1989 French motorcycle Grand Prix
# 1989 French motorcycle Grand Prix

The 1989 French motorcycle Grand Prix was the eleventh round of the 1989 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 14–16 July 1989 at the Bugatti Circuit located in Le Mans.

## 500 cc race report

Eddie Lawson on pole. At the start, Wayne Rainey gets around Lawson, with Freddie Spencer in third, followed by Pierfrancesco Chili and Christian Sarron. Soon it’s the California duo with a small gap, and Kevin Schwantz has made up for his bad start by moving into third, with Kevin Magee in fourth.

Wayne Gardner crashes out, and Schwantz joins the fight for first, with back-marker traffic making life difficult for Lawson and Rainey.

Schwantz is braking very late and making it stick, and he and Lawson start to drop Rainey. Lawson manages to get past Schwantz on the start-finish straight, and though very few win a last lap battle with Schwantz, Lawson manages it, putting Schwantz in a crucial second place to extract maximum points from Rainey in third.

## 500 cc classification

| Pos. | Rider | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Points |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Eddie Lawson | Rothmans Kanemoto Honda | Honda | 29 | 50:16.940 | 1 | 20 |
| 2 | Kevin Schwantz | Suzuki Pepsi Cola | Suzuki | 29 | +0.770 | 2 | 17 |
| 3 | Wayne Rainey | Team Lucky Strike Roberts | Yamaha | 29 | +15.530 | 3 | 15 |
| 4 | Christian Sarron | Sonauto Gauloises Blondes Yamaha Mobil 1 | Yamaha | 29 | +23.590 | 5 | 13 |
| 5 | Kevin Magee | Team Lucky Strike Roberts | Yamaha | 29 | +24.210 | 4 | 11 |
| 6 | Pierfrancesco Chili | HB Honda Gallina Team | Honda | 29 | +37.000 | 7 | 10 |
| 7 | Niall Mackenzie | Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini | Yamaha | 29 | +53.540 | 6 | 9 |
| 8 | Mick Doohan | Rothmans Honda Team | Honda | 29 | +59.120 | 8 | 8 |
| 9 | Rob McElnea | Cabin Racing Team | Honda | 29 | +1:26.290 | 11 | 7 |
| 10 | Adrien Morillas | Team ROC Elf Honda | Honda | 29 | +1:31.460 | 15 | 6 |
| 11 | Randy Mamola | Cagiva Corse | Cagiva | 28 | +1 Lap | 13 | 5 |
| 12 | Thierry Crine | Minolta Suzuki Racing Team | Suzuki | 28 | +1 Lap | 16 | 4 |
| 13 | Alessandro Valesi | Team Iberia | Yamaha | 28 | +1 Lap | 19 | 3 |
| 14 | Simon Buckmaster | Racing Team Katayama | Honda | 28 | +1 Lap | 21 | 2 |
| 15 | Fabio Biliotti | Racing Team Katayama | Honda | 27 | +2 Laps | 27 | 1 |
| 16 | Eddie Laycock | | Honda | 27 | +2 Laps | 20 | |
| 17 | Bruno Kneubühler | Romer Racing Suisse | Honda | 27 | +2 Laps | 22 | |
| 18 | Juan Lopez Mella | Club Motocross Pozuelo | Honda | 27 | +2 Laps | 26 | |
| 19 | Claude Albert | | Suzuki | 27 | +2 Laps | 23 | |
| 20 | Jean Paul Lecointe | Motodepot | Suzuki | 27 | +2 Laps | 28 | |
| 21 | Nicholas Schmassman | FMS | Honda | 27 | +2 Laps | 31 | |
| 22 | Pascal Seguela | | Honda | 27 | +2 Laps | 34 | |
| 23 | Bernard Gitton | Byblos | Fior | 27 | +2 Laps | 35 | |
| 24 | Francisco Gonzales | Club Motocross Pozuelo | Honda | 27 | +2 Laps | 36 | |
| 25 | Cees Doorakkers | HRK Motors | Honda | 27 | +2 Laps | 24 | |
| Ret | Freddie Spencer | Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini | Yamaha | | Retirement | 9 | |
| Ret | Andreas Leuthe | Librenti Corse | Suzuki | | Retirement | 33 | |
| Ret | Marco Gentile | Fior Marlboro | Fior | | Retirement | 18 | |
| Ret | Wayne Gardner | Rothmans Honda Team | Honda | | Retirement | 10 | |
| Ret | Marco Papa | Team Greco | Paton | | Retirement | 25 | |
| Ret | Patrick Salles | | Fior Honda | | Retirement | 30 | |
| Ret | Patrick Lerustre | | Fior | | Retirement | 29 | |
| Ret | Bernard Andrault | | Honda | | Retirement | 32 | |
| Ret | Fred Merkel | HB Honda Gallina Team | Honda | | Retirement | 12 | |
| Ret | Raymond Roche | Cagiva Corse | Cagiva | | Retirement | 17 | |
| DNS | Dominique Sarron | Team ROC Elf Honda | Honda | | Did not start | 14 | |
| DNQ | Vittorio Scatola | | Honda | | Did not qualify | | |
| Sources: ||||||||
