz Suzuki Time 2:15.220 Podium First Kevin Schwantz Suzuki Second Wayne Gardner Honda Third Eddie Lawson Yamaha
250 cc
Pole position Rider Toshihiko Honma Yamaha Time 2:19.790 Fastest lap Rider Sito Pons Honda Time 2:19.630 Podium First Anton Mang Honda Second Sito Pons Honda Third Masaru Kobayashi Honda

The 1988 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix was the first round of the 1988 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 25–27 March 1988 at the Suzuka Circuit.

500 cc race report

Tadahiko Taira was on pole of the 5-column grid (it became 4-columns in 1990). Wayne Rainey got the start and lead through the first turns, with Kevin Schwantz, Wayne Gardner and Christian Sarron behind. Schwantz took the inside of the hairpin, but Rainey dove back under and got him back on the exit; Schwantz succeeded in taking the lead on Spoon.

At the end of the 1st lap, it was Schwantz and Gardner, then a gap to Toshihiko Honma (riding #46) and Sarron. Gardner and Schwantz swapped the lead many times.

Eddie Lawson and Niall Mackenzie moved through the field to 3rd and 4th. Norihiko Fujiwara lowsided at the hairpin.

On the last lap Gardner ran off the track and stayed on, but lost any chance of winning the race.

500 cc classification

Pos.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	Kevin Schwantz	Suzuki Pepsi Cola	Suzuki	50:03.750	20
2	Wayne Gardner	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda	+8.384	17
3	Eddie Lawson	Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini	Yamaha	+12.724	15
4	Niall Mackenzie	Team HRC	Honda	+15.785	13
5	Tadahiko Taira	Tech 21	Yamaha	+36.383	11
6	Wayne Rainey	Team Lucky Strike Roberts	Yamaha	+42.070	10
7	Kevin Magee	Team Lucky Strike Roberts	Yamaha	+42.179	9
8	Christian Sarron	Sonauto Gauloises Blondes Yamaha Mobil 1	Yamaha	+45.186	8
9	Didier de Radiguès	Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini	Yamaha	+1:01.213	7
10	Shunji Yatsushiro	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda	+1:10.228	6
11	Hikaru Miyagi	Team HRC	Honda	+1:16.201	5
12	Ron Haslam	Team ROC Elf Honda	Elf Honda	+1:20.045	4
13	Patrick Igoa	Sonauto Gauloises Blondes Yamaha Mobil 1	Yamaha	+1:29.535	3
14	Pierfrancesco Chili	HB Honda Gallina Team	Honda	+1:38.989	2
15	Osamu Hiwatashi	Suzuki Japan	Suzuki	+1:42.545	1
16	Shinji Katayama		Yamaha	+1:43.611
17	Masaru Mizutani		Suzuki	+2:04.446
18	Keiji Kinoshita		Honda	+1 Lap
19	Alessandro Valesi	Team Iberia	Honda	+1 Lap
Ret	Raymond Roche	Cagiva Corse	Cagiva	Retirement
Ret	Rob McElnea	Suzuki Pepsi Cola	Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Katunori Shinozaki		Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Norihiko Fujiwara	Lucky Strike Yamaha	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Randy Mamola	Cagiva Corse	Cagiva	Retirement
Ret	Hisashi Yamana		Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Marco Gentile	Fior Marlboro	Fior	Retirement
Ret	Manfred Fischer	Team Hein Gericke	Honda	Retirement
DNS	Fabio Barchitta	Racing Team Katayama	Honda	Did not start
DNQ	Kunio Machii		Honda	Yamaha
Sources: