1991 United States motorcycle Grand Prix

  1991 United States Grand Prix

Race details
Race 3 of 15 races in the 1991 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	April 21, 1991
Location	Laguna Seca
Course	Permanent racing facility 3.520 km (2.196 mi)
500 cc
Pole position
Rider	Wayne Rainey	Yamaha
Time	1:26.464
Fastest lap
Rider	Wayne Rainey	Yamaha
Time	1:27.040
Podium
First	Wayne Rainey	Yamaha
Second	Mick Doohan	Honda
Third	Kevin Schwantz	Suzuki
250 cc
Pole position
Rider	Luca Cadalora	Honda
Time	1:29.030
Fastest lap
Rider	Luca Cadalora	Honda
Time	1:28.912
Podium
First	Luca Cadalora	Honda
Second	Wilco Zeelenberg	Honda
Third	Loris Reggiani	Honda
Sidecars
Pole position
Rider	Alain Michel	Krauser
Passenger	Simon Birchall
Time	1:32.023
Fastest lap
Rider	Alain Michel	Krauser
Passenger	Simon Birchall
Time	1:32.212
Podium
First	Steve Webster	Krauser
	Gavin Simmons
Second	Alain Michel	Krauser
	Simon Birchall
Third	Darren Dixon	LCR-Krauser
	Sean Dixon

The 1991 United States motorcycle Grand Prix was the third round of the 1991 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of April 19–21, 1991 at Laguna Seca.

500 cc race report

Wayne Rainey on pole; a second covers 1st – 5th. Kevin Schwantz takes the hairpin from Rainey and Mick Doohan. Rainey very eagerly gets past Schwantz in the next turn. Through the Corkscrew it’s Rainey, Schwantz, John Kocinski, Eddie Lawson and Wayne Gardner.

Rainey opens up a gap and Kocinski closes on Schwantz. Kocinski passes on turn 11, but crashes out half a lap later. Rainey wins with a large gap.

According to Michael Scott, Kocinski was so upset after the loss that he drove away from the track recklessly and refused to pull over when stopped by a policeman; he was arrested and sentenced to community service.^[1]

500 cc classification

Pos	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	Wayne Rainey	Yamaha	35	51:19.361	1	20
2	Mick Doohan	Honda	35	+6.974	4	17
3	Kevin Schwantz	Suzuki	35	+16.603	3	15
4	Jean-Philippe Ruggia	Yamaha	35	+19.931	10	13
5	Eddie Lawson	Cagiva	35	+21.851	5	11
6	Alex Barros	Cagiva	35	+25.091	7	10
7	Wayne Gardner	Honda	35	+35.069	6	9
8	Juan Garriga	Yamaha	35	+43.188	9	8
9	Adrien Morillas	Yamaha	35	+53.613	8	7
10	Didier de Radiguès	Suzuki	35	+1:03.059	13	6
11	Rich Oliver	Yamaha	34	+1 lap	14	5
12	Robbie Petersen	Yamaha	34	+1 lap	15	4
13	Eddie Laycock	Yamaha	34	+1 lap		3
14	Cees Doorakkers	Honda	32	+3 laps		2
15	Niggi Schmassman	Honda	31	+4 laps		1
Ret	Doug Chandler	Yamaha	22	Retired	11
Ret	Sito Pons	Honda	10	Retired	12
Ret	John Kocinski	Yamaha	6	Retired	2
[2]

250 cc classification

Pos	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Grid	Points
1	Luca Cadalora	Honda	30	45:07.590	1	20
2	Wilco Zeelenberg	Honda	30	+6.074	4	17
3	Loris Reggiani	Aprilia	30	+15.044	2	15
4	Carlos Cardús	Honda	30	+19.352	5	13
5	Masahiro Shimizu	Honda	30	+25.933	9	11
6	Andreas Preining	Aprilia	30	+38.725	8	10
7	Martin Wimmer	Suzuki	30	+50.153	3	9
8	Helmut Bradl	Honda	30	+53.263	6	8
9	Àlex Crivillé	Honda	30	+59.804	11	7
10	Jochen Schmid	Honda	30	+1:03.512	12	6
11	Jean-Pierre Jeandat	Honda	30	+1:18.138		5
12	Carlos Lavado	Yamaha	30	+1:25.047	10	4
13	Doriano Romboni	Honda	30	+1:29.149		3
14	Harald Eckl	Aprilia	30	+1:29.756	14	2
15	Stefan Prein	Honda	30	+1:37.767		1
16	Jim Filice	Yamaha	30	+1:39.633	15
17	Bernard Hänggeli	Aprilia	30	+1:40.754
18	Urs Jucker	Yamaha	30	+1:46.428
19	Leon van der Heyden	Honda	30	+1:50.358
20	Jaime Mariano	Aprilia	30	+2:03.170
21	Nick Ienatsch	Yamaha	30	+2:18.506
22	Chris D'Aluisio	Yamaha	30	+2:22.648
23	Rick Kirk	Yamaha	30	+2:32.444
24	Corrado Catalano	Honda	30	+2:38.468
25	Jon Cornwell	Yamaha	30	+2:50.132
26	Mike Sullivan	Yamaha	29	+1 lap
27	Ian Newton	Yamaha	28	+2 laps
Ret	Pierfrancesco Chili	Aprilia	24	Retired	7
Ret	Alberto Puig	Yamaha	17	Retired
Ret	Frédéric Protat	Aprilia	16	Retired
Ret	Kevin Mitchell	Yamaha	15	Retired
Ret	Allan Scott	Yamaha	10	Retired
Ret	Rick Tripodi	Yamaha	7	Retired
Ret	Paolo Casoli	Yamaha	1	Retired	13
[2]

Sidecar classification

Pos	Rider	Passenger	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	Steve Webster	Gavin Simmons	Krauser	30	47:03.220	2	20
2	Alain Michel	Simon Birchall	Krauser	30	+9.465	1	17
3	Darren Dixon	Sean Dixon	LCR-Krauser	30	+29.100	5	15
4	Rolf Biland	Kurt Waltisperg	Krauser	30	+32.018	4	13
5	Markus Egloff	Urs Egloff	Yamaha	30	+40.265	8	11
6	Steve Abbott	Shaun Smith	LCR-Krauser	30	+43.759	6	10
7	Ralph Bohnhorst	Bruno Hiller	LCR	30	+53.794	10	9
8	Paul Güdel	Charly Güdel	LCR-Krauser	30	+1:17.234	11	8
9	René Progin	Gary Irlam	LCR	30	+1:26.511	9	7
10	Masato Kumano	Eckhart Rösinger	Yamaha	30	+1:26.781	13	6
11	Barry Brindley	Grahame Rose	LCR-Yamaha	29	+1 lap	12	5
12	Frank Voigt	Holger Voigt	Schuh-Spezial	28	+2 laps		4
13	Alfred Zurbrügg	Martin Zurbrügg	Yamaha	27	+3 laps	15	3
Ret	Barry Smith	David Smith	Windle-ADM	23	Retired
Ret	Theo van Kempen	Jan Kuyt	LCR-Krauser	20	Retired
Ret	Tony Baker	Simon Prior	LCR-Krauser	18	Retired
Ret	Derek Brindley	Nick Roche	LCR-Krauser	15	Retired	14
Ret	Egbert Streuer	Peter Essaff	LCR-Yamaha	10	Retired	3
Ret	Yoshisada Kumagaya	Bryan Houghton	Krauser	9	Retired	7
Ret	Werner Kraus	Thomas Schröder	ADM	9	Retired
Ret	Gary Thomas	Gary Twenstrup	Krauser	3	Retired
[2]

References

1. ↑ Scott, Michael: "Wayne Rainey", page 152. Haynes Publishing, 1997.
2. 1 2 3 Scott, Michael (ed.). Motocourse 1991-1992. Hazleton Publishing. pp. 80–81. ISBN 0-905138-88-0.