1993 United States motorcycle Grand Prix

  1993 United States Grand Prix

Race details
Race 13 of 14 races in the 1993 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	September 12, 1993
Location	Laguna Seca
Course	Permanent racing facility 3.602 km (2.238 mi)
500 cc
Pole position
Rider	Mick Doohan
Time	1:26.417
Fastest lap
Rider	Kevin Schwantz
Time	1:26.837
Podium
First	John Kocinski
Second	Alex Barros
Third	Luca Cadalora
250 cc
Pole position
Rider	Loris Capirossi
Time	1:27.756
Fastest lap
Rider	Loris Capirossi
Time	1:27.959
Podium
First	Loris Capirossi
Second	Doriano Romboni
Third	Loris Reggiani
125 cc
Pole position
Rider	Kazuto Sakata
Time	1:33.459
Fastest lap
Rider	Kazuto Sakata
Time	1:32.971
Podium
First	Dirk Raudies
Second	Kazuto Sakata
Third	Ralf Waldmann

The 1993 United States motorcycle Grand Prix was the penultimate round of the 1993 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on September 12, 1993, at Laguna Seca.

500 cc race report

Everyone now knows Wayne Rainey’s career is over after his crash the previous round and that Kevin Schwantz is the 1993 world champion.

Kenny Roberts on the question of retiring: “I’ve thought about it the last week, but Wayne wants to work in Grand Prix racing. That’s going to keep the edge sharp, because he wants to help the team, he wants to help riders, he wants to follow along in what I’ve done. And that’s going to keep me involved. Wayne’s a big, big part of my team, and if he was disgusted with the whole thing, then yeah, it’d probably take a lot of the edge off. And he doesn’t show any signs of that and that’s probably going to keep me involved, otherwise I ... well, you know, I can do anything I want to do, but he’s a driving force right now.”^[1]

Schwantz on winning the championship: “Everybody’s thinking about Wayne, and we all wish Wayne and Shae and Rex the best, but at the same time, I feel like we raced all season ... to put ourselves in a position to be there to take advantage of any opportunities, any doors that were open. I feel like we still earned it — we weren’t given it.”^[2]

Rainey: “Kevin called. I said to him: You deserve it. And hey, I made the mistake. It doesn’t take anything away from what you did to win your championship.”^[3]

John Kocinski takes the start from Mick Doohan, Schwantz and Alex Barros.

Teammates Schwantz and Barros pass Kocinski.

Barros starts to pull away, and at Turn 11, Kocinski tries an inside pass on Schwantz that doesn’t quite stick allows Doohan to come up and they go down the straight 3 abreast. Schwantz stays to the inside and takes the hairpin ahead of Doohan and Kocinski.

Doohan gets past Schwantz and hunts down Barros and takes the lead. Kocinski also passes Barros.

Doohan’s bike hops a bit on the exit of The Corkscrew and he loses his footing and almost rides it side-saddle but clips the hay bales on the left side of the track with his shoulder. He’s almost hit by two bikes as he slides into the track, and gets up but looks to be in pain.

Kocinski’s win is Cagiva’s first dry win in GP racing; Eddie Lawson won a wet race last year, but a lucky tire choice was seen as the main reason for the win.

500 cc classification

Pos	Rider	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	John Kocinski	Cagiva	48:17.175	25
2	Alex Barros	Suzuki	+6.375	20
3	Luca Cadalora	Yamaha	+10.489	16
4	Kevin Schwantz	Suzuki	+18.265	13
5	Daryl Beattie	Honda	+19.493	11
6	Shinichi Itoh	Honda	+37.292	10
7	Àlex Crivillé	Honda	+39.317	9
8	Niall Mackenzie	ROC Yamaha	+42.851	8
9	John Reynolds	Harris Yamaha	+1 Lap	7
10	Juan Lopez Mella	ROC Yamaha	+1 Lap	6
11	José Kuhn	Yamaha	+1 Lap	5
12	Jeremy McWilliams	Yamaha	+1 Lap	4
13	Sean Emmett	Harris Yamaha	+1 Lap	3
14	Serge David	ROC Yamaha	+1 Lap	2
15	Laurent Naveau	ROC Yamaha	+1 Lap	1
16	David Jefferies	Harris Yamaha	+1 Lap
17	Tsutomu Udagawa	ROC Yamaha	+1 Lap
18	Michael Rudroff	Harris Yamaha	+1 Lap
19	Andreas Meklau	ROC Yamaha	+1 Lap
20	Bruno Bonhuil	ROC Yamaha	+1 Lap
Ret	Matthew Mladin	Cagiva	Retirement
Ret	Thierry Crine	ROC Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Renato Colleoni	ROC Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Kevin Mitchell	Harris Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Cees Doorakkers	Harris Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Mick Doohan	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Andrew Stroud	Harris Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Marco Papa	Harris Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Lucio Pedercini	ROC Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Bernard Garcia	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Danny Walker	Harris Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Doug Chandler	Cagiva	Retirement

250 cc classification

Pos	Rider	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	Loris Capirossi	Honda	46:04.505	25
2	Doriano Romboni	Honda	+1.381	20
3	Loris Reggiani	Aprilia	+3.803	16
4	Alberto Puig	Honda	+3.881	13
5	Tetsuya Harada	Yamaha	+4.619	11
6	Pierfrancesco Chili	Yamaha	+12.279	10
7	Nobuatsu Aoki	Honda	+18.166	9
8	Helmut Bradl	Honda	+19.861	8
9	Tadayuki Okada	Honda	+28.044	7
10	Kenny Roberts Jr	Yamaha	+44.751	6
11	Luis d'Antin	Honda	+45.113	5
12	Juan Borja	Honda	+55.484	4
13	Frédéric Protat	Aprilia	+56.529	3
14	Carlos Checa	Honda	+57.555	2
15	Adrian Bosshard	Honda	+1:02.409	1
16	Patrick van den Goorbergh	Aprilia	+1:02.565
17	Pere Riba	Honda	+1:04.795
18	Bernard Haenggeli	Aprilia	+1:15.641
19	Luis Maurel	Aprilia	+1 Lap
20	Bernd Kassner	Aprilia	+1 Lap
21	Jean-Pierre Jeandat	Aprilia	+1 Lap
22	Massimo Pennachioli	Honda	+1 Lap
Ret	Max Biaggi	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Andy Preining	Aprilia	Retirement
Ret	Eskil Suter	Aprilia	Retirement
Ret	Simon Crafar	Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Wilco Zeelenberg	Aprilia	Retirement
Ret	Jochen Schmid	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Jean-Philippe Ruggia	Aprilia	Retirement
Ret	Jean-Michel Bayle	Aprilia	Retirement
Ret	Volker Bahr	Honda	Retirement

Notes

1. ↑ Duke Video, “Bike 500 GP 1993 Review”. Videocassette.
2. ↑ --Ibid.
3. ↑ Scott, Michael. Wayne Rainey: His Own Story. Page 190. Sparkford: Haynes Publishing, 1997.