1988 United States motorcycle Grand Prix

The 1988 United States motorcycle Grand Prix was the second round of the 1988 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of April 8–10, 1988, at Laguna Seca Raceway.

  1988 United States Grand Prix

Race details
Race 2 of 15 races in the 1988 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	April 10, 1988
Official name	United States International Grand Prix[1][2][3]
Location	Laguna Seca Raceway
Course	Permanent racing facility 3.563 km (2.214 mi)
500cc
Pole position Rider Wayne Rainey Yamaha Time 1:29.210 Fastest lap Rider Eddie Lawson Yamaha Time 1:29.960 Podium First Eddie Lawson Yamaha Second Wayne Gardner Honda Third Niall Mackenzie Honda
250cc
Pole position Rider John Kocinski Yamaha Time 1:32.950 Fastest lap Rider Bruno Casanova Aprilia-Rotax Time 1:32.320 Podium First Jim Filice Honda Second Sito Pons Honda Third Dominique Sarron Honda

500 cc race report

The first U.S. GP in 23 years (the Daytona in 1965 was the previous).

Wayne Rainey was on pole. Through the first hairpin it was Wayne Gardner, Niall Mackenzie, Rainey, Kevin Schwantz, et al.

Eddie Lawson was down in 6th place, with Kevin Magee and Gardner up front. Lawson worked his way through the field, and passed both Gardner and Magee on the inside of Turn 2 (hairpin).

500 cc classification

Pos.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	Eddie Lawson	Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini	Yamaha	1'00:48.075	20
2	Wayne Gardner	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda	+7.539	17
3	Niall Mackenzie	Team HRC	Honda	+8.048	15
4	Wayne Rainey	Team Lucky Strike Roberts	Yamaha	+14.638	13
5	Kevin Schwantz	Suzuki Pepsi Cola	Suzuki	+27.459	11
6	Christian Sarron	Sonauto Gauloises Blondes Yamaha Mobil 1	Yamaha	+1:19.207	10
7	Ron Haslam	Team ROC Elf Honda	Elf Honda	+1:30.230	9
8	Didier de Radiguès	Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini	Yamaha	+1 Lap	8
9	Rob McElnea	Suzuki Pepsi Cola	Suzuki	+1 Lap	7
10	Mike Baldwin	Racing Team Katayama	Honda	+1 Lap	6
11	Alessandro Valesi	Team Iberia	Honda	+1 Lap	5
Ret	Shunji Yatsushiro	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Raymond Roche	Cagiva Corse	Cagiva	Retirement
Ret	Kevin Magee	Team Lucky Strike Roberts	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	John Long		Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Marco Gentile	Fior Marlboro	Fior	Retirement
Ret	Pierfrancesco Chili	HB Honda Gallina Team	Honda	Retirement
Ret	Eugene Brown		Suzuki	Retirement
DNS	Patrick Igoa	Sonauto Gauloises Blondes Yamaha Mobil 1	Yamaha	Did not start
DNS	Randy Mamola	Cagiva Corse	Cagiva	Did not start
DNS	William Knott		Suzuki	Did not start
DNS	Russell Bigley		Yamaha	Did not start
DNQ	Larry Moreno Vacondio		Suzuki	Did not qualify
DNQ	Tony Carey		Suzuki	Did not qualify
DNQ	Jim Poet		Suzuki	Did not qualify
DNQ	Fabio Barchitta	Racing Team Katayama	Honda	Did not qualify
DNQ	Vincenzo Cascino		Honda	Did not qualify
DNQ	Scott Gray		Suzuki	Did not qualify
DNQ	Freddie Spencer		Honda	Did not qualify
DNQ	David Busby		Suzuki	Did not qualify
Sources:[4][5]