1987 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season

The 1987 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 39th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season.

Season summary

Wayne Gardner became Australia's first-ever 500cc World Champion in a season that saw him score points in every Grand Prix.^[1] Randy Mamola would finish second yet again, one point ahead of Eddie Lawson despite Lawson's five victories.^[1] The first Japanese Grand Prix in 20 years was held at the Suzuka Circuit. Along with rounds in Brazil and Argentina, the championship was becoming a real world championship.^[1]

Venezuelan Carlos Lavado's defense of his 250 crown was spoiled by injuries sustained in a pre-season crash.^[1] Anton Mang stepped up to claim his fifth world championship ahead of four other Hondas.^[1] A new brand would announce its arrival in the 250 class when an Aprilia ridden by Loris Reggiani won the San Marino Grand Prix.^[1] Garelli's Fausto Gresini won ten out of eleven races in the 125 class, but ruined his bid for a perfect season when he crashed at the last round in Jarama.^[2] Spain's Jorge Martinez won the 80cc crown for the second consecutive year.^[3]

The Portuguese round was held in Jarama, Spain because the Portuguese Federation had transferred their rights to the Jarama organisers.^[1] 1987 would be the first year that saw clutch starts replace push starts on the grounds of safety.^[1] The FIM also announced that the 80cc class would be discontinued after 1989 and that the 125 class would be restricted to single cylinder machines.^[1]

The last round was in Argentina, which had not hosted a motorcycle Grand Prix since 1982. But appalling organization of the event saw the race nearly boycotted by the riders and their teams, and the race turned out to be a farcical embarrassment for the organizers. The safety of the Autodromo Buenos Aires (which was an arena-type circuit that was comparably easy to make safe, compared to other circuits) was totally unsuitable for racing; the organization of this Grand Prix was so bad that spectators had easy access to the circuit while the races were going on. The Argentine Grand Prix did not return until 1994.^[4]

1987 Grand Prix season calendar

Round	Race	Location	Date	80cc winner	125cc winner	250cc winner	500cc winner	Report
1	Japanese Grand Prix	Suzuka	March 29			Masaru Kobayashi	Randy Mamola	Report
2	Spanish Grand Prix	Jerez	April 29	Jorge Martínez	Fausto Gresini	Martin Wimmer	Wayne Gardner	Report
3	German Grand Prix	Hockenheim	May 17	Gerhard Waibel	Fausto Gresini	Anton Mang	Eddie Lawson	Report
4	Nations Grand Prix	Monza	May 24	Jorge Martínez	Fausto Gresini	Anton Mang	Wayne Gardner	Report
5	Austrian Grand Prix	Salzburgring	June 7	Jorge Martínez	Fausto Gresini	Anton Mang	Wayne Gardner	Report
6	Yugoslavian Grand Prix	Rijeka	June 14	Jorge Martínez		Carlos Lavado	Wayne Gardner	Report
7	Dutch TT	Assen	June 27	Jorge Martínez	Fausto Gresini	Anton Mang	Eddie Lawson	Report
8	French Grand Prix	Le Mans Bugatti	July 19		Fausto Gresini	Reinhold Roth	Randy Mamola	Report
9	British Grand Prix	Donington	August 2	Jorge Martínez	Fausto Gresini	Anton Mang	Eddie Lawson	Report
10	Swedish Grand Prix	Anderstorp	August 9		Fausto Gresini	Anton Mang	Wayne Gardner	Report
11	Czechoslovakian Grand Prix	Brno	August 23	Stefan Dörflinger	Fausto Gresini	Anton Mang	Wayne Gardner	Report
12	San Marino Grand Prix	Misano	August 30	Manuel Herreros	Fausto Gresini	Loris Reggiani	Randy Mamola	Report
13	Portuguese Grand Prix	Jarama	September 13	Jorge Martínez	Paolo Casoli	Anton Mang	Eddie Lawson	Report
14	Brazilian Grand Prix	Goiania	September 27			Dominique Sarron	Wayne Gardner	Report
15	Argentine Grand Prix	Buenos Aires	October 4			Sito Pons	Eddie Lawson	Report

Final standings

500cc standings^[5][6]

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Team	Machine	Points	Wins	Poles	F.Laps
1	Wayne Gardner	2	Australia	Rothmans-Honda	NSR500	178	7	10	8
2	Randy Mamola	3	United States	Team Lucky Strike-Roberts	YZR500	158	3	1	3
3	Eddie Lawson	1	United States	Marlboro-Yamaha Team Agostini	YZR500	157	5	2	1
4	Ron Haslam	9	United Kingdom	Elf-Honda	Elf4-NSR500	72	0	0	0
5	Niall Mackenzie	11	United Kingdom	HB-Honda	NSR500	61	0	1	0
6	Tadahiko Taira	21	Japan	Marlboro-Yamaha Team Agostini	YZR500	56	0	0	1
7	Christian Sarron	6	France	Team Sonauto-Gauloises	YZR500	52	0	1	0
8	Pier-Francesco Chili	10	Italy	HB-Honda	NS500	47	0	0	0
9	Shunji Yatsushiro	16	Japan	Rothmans-Honda	NSR500	40	0	0	0
10	Rob McElnea	5	United Kingdom	Marlboro-Yamaha Team Agostini	YZR500	39	0	0	0
11	Roger Burnett	12	United Kingdom	Rothmans-Honda	NSR500	25	0	0	0
12	Didier de Radiguès	7	Belgium	Team Cagiva-Alstare	GP500	21	0	0	1
13	Raymond Roche	8	France	Team Cagiva-Alstare	GP500	15	0	0	0
14	Kenny Irons	18	United Kingdom	Heron-Suzuki	RGB500	12	0	0	0
15	Kevin Magee	40	Australia	Team Lucky Strike-Roberts	YZR500	11	0	0	0
16	Kevin Schwantz	34	United States	Heron-Suzuki	RGB500	11	0	0	0
17	Takumi Ito[7]	32	Japan	Suzuki-Japan	RGB500	10	0	0	0
18	Mike Baldwin	4	United States	Team Lucky Strike-Roberts	YZR500	6	0	0	0
19	Gustav Reiner	14	West Germany	Hein Gericke Racing	RS500/NS500	5	0	0	0
20	Freddie Spencer	19	United States	HRC-Honda	NSR500	4	0	0	0
21	Hiroyuki Kawasaki		Japan	Yamaha-Japan	YZR500	4	0	0	0
22	Richard Scott[8]	57/33	New Zealand	Honda-Britain / Team Lucky Strike-Roberts	RS500/NS500/YZR500	3	0	0	0
23	Shinjii Katayama		Japan	Yamaha-Japan	YZR500	2	0	0	0
24	Marco Gentile	25	Italy	Lucky Strike Fior	NS500	1	0	0	0
-	Fabio Barchitta	42	San Marino		RS500	0	0	0	0
-	Fabio Biliotti	15	Italy	Servisco	RS500	0	0	0	0
-	Simon Buckmaster	22	United Kingdom	Duckhams NLM Honda	RS500	0	0	0	0
-	Maarten Duyzers	61	Netherlands	H.D.J.B.Y.	RS500	0	0	0	0
-	Gerold Fischer		West Germany		RS500	0	0	0	0
-	Manfred Fischer	36	West Germany	Hein Gericke Racing	RS500	0	0	0	0
-	Hervé Guilleux	55	France	Fior-SNCF	RS500	0	0	0	0
-	Silvo Habat	75	Yugoslavia	FE-GO	RS500	0	0	0	0
-	Bruno Kneubühler	45	Switzerland	Bruno Kneubühler	RS500	0	0	0	0
-	Andreas Leuthe	40	Luxembourg	Andreas Leuthe	RS500	0	0	0	0
-	Donnie McLeod	34	United Kingdom	Heron-Suzuki	RGB500	0	0	0	0
-	Wolfgang von Muralt	24	Switzerland	Franconia-Suzuki	RGB500	0	0	0	0
-	Thierry Rapicault	53	France	Fior-SNCF	RS500	0	0	0	0
-	Kenny Roberts, Jr.	51	United States	Team Lucky Strike-Roberts	YZR500	0	0	0	0

250cc standings^[9][10]

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Team	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Anton Mang	4	West Germany	Rothmans-Honda	NSR250	136	8
2	Reinhold Roth	24	West Germany	HB Römer-Honda	NSR250	108	1
3	Sito Pons	2	Spain	Campsa-Honda	NSR250	108	1
4	Dominique Sarron	3	France	Rothmans-Honda France	NSR250	97	1
5	Carlos Cardús	12	Spain	Ducados-Honda	NSR250	70	0
6	Loris Reggiani	32	Italy	Aprilia	RS250	68	1
7	Luca Cadalora	22	Italy	Marlboro-Yamaha	YZR250	63	0
8	Martin Wimmer	6	West Germany	Marlboro-Yamaha	YZR250	61	1
9	Jacques Cornu	7	Switzerland	Parisienne Elf-Honda	NSR250	50	0
10	Carlos Lavado	1	Venezuela	HB Venemotos-Yamaha	YZR250	46	1
11	Juan Garriga		Spain	Yamaha		46
12	Patrick Igoa		France	Yamaha		42
13	Masahiro Shimizu		Japan	Honda		20
14	Masaru Kobayashi		Japan	Honda		15
15	Manfred Herweh		West Germany			11
16	Ivan Palazzese		Venezuela			9
17	Jean Philippe Ruggia		France	Yamaha		7
18	Jean-François Baldé		France			6
19	Maurizio Vitali		Italy			6
20	Hans Lindner		Austria			5
21	Urs Lüzi		Switzerland			5
22	Donnie McLeod		United Kingdom			4
23	Stephane Mertens		Belgium			2
24	Masumitsu Taguchi		Japan			2
25	Guy Bertin		France			1
26	Stefano Caracchi		France			1
27	Takayoshi Yamamoto		Japan			1

125cc standings^[11]

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Fausto Gresini	2	Italy	Garelli	150	10
2	Bruno Casanova	23	Italy	Garelli	88	0
3	Paolo Casoli	14	Italy	AGV	61	1
4	Domenico Brigaglia	3	Italy	AGV	58	0
5	August Auinger	4	Austria	MBA	54	0
6	Ezio Gianola	5	Italy	Honda	45	0
7	Pier Paolo Bianchi	8	Italy	MBA	43	0
8	Andres Sanchez	26	Spain	Ducados	40	0
9	Lucio Pietroniro	7	Belgium	MBA	32	0
10	Mike Leitner	22	Austria	MBA	32	0
11	Johnny Wickstroem		Finland		21
12	Gastone Grassetti		Italy		17
13	Jean Claude Selini		France		16
14	Thierry Feuz		Switzerland		13
15	Jussi Hautaniemi		Finland		10
16	Adi Stadler		West Germany		9
17	Ivan Troisi		Venezuela		8
18	Claudio Macciotta		Italy		6
19	Corrado Catalano		Italy		6
20	Esa Kytölä		Finland		4
21	Olivier Liégeois		Belgium		4
22	Hakan Olsson		Sweden		2
23	Robin Milton		United Kingdom		2
24	Bady Hassaine		Algeria		2
25	Flemming Kistrup		Denmark		1
26	Norbert Peschke		West Germany		1
27	Willy Perez		Argentina		1

80cc standings^[12]

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Jorge Martínez	1	Spain	Derbi	129	7
2	Manuel Herreros	2	Spain	Derbi	86	1
3	Gerhard Waibel	5	West Germany	Krauser	82	1
4	Stefan Dörflinger	3	Switzerland	Krauser	75	1
5	Ian McConnachie	5	United Kingdom	Krauser	51	0
6	Jörg Seel	6	West Germany	Seel	38	0
7	Hubert Abold	9	West Germany	Krauser	33	0
8	Luis Reyes	22	Spain	Autisa	31	0
9	Josef Fischer	9	Austria	Krauser	19	0
10	Julian Miralles		Spain	Derbi	18	0
11	Àlex Crivillé				12
12	Günter Schirnhofer				12
13	Hans Spaan				11
14	Karoly Juhasz				10
15	Joan Bolart				10
16	Paolo Priori				9
17	Alex Barros				8
18	Giuseppe Ascareggi				5
19	Heinz Paschen				4
20	Richard Bay				3
21	Peter Öttl				3
22	Ernst Gschwender				2
23	Herri Torrontegui				1
24	Theo Timmer				1
25	Jacques Bernard				1
26	Ralf Waldmann				1

Further reading

• Büla, Maurice & Schertenleib, Jean-Claude (2001). Continental Circus 1949-2000. Chronosports S.A. ISBN 2-940125-32-5

References

External links

• "The Official MotoGP website". Retrieved 2010-07-06. 

Grand Prix motorcycle racing seasons
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