1989 Swedish motorcycle Grand Prix

  1989 Swedish Grand Prix

Race details
Race 13 of 15 races in the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	13 August 1989
Official name	Swedish TT
Location	Scandinavian Raceway
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.025 km (2.501 mi)
500 cc
Pole position Rider Wayne Rainey Time 1:32.490 Fastest lap Rider Christian Sarron Time 1:31.990 Podium First Eddie Lawson Second Christian Sarron Third Wayne Gardner
250 cc
Pole position Rider Carlos Cardús Time 1:36.740 Fastest lap Rider Sito Pons Time 1:36.360 Podium First Sito Pons Second Reinhold Roth Third Jacques Cornu
125 cc
Pole position Rider Àlex Crivillé Time 1:43.610 Fastest lap Rider Àlex Crivillé Time 1:42.770 Podium First Àlex Crivillé Second Hans Spaan Third Koji Takada

The 1989 Swedish motorcycle Grand Prix was the thirteenth round of the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 11–13 August 1989 at the Anderstorp circuit.

500 cc race report

Wayne Rainey takes pole, then it's Kevin Schwantz and Eddie Lawson. Rainey gets the start, and Lawson moves into second, followed by Schwantz.

A lead group forms, with Rainey, a small gap to Lawson, then another small gap to Schwantz, Kevin Magee and Christian Sarron.

Schwantz cruises into the pits with a mechanical, and Lawson closes the gap to Rainey and moves into the lead. Sarron is in third a couple of bike lengths behind, and Wayne Gardner passes Magee for fourth spot.

With two laps to go, Rainey is right behind Lawson and highsides on the exit of a right-hander. It's a long tumble, but he gets up and doesn't try to pick up the bike. Though it's Rainey's only real mistake all year, Lawson's consistency and improvement brings him the win and a lead in the standings by 13.5 points. Sarron takes second, Gardner third.

Says Lawson of the lap that saw Rainey go down: "That was my fastest lap of the race; I'd never got on the throttle that early all race. When I cracked it open, Wayne followed me, and there was no way the Dunlop was going to do that. It wasn’t Wayne, it was the tyres."

500 cc classification

Pos.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Points
1	Eddie Lawson	Rothmans Kanemoto Honda	Honda	30	46:31.950	20
2	Christian Sarron	Sonauto Gauloises Blondes Yamaha Mobil 1	Yamaha	30	+5.650	17
3	Wayne Gardner	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda	30	+25.030	15
4	Niall Mackenzie	Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini	Yamaha	30	+31.630	13
5	Kevin Magee	Team Lucky Strike Roberts	Yamaha	30	+51.550	11
6	Ron Haslam	Suzuki Pepsi Cola	Suzuki	30	+55.450	10
7	Pierfrancesco Chili	HB Honda Gallina Team	Honda	30	+55.660	9
8	Adrien Morillas	Team ROC Elf Honda	Honda	30	+55.840	8
9	Rob McElnea	Cabin Racing Team	Honda	30	+1:33.500	7
10	Tadahiko Taira	Yamaha Motor Company	Yamaha	29	+1 Lap	6
11	Alessandro Valesi	Team Iberia	Yamaha	29	+1 Lap	5
12	Simon Buckmaster	Racing Team Katayama	Honda	29	+1 Lap	4
13	Fabio Biliotti	Racing Team Katayama	Honda	28	+2 Laps	3
14	Bruno Kneubühler	Romer Racing Suisse	Honda	28	+2 Laps	2
15	Juan Lopez Mella	Club Motocross Pozuelo	Honda	28	+2 Laps	1
16	Nicholas Schmassman	FMS	Honda	28	+2 Laps
17	Timo Paavilainen		Suzuki	28	+2 Laps
Ret	Torbjorn Bastiansen		Suzuki		Retirement
Ret	Andreas Leuthe	Librenti Corse	Suzuki		Retirement
Ret	Wayne Rainey	Team Lucky Strike Roberts	Yamaha		Retirement
Ret	Alan Carter		Honda		Retirement
Ret	Kevin Schwantz	Suzuki Pepsi Cola	Suzuki		Retirement
Ret	Rachel Nicotte		Chevallier Yamaha		Retirement
Ret	Peter Linden	Team Heukeroff	Honda		Retirement
DNS	Marco Gentile	Fior Marlboro	Fior		Did not start
DNS	Josef Doppler		Honda		Did not start
DNS	Luca Cadalora	Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini	Yamaha		Did not start
DNQ	Francisco Gonzales	Club Motocross Pozuelo	Honda		Did not qualify
DNQ	Ian Pratt		Suzuki		Did not qualify
DNQ	Aki Dahli		Honda		Did not qualify
Sources: