1990 Yugoslav motorcycle Grand Prix

  1990 Yugoslav Grand Prix

Race details
Race 7 of 15 races in the 1990 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	17 June 1990
Official name	Yu Grand Prix[1][2]
Location	Automotodrom Rijeka
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.168 km (2.590 mi)
500cc
Pole position Rider Wayne Rainey Time 1:28.433 Fastest lap Rider Wayne Rainey Time 1:29.220 Podium First Wayne Rainey Second Kevin Schwantz Third Niall Mackenzie
250cc
Pole position Rider John Kocinski Time 1:31.313 Fastest lap Rider Reinhold Roth Time 1:31.952 Podium First Carlos Cardús Second John Kocinski Third Martin Wimmer
125cc
Pole position Rider Jorge Martínez Time 1:37.191 Fastest lap Rider Doriano Romboni Time 1:38.076 Podium First Stefan Prein Second Loris Capirossi Third Bruno Casanova

The 1990 Yugoslavian motorcycle Grand Prix was the seventh round of the 1990 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 15–17 June 1990 at the Rijeka circuit.^[3]

In qualifying Christian Sarron crashed and dragged off the tarmac by track marshals, which brought complaints from riders that the race organization was unprofessional.

At the start, Wayne Rainey led, followed by Mick Doohan and Niall Mackenzie, while behind them two Cagiva riders collided and crashed: Ron Haslam and Randy Mamola. Haslam touched the back of a bike, and fell off into Mamola. After this, Alex Barros crashed, leaving Cagiva without anymore riders in the race.

Schwantz found his rhythm and caught the group of three chasing Rainey: Doohan, Mackenzie and Chili; a small gap to the fight for sixth between Ruggia and Sito Pons.

The gap to Rainey looked too big to close, and the fight for second narrowed down to Mackenzie and Schwantz. Behind him, Doohan led Pons and Chili, but Pons lost the front end on the exit of a right turn, and Chili hit the fallen rider or bike and was thrown into the air. The question of race organization came to mind again when Pons was not immediately sent for a medical checkup.

During practice Wilco Zeelenberg was severely injured in an accident that sent him and his bike up a hill into the spectators behind scattered hay bales. None were injured. Australian Darren Milner would deputise for him in the remaining sessions.

The race was disrupted by torrential rain, and it would have been stopped with two laps to go. However, with marshalls not waving red flags at all parts of the circuit, this was not properly communicated to the riders. Milner spotted a red flag in the distance and slowed down to a dangerous degree. Reinhold Roth came from behind at full speed and was trying to evade Àlex Crivillé, but he was blindsided by Milner and they collided, flinging both riders through the air over the track and collecting Crivillé from his bike mid-air. With all of the red flags finally out, riders were still lapping around the circuit, while spectators and medical personnel flooded the scene to aid the three afflicted. Milner and Crivillé were dragged away in an unprofessional and dangerous manner, but Roth was left comatose and had to be airlifted to a nearby clinic for emergency checkups. The impact of the accident left him paralysed from the waist down, and the cerebral damage he suffered would eventually lead to a fatal lung collapse in 2021.

Carlos Cardus was declared the winner.

Pos.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	Wayne Rainey	Marlboro Team Roberts	Yamaha	48:10.806	20
2	Kevin Schwantz	Lucky Strike Suzuki	Suzuki	+10.074	17
3	Niall Mackenzie	Lucky Strike Suzuki	Suzuki	+33.685	15
4	Mick Doohan	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda	+43.530	13
5	Jean Philippe Ruggia	Sonauto Gauloises	Yamaha	+1:11.447	11
6	Marco Papa	Team ROC Elf La Cinq	Honda	+1 Lap	10
7	Cees Doorakkers	HRK Motors	Honda	+1 Lap	9
8	Karl Truchsess		Honda	+1 Lap	8
9	Nicholas Schmassman	Team Schmassman	Honda	+1 Lap	7
Ret	Vittorio Scatola	Team Elit	Paton	Retirement
Ret	Sito Pons	Campsa Banesto	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Ron Haslam	Cagiva Corse	Cagiva	Retirement
Ret	Randy Mamola	Cagiva Corse	Cagiva	Retirement
Ret	Juan Garriga	Ducados Yamaha	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Pierfrancesco Chili	Team ROC Elf La Cinq	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Alex Barros	Cagiva Corse	Cagiva	Retirement
Sources: [4][5]