1998 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix

The 1998 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix was the first round of the 1998 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on 5 April 1998 at the Suzuka Circuit. The rookie Max Biaggi surprised everyone by winning his first ever GP500 race.

  1998 Japanese Grand Prix

Race details
Race 1 of 14 races in the 1998 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	5 April 1998
Official name	Marlboro Grand Prix of Japan[1][2][3]
Location	Suzuka Circuit
Course	Permanent racing facility 5.864 km (3.644 mi)
500cc
Pole position Rider Max Biaggi Honda Time 2:05.772 Fastest lap Rider Max Biaggi Honda Time 2:06.746 on lap 4 Podium First Max Biaggi Honda Second Tadayuki Okada Honda Third Noriyuki Haga Yamaha
250cc
Pole position Rider Daijiro Kato Honda Time 2:08.430 Fastest lap Rider Naoki Matsudo Yamaha Time 2:09.284 on lap 8 Podium First Daijiro Kato Honda Second Shinya Nakano Yamaha Third Naoki Matsudo Yamaha
125cc
Pole position Rider Noboru Ueda Honda Time 2:15.162 Fastest lap Rider Masao Azuma Honda Time 2:16.128 on lap 6 Podium First Kazuto Sakata Aprilia Second Tomomi Manako Honda Third Masao Azuma Honda

500 cc classification

Source:^[4]

Pos.	No.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	6	Max Biaggi	Marlboro Team Kanemoto	Honda	21	44:59.478	1	25
2	2	Tadayuki Okada	Repsol Honda	Honda	21	+5.416	3	20
3	50	Noriyuki Haga	Yamaha Racing Team	Yamaha	21	+5.502	6	16
4	4	Àlex Crivillé	Repsol Honda	Honda	21	+10.532	10	13
5	21	Kyoji Nanba	Yamaha Team Rainey	Yamaha	21	+10.879	2	11
6	3	Nobuatsu Aoki	Suzuki Grand Prix Team	Suzuki	21	+13.479	8	10
7	9	Alex Barros	Honda Gresini	Honda	21	+20.266	13	9
8	8	Carlos Checa	Movistar Honda Pons	Honda	21	+20.439	5	8
9	11	Simon Crafar	Red Bull Yamaha WCM	Yamaha	21	+20.773	11	7
10	15	Sete Gibernau	Repsol Honda	Honda	21	+47.101	12	6
11	10	Kenny Roberts Jr.	Team Roberts	Modenas KR3	21	+1:13.558	15	5
12	7	Doriano Romboni	MuZ Roc Rennen Sport	MuZ	21	+1:22.856	22	4
13	19	John Kocinski	Movistar Honda Pons	Honda	21	+1:24.964	9	3
14	5	Norick Abe	Yamaha Team Rainey	Yamaha	21	+1:25.293	7	2
15	14	Juan Borja	Shell Advance Racing	Honda	21	+1:59.992	16	1
16	57	Fabio Carpani	Team Polini Inoxmacel	Honda	20	+1 lap	24
Ret	1	Mick Doohan	Repsol Honda	Honda	15	Retirement	4
Ret	22	Sébastien Gimbert	Tecmas Honda Elf	Honda	11	Retirement	20
Ret	88	Scott Smart	Team Millar Honda Britain	Honda	4	Accident	23
Ret	17	Jurgen van den Goorbergh	Dee Cee Jeans Racing Team	Honda	1	Retirement	19
Ret	23	Matt Wait	FCC TSR	Honda	1	Accident	21
Ret	29	Keiichi Kitagawa	Suzuki Grand Prix Team	Suzuki	1	Retirement	14
Ret	18	Garry McCoy	Shell Advance Racing	Honda	0	Retirement	18
Ret	28	Ralf Waldmann	Team Roberts	Modenas KR3	0	Retirement	17
DNS	55	Régis Laconi	Red Bull Yamaha WCM	Yamaha		Did not start
Sources: [1][5][6]

250 cc classification

Source:^[7]

Pos.	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	54	Daijiro Kato	Honda	19	41:17.096	1	25
2	50	Shinya Nakano	Yamaha	19	+0.896	3	20
3	51	Naoki Matsudo	Yamaha	19	+0.962	5	16
4	31	Tetsuya Harada	Aprilia	19	+1.094	9	13
5	19	Olivier Jacque	Honda	19	+34.301	4	11
6	55	Yukio Kagayama	Suzuki	19	+37.035	14	10
7	65	Loris Capirossi	Aprilia	19	+37.104	6	9
8	17	José Luis Cardoso	Yamaha	19	+43.094	12	8
9	12	Noriyasu Numata	Suzuki	19	+43.105	15	7
10	9	Jeremy McWilliams	TSR-Honda	19	+43.909	16	6
11	6	Haruchika Aoki	Honda	19	+44.000	21	5
12	4	Stefano Perugini	Honda	19	+44.067	13	4
13	52	Choujun Kameya	Suzuki	19	+44.168	10	3
14	18	Osamu Miyazaki	Yamaha	19	+44.637	8	2
15	7	Takeshi Tsujimura	Yamaha	19	+44.727	17	1
16	53	Makoto Tamada	Honda	19	+53.855	18
17	11	Jürgen Fuchs	Aprilia	19	+1:01.999	11
18	37	Luca Boscoscuro	TSR-Honda	19	+1:04.359	20
19	24	Jason Vincent	TSR-Honda	19	+1:08.853	22
20	14	Davide Bulega	Honda	18	+1 lap	26
Ret	25	Yasumasa Hatakeyama	Honda	18	Accident	27
Ret	21	Franco Battaini	Yamaha	17	Accident	19
Ret	5	Tohru Ukawa	Honda	14	Retirement	2
Ret	46	Valentino Rossi	Aprilia	10	Retirement	7
Ret	44	Roberto Rolfo	TSR-Honda	7	Retirement	25
Ret	16	Johan Stigefelt	Suzuki	2	Accident	24
Ret	27	Sebastián Porto	Aprilia	1	Accident	23
Ret	41	Federico Gartner	Aprilia	0	Accident	28
DNS	8	Luis d'Antin	Yamaha		Did not start
DNS	20	William Costes	Honda		Did not start
OFFICIAL 250cc REPORT

125 cc classification

Source:^[8]

Pos.	No.	Rider	Manufacturer	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	4	Kazuto Sakata	Aprilia	18	41:23.963	2	25
2	3	Tomomi Manako	Honda	18	+0.156	18	20
3	20	Masao Azuma	Honda	18	+0.201	6	16
4	10	Lucio Cecchinello	Honda	18	+2.783	7	13
5	53	Noboyuki Osaki	Yamaha	18	+26.381	9	11
6	8	Gianluigi Scalvini	Honda	18	+26.468	10	10
7	52	Hiroyuki Kikuchi	Honda	18	+33.198	12	9
8	5	Masaki Tokudome	Aprilia	18	+33.422	11	8
9	51	Takashi Akita	Yamaha	18	+33.552	23	7
10	13	Marco Melandri	Honda	18	+33.834	14	6
11	9	Frédéric Petit	Honda	18	+34.215	19	5
12	62	Yoshiaki Katoh	Yamaha	18	+46.152	26	4
13	29	Ángel Nieto, Jr.	Aprilia	18	+46.574	16	3
14	54	Kazuhiro Takao	Honda	18	+48.281	17	2
15	26	Ivan Goi	Aprilia	18	+59.684	20	1
16	17	Enrique Maturana	Yamaha	18	+1:03.598	22
17	11	José Ramírez	Aprilia	18	+1:12.202	25
18	19	Andrea Ballerini	Honda	18	+1:12.287	27
19	18	Paolo Tessari	Aprilia	18	+1:21.902	28
20	21	Arnaud Vincent	Aprilia	18	+1:28.393	29
21	7	Emilio Alzamora	Aprilia	18	+1:33.214	24
Ret	41	Youichi Ui	Yamaha	14	Retirement	3
Ret	22	Steve Jenkner	Aprilia	13	Retirement	15
Ret	2	Noboru Ueda	Honda	12	Retirement	1
Ret	15	Roberto Locatelli	Honda	10	Accident	4
Ret	23	Gino Borsoi	Aprilia	7	Retirement	13
Ret	16	Christian Manna	Yamaha	6	Retirement	30
Ret	32	Mirko Giansanti	Honda	4	Accident	8
Ret	50	Yuzo Fujioka	Honda	2	Accident	5
Ret	39	Jaroslav Huleš	Honda	1	Retirement	21
OFFICIAL 125cc REPORT

Championship standings after the race (500cc)

Below are the standings for the top five riders and constructors after round one has concluded.^[9]

Riders' Championship standings Pos. Rider Points 1 Max Biaggi 25 2 Tadayuki Okada 20 3 Noriyuki Haga 16 4 Àlex Crivillé 13 5 Kyoji Nanba 11

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 Honda 25 2 Yamaha 16 3 Suzuki 10 4 Modenas KR3 5 5 MuZ 4

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.