1988 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix

The 1988 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix was the first round of the 1988 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 25–27 March 1988 at the Suzuka Circuit.

500 cc race report

Tadahiko Taira was on pole of the 5-column grid (it became 4-columns in 1990). Wayne Rainey got the start and lead through the first turns, with Kevin Schwantz, Wayne Gardner and Christian Sarron behind. Schwantz took the inside of the hairpin, but Rainey dove back under and got him back on the exit; Schwantz succeeded in taking the lead on Spoon.

At the end of the 1st lap, it was Schwantz and Gardner, then a gap to Toshihiko Honma (riding #46) and Sarron. Gardner and Schwantz swapped the lead many times.

Eddie Lawson and Niall Mackenzie moved through the field to 3rd and 4th. Norihiko Fujiwara lowsided at the hairpin.

On the last lap Gardner ran off the track and stayed on, but lost any chance of winning the race.

500 cc classification

Pos.	Rider	Team	Manufacturer	Time/Retired	Points
1	Template:Flagicon Kevin Schwantz	Suzuki Pepsi Cola	Suzuki	50:03.750	20
2	Template:Flagicon Wayne Gardner	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda	+8.384	17
3	Template:Flagicon Eddie Lawson	Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini	Yamaha	+12.724	15
4	Template:Flagicon Niall Mackenzie	Team HRC	Honda	+15.785	13
5	Template:Flagicon Tadahiko Taira	Tech 21	Yamaha	+36.383	11
6	Template:Flagicon Wayne Rainey	Team Lucky Strike Roberts	Yamaha	+42.070	10
7	Template:Flagicon Kevin Magee	Team Lucky Strike Roberts	Yamaha	+42.179	9
8	Template:Flagicon Christian Sarron	Sonauto Gauloises Blondes Yamaha Mobil 1	Yamaha	+45.186	8
9	Template:Flagicon Didier de Radiguès	Marlboro Yamaha Team Agostini	Yamaha	+1:01.213	7
10	Template:Flagicon Shunji Yatsushiro	Rothmans Honda Team	Honda	+1:10.228	6
11	Template:Flagicon Hikaru Miyagi	Team HRC	Honda	+1:16.201	5
12	Template:Flagicon Ron Haslam	Team ROC Elf Honda	Elf Honda	+1:20.045	4
13	Template:Flagicon Patrick Igoa	Sonauto Gauloises Blondes Yamaha Mobil 1	Yamaha	+1:29.535	3
14	Template:Flagicon Pierfrancesco Chili	HB Honda Gallina Team	Honda	+1:38.989	2
15	Template:Flagicon Osamu Hiwatashi	Suzuki Japan	Suzuki	+1:42.545	1
16	Template:Flagicon Shinji Katayama		Yamaha	+1:43.611
17	Template:Flagicon Masaru Mizutani		Suzuki	+2:04.446
18	Template:Flagicon Keiji Kinoshita		Honda	+1 Lap
19	Template:Flagicon Alessandro Valesi	Team Iberia	Honda	+1 Lap
Ret	Template:Flagicon Raymond Roche	Cagiva Corse	Cagiva	Retirement
Ret	Template:Flagicon Rob McElnea	Suzuki Pepsi Cola	Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Template:Flagicon Katunori Shinozaki		Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Template:Flagicon Norihiko Fujiwara	Lucky Strike Yamaha	Yamaha	Retirement
Ret	Template:Flagicon Randy Mamola	Cagiva Corse	Cagiva	Retirement
Ret	Template:Flagicon Hisashi Yamana		Suzuki	Retirement
Ret	Template:Flagicon Marco Gentile	Fior Marlboro	Fior	Retirement
Ret	Template:Flagicon Manfred Fischer	Team Hein Gericke	Honda	Retirement
DNS	Template:Flagicon Fabio Barchitta	Racing Team Katayama	Honda	Did not start
DNQ	Template:Flagicon Kunio Machii		Honda	Yamaha
Sources: