1992 South African motorcycle Grand Prix

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The 1992 South African motorcycle Grand Prix was the last round of the 1992 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 4th-6th September, 1992 at Kyalami.

[edit] 500 cc race report

Eddie Lawson announces his retirement. To win the championship, Wayne Rainey had to finish in front of Mick Doohan and higher than 6th if Doohan was behind. According to Scott, Kenny Roberts asked Rainey if he wanted John Kocinski’s “help”, and Rainey said no.^[1]

Kocinski on pole. Rainey gets the start from Kocinski, Doohan and Kevin Schwantz.

Doug Chandler moves into 3rd, Schwantz 4th, Doohan 5th.

Chandler makes it a 3-way fight for first with Rainey and teammate Kocinski.

Kocinski through to 1st, Wayne Gardner and Schwantz in a battle for 4th.

Kocinski gets a gap from Rainey, then it’s a small gap to Gardner and Chandler.

Gardner closes on Rainey and passes into 2nd place. Gardner would much rather Rainey get the championship than Doohan, “so for once [Gardner] gave [Rainey] a whole lot of room as he went by.”^[2]

Rainey’s 3rd place is enough to win the championship by 4 points. Kocinski goes to Suzuki 250 GP next year, then is fired and goes to Cagiva.

[edit] 500cc classification

Pos	Rider	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	John Kocinski	Yamaha	47:00.729	20
2	Wayne Gardner	Honda	+2.935	17
3	Wayne Rainey	Yamaha	+4.969	15
4	Doug Chandler	Suzuki	+12.577	13
5	Kevin Schwantz	Suzuki	+22.050	11
6	Mick Doohan	Honda	+30.313	10
7	Alex Criville	Honda	+33.870	9
8	Niall Mackenzie	Yamaha	+34.519	8
9	Miguel Duhamel	Yamaha	+1:03.123	7
10	Juan Garriga	Yamaha	+1:10.226	6
11	Toshiyuki Arakaki	ROC Yamaha	+1:25.031	5
12	Corrado Catalano	ROC Yamaha	+1:25.041	4
13	Juan Lopez Mella	ROC Yamaha	+1 Lap	3
14	Russel Wood	Harris Yamaha	+1 Lap	2
15	Mike Wilson	ROC Yamaha	+1 Lap	1
16	Marco Papa	Cagiva	+1 Lap
17	Dominique Sarron	ROC Yamaha	+1 Lap
18	Eddie Laycock	Yamaha	+1 Lap
19	Michael Rudroff	Harris Yamaha	+1 Lap
20	Serge David	ROC Yamaha	+1 Lap
21	Nicholas Schmassman	ROC Yamaha	+1 Lap
22	Peter Graves	Harris Yamaha	+1 Lap
23	Andreas Leuthe	Harris Yamaha	+1 Lap
24	Josef Doppler	ROC Yamaha	+2 Laps
Ret	Peter Goddard	ROC Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Cees Doorakkers	Harris Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Eddie Lawson	Cagiva	Retirement
Ret	Damon Buckmaster	Harris Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Kevin Mitchell	Harris Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Alex Barros	Cagiva	Retirement

[edit] References

1. ^ Scott, Michael: "Wayne Rainey", page 172. Haynes Publishing, 1997.
2. ^ Ibid.

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