1990 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season


The 1990 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 42nd F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season.

Season summary

1990 marked the beginning of the Rainey era with the Marlboro-Yamaha rider taking 7 wins and scoring points in every race but Hungary after he had already clinched the championship. Rainey's teammate was 1989 champion Eddie Lawson, but he was unable to defend his championship after breaking his left ankle in the first round and then severely shattering his right ankle the following round at Laguna Seca. Rainey on having Lawson as a teammate: “I just wanted to devastate Eddie. I don’t think he was ready for a team-mate like me. Maybe he thought he could control me, but at that stage I was past being controlled.” Rainey switched from Dunlop to Michelin tires this year.
Kevin Schwantz continued to win on his Suzuki but just as often he would crash. Australian Mick Doohan would win his first Grand Prix for Honda at the Hungaroring.
The 1990 season continued the trend of crashes as riders tried to cope with the harsh power output of the V4 two-strokes. Honda put forth a proposition limiting the top class to 375cc and 3 cylinders, but that never caught on. Still, with 500cc lap times becoming stagnant, it was clear that something needed to be done.
Newcomer John Kocinski took the 250 title for Kenny Roberts' Marlboro-Yamaha squad after a tight points battle with Carlos Cardús that was not decided until the final race of the season. Despite five Grand Prix victories for Hans Spaan, seventeen-year-old Loris Capirossi became the youngest-ever world champion when he claimed the 125 crown for Honda.

1990 Grand Prix season calendar

The following Grands Prix were scheduled to take place in 1990:
RoundDateGrand PrixCircuit
125 March Kibun Japanese Grand PrixSuzuka Circuit
28 April U.S. Budweiser International Grand PrixLaguna Seca Raceway
36 May Gran Premio de EspañaCircuito Permanente de Jerez
420 May G.P d'ItaliaCircuito Internazionale Santa Monica
527 May Großer Preis von DeutschlandNürburgring
610 June Großer Preis von ÖsterreichSalzburgring
717 June Yu Grand PrixAutomotodrom Rijeka
830 June Dutch TTTT Circuit Assen
97 July Belgian Motorcycle Grand PrixCircuit de Spa-Francorchamps
1022 July Grand Prix de FranceBugatti Circuit
115 August Shell British Motorcycle Grand PrixDonington Park
1212 August Nordic TTScandinavian Raceway
1326 August Grand Prix Brno-CSFRBrno Circuit
142 September Grand Prix Magyar NagydíjHungaroring
1516 September Drink/Drive Australian Motorcycle Grand PrixPhillip Island Grand Prix Circuit

Calendar changes

500cc participants

250cc participants

125cc participants

Results and standings

Grands Prix

500cc riders' standings

;Scoring system
Points are awarded to the top fifteen finishers. A rider has to finish the race to earn points.
Position 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th
Points201715131110987654321

250cc standings

PlaceRiderNumberCountryTeamMachinePointsWins
1 John Kocinski19United StatesMarlboro-Yamaha RobertsYZR2502237
2 Carlos Cardús4SpainRepsol-HondaNSR2502084
3 Luca Cadalora5ItalyMarlboro-Yamaha AgostiniYZR2501843
4 Helmut Bradl9GermanyHB-HondaNSR2501500
5 Wilco Zeelenberg14NetherlandsSharp-Samson HondaNSR2501271
6 Martin Wimmer10GermanyHein Gericke ApriliaRS2501180
7 Masahiro Shimizu6JapanAjinomoto-HondaNSR2501000
8 Jochen Schmid16GermanyHB-HondaNSR250920
9 Jacques Cornu3SwitzerlandLucky Strike-Elf HondaNSR250860
10 Dominique Sarron8FranceRothmans-HondaNSR250780
11 Àlex CrivilléSpain76
12 Didier de RadiguèsBelgium66
13 Loris ReggianiItaly63
14 Reinhold RothGermany52
15 Carlos LavadoVenezuela37
16Alberto Puig32
17 Paolo CasoliItaly32
18Andy Preining30
19Marcellino Lucchi23
20Adrien Morillas22
21Renzo Colleoni17
22Daryl Beattie13
23Harald Eckl13
24Jorge Martinez13
25Toshihiko Honma10
26Corrado Catalano10
27Tetsuya Harada9
28Andrea Borgonovo9
29Nobuatsu Aoki8
30Alberto Rota8
31Masumitsu Taguchi7
32Tsutomu Udagawa6
33Niall Mackenzie5
34Jean Pierre Jeandat4
35Junzo Suzuki4
36Bernd Kassner4
37Josè Barresi4
38Bernard Haenggeli4
39Rich Oliver3
40Alan Carter3
41Trevor Manley2
42Kevin Mitchell2
43Urs Jücker2
44Yukio Nukumi1
45Ricky Rice1
46Jean Foray1

125cc standings

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