1998 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season

1998 F.I.M. Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Previous: 1997	Next: 1999

The 1998 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 50th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season.

Season summary

Mick Doohan and Honda continued to dominate the 500 class with the Australian taking 8 victories and Honda winning all but one race. Simon Crafar winning the British Grand Prix for Yamaha's lone victory. After being shocked by 500 class rookie Max Biaggi's opening round victory in the Japanese Grand Prix, Doohan went on to claim his fifth world championship in as many years, finishing off the season with four consecutive wins.

A controversial finish marked the 250 title race. Aprilia team-mates Tetsuya Harada, Loris Capirossi and Valentino Rossi each went into the final race in Argentina with a chance to win the title. Harada entered the final turn of the final lap in the lead, when his bike was struck from behind by Capirossi's machine, sending both riders off the track. Rossi took the win with Capirossi recovering to finish in second and claiming the title. Afterwards, Aprilia would release Capirossi from his contract.

Kazuto Sakata would win his second 125 title for Aprilia after a tight battle with Tomomi Manako and Marco Melandri.

Grands Prix

Round	Date	Grand Prix	Circuit	125cc winner	250cc winner	500cc winner	Report
1	April 5	Japanese Grand Prix	Suzuka	Kazuto Sakata	Daijiro Kato	Max Biaggi	Report
2	April 19	Malaysian Grand Prix	Johor	Noboru Ueda	Tetsuya Harada	Mick Doohan	Report
3	May 3	Spanish Grand Prix	Jerez	Kazuto Sakata	Loris Capirossi	Àlex Crivillé	Report
4	May 17	Italian Grand Prix	Mugello	Tomomi Manako	Marcellino Lucchi	Mick Doohan	Report
5	May 31	French Grand Prix	Paul Ricard	Kazuto Sakata	Tetsuya Harada	Àlex Crivillé	Report
6	June 14	Madrid Grand Prix	Jarama	Lucio Cecchinello	Tetsuya Harada	Carlos Checa	Report
7	June 27	Dutch TT	Assen	Marco Melandri	Valentino Rossi	Mick Doohan	Report
8	July 5	British Grand Prix	Donington	Kazuto Sakata	Loris Capirossi	Simon Crafar	Report
9	July 19	German Grand Prix	Sachsenring	Tomomi Manako	Tetsuya Harada	Mick Doohan	Report
10	August 23	Czech Republic Grand Prix	Brno	Marco Melandri	Tetsuya Harada	Max Biaggi	Report
11	September 6	City of Imola Grand Prix	Imola	Tomomi Manako	Valentino Rossi	Mick Doohan	Report
12	September 20	Catalan Grand Prix	Catalunya	Tomomi Manako	Valentino Rossi	Mick Doohan	Report
13	October 4	Australian Grand Prix	Phillip Island	Masao Azuma	Valentino Rossi	Mick Doohan	Report
14	October 25	Argentine Grand Prix	Buenos Aires	Tomomi Manako	Valentino Rossi	Mick Doohan	Report

Final standings

500cc standings

• Riders marked with light blue background were eligible for Rookie of the Year award.

Pos Rider Bike JPN MAL ESP ITA FRA MAD NED GBR GER CZE IMO CAT AUS ARG Pts 1 Mick Doohan Honda Ret 1 2 1 2 Ret 1 2 1 Ret 1 1 1 1 260 2 Max Biaggi Honda 1 3 3 2 5 6 2 6 2 1 3 Ret 8 5 208 3 Àlex Crivillé Honda 4 4 1 3 1 5 6 4 3 2 2 Ret 3 Ret 198 4 Carlos Checa Honda 8 2 4 4 3 1 5 DNQ 7 10 6 DNS 8 139 5 Alex Barros Honda 7 Ret 5 9 Ret 9 4 5 4 3 4 7 4 3 138 6 Norick Abe Yamaha 14 Ret 6 6 7 2 Ret 3 Ret 5 6 3 5 4 128 7 Simon Crafar Yamaha 9 Ret 13 7 9 8 3 1 Ret 11 11 5 2 13 119 8 Tadayuki Okada Honda 2 Ret 7 DNQ 8 4 7 2 9 2 106 9 Nobuatsu Aoki Suzuki 6 Ret 8 8 8 4 7 7 10 12 9 11 6 12 101 10 Régis Laconi Yamaha DNS 14 10 11 7 9 8 5 9 12 8 7 6 86 11 Sete Gibernau Honda 10 Ret 12 14 10 3 Ret Ret Ret 6 8 4 Ret 9 72 12 John Kocinski Honda 13 5 11 5 4 Ret DNS 15 13 9 12 10 64 13 Kenny Roberts, Jr. Modenas KR3 11 11 9 Ret 13 DNQ 12 Ret 6 10 14 10 10 11 59 14 Ralf Waldmann Modenas KR3 Ret 9 10 11 12 10 DNS 7 13 15 12 Ret 15 46 15 Jurgen van den Goorbergh Honda Ret 8 18 16 15 Ret 10 9 8 16 Ret 13 11 14 40 16 Jean-Michel Bayle Yamaha 8 5 Ret 7 28 17 Garry McCoy Honda Ret 10 15 13 17 11 11 13 Ret DNS Ret 23 18 Kyoji Nanba Yamaha 5 Ret 16 12 9 22 19 Matt Wait Honda Ret 12 20 Ret 18 13 13 Ret 14 20 18 14 13 17 17 20 Noriyuki Haga Yamaha 3 16 21 Scott Smart Honda Ret 21 19 Ret 12 14 10 Ret 21 Ret 15 15 Ret 14 22 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki 6 19 17 10 23 Luca Cadalora Yamaha 6 Ret 10 Suzuki Ret MuZ Ret 24 Bernard Garcia Honda 15 11 12 Ret 10 25 Norihiko Fujiwara Yamaha 7 9 26 Eskil Suter MuZ 18 Ret 14 Ret 13 14 Ret Ret 7 27 Gregorio Lavilla Honda 11 5 28 Doriano Romboni MuZ 12 DNS 4 29 John McGuinness Honda 12 4 30 Sébastien Gimbert Honda Ret 13 17 15 16 DNQ 19 Ret Ret Ret 16 4 31 Fernando Cristóbal Honda 15 14 15 4 32 Juan Borja Honda 15 Ret Ret Ret 14 Ret Ret DNS 17 17 Ret 16 18 3 33 Mark Willis Suzuki 14 2 34 Fabio Carpani Honda 16 Ret Ret 20 19 16 DNQ 15 16 Ret 19 Ret Ret 20 1 Pos Rider Bike JPN MAL ESP ITA FRA MAD NED GBR GER CZE IMO CAT AUS ARG Pts

Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Finished, in points Blue Finished, no points Not classified (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Red Did not qualify (DNQ) Did not pre-qualify (DNPQ) Black Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Withdrew (WD) Race cancelled (C) Blank Did not participate Excluded (EX) Bold – Pole Italics – Fastest Lap

250cc standings

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins	Poles	F.Laps
1	Loris Capirossi	65	Italy	Aprilia	224	2	8	3
2	Valentino Rossi	46	Italy	Aprilia	201	5	0	3
3	Tetsuya Harada	31	Japan	Aprilia	200	5	4	6
4	Tohru Ukawa	5	Japan	Honda	148	0	0	0
5	Olivier Jacque	19	France	Honda	116	0	0	0
6	Haruchika Aoki	6	Japan	Honda	112	0	0	0
7	Stefano Perugini	4	Italy	Honda	102	0	0	0
8	Takeshi Tsujimura	7	Japan	Yamaha	92	0	0	0
9	Jeremy McWilliams	9	United Kingdom	TSR-Honda	88	0	0	0
10	Luis D'Antin	8	Spain	Yamaha	74	0	0	0
11	Roberto Rolfo	44	Italy	TSR-Honda	63	0	0	0
12	Jose Luis Cardoso	17	Spain	Yamaha	61	0	0	0
13	Jason Vincent	24	United Kingdom	TSR-Honda	60	0	0	0
14	Luca Boscoscuro	37	Italy	TSR-Honda	59	0	0	0
15	Noriyasu Numata	12	Japan	Suzuki	53	0	0	0
16	Marcellino Lucchi	34	Italy	Aprilia	52	1	0	1
17	Jürgen Fuchs	11	Germany	Aprilia	45	0	0	0
18	Franco Battaini	21	Italy	Yamaha	35	0	0	0
19	Shinya Nakano	50	Japan	Yamaha	33	0	0	0
20	Daijiro Kato	54	Japan	Honda	25	1	1	0
21	Johann Stigefelt	16	Sweden	Suzuki	23	0	0	0
22	Sebastian Porto	27	Argentina	Aprilia	17	0	0	0
23	Naoki Matsudo	51	Japan	Yamaha	16	0	0	1
24	Osamu Miyazaki	18	Japan	Yamaha	15	0	0	0
25	Davide Bulega	14	Italy	ERP-Honda	12	0	0	0
26	Yukio Kagayama	55	Japan	Suzuki	10	0	0	0
27	Yasu Hatakeyama	25	Japan	Honda	9	0	0	0
28	Ivan Clementi	47	Italy	Yamaha	7	0	0	0
29	Alex Hofmann	66	Germany	Honda	6	0	0	0
30	William Costes	20	France	Honda	6	0	0	0
31	Diego Giugovaz	45	Italy	Aprilia	4	0	0	0
32	Choujun Kameya	52	Japan	Suzuki	3	0	0	0
33	Jamie Robinson	33	United Kingdom	Yamaha	2	0	0	0
=	Woolsey Coulter	82	United Kingdom	Honda	2	0	0	0
35	Federico Gartner	41	Argentina	Aprilia	1	0	0	0
=	Julien Allemand	68	France	Honda	1	0	0	0
=	Ismael Bonilla	59	Spain	Honda	1	0	0	0
=	Mike Baldinger	84	Germany	Honda	1	0	0	0
=	Matthieu Lagrive	22	France	Honda	1	0	0	0

125cc Standings

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins
1	Kazuto Sakata	4	Japan	Aprilia	229	4
2	Tomomi Manako	3	Japan	Honda	217	5
3	Marco Melandri	13	Italy	Honda	202	2
4	Masao Azuma	20	Japan	Honda	135	1
5	Lucio Cecchinello	10	Italy	Honda	130	1
6	Mirko Giansanti	32	Italy	Honda	113	0
7	Masaki Tokudome	5	Japan	Aprilia	97	0
8	Gianluigi Scalvini	8	Italy	Honda	89	0
9	Roberto Locatelli	15	Italy	Honda	87	0
10	Frederic Petit	9	France	Honda	78	0
11	Youichi Ui	41	Japan	Yamaha	76	0
12	Arnaud Vincent	21	France	Aprilia	72	0
13	Noboru Ueda	2	Japan	Honda	62	1
14	Ivan Goi	26	Italy	Aprilia	53	0
15	Hiroyuki Kikuchi	52	Japan	Honda	51	0
16	Yoshiaki Katoh	62	Japan	Yamaha	45	0
17	Steve Jenkner	22	Germany	Aprilia	45	0
18	Gino Borsoi	23	Italy	Aprilia	43	0
19	Angel Nieto Jr	29	Spain	Aprilia	41	0
20	Jaroslav Hules	39	Czech Republic	Honda	25	0
21	Emilio Alzamora	7	Spain	Aprilia	18	0
22	Nobuyuki Osaki	53	Japan	Yamaha	11	0
23	Juan E. Maturana	17	Spain	Yamaha	10	0
24	Takashi Akita	51	Japan	Yamaha	7	0
25	Paolo Tessari	18	Italy	Aprilia	5	0
26	Jeronimo Vidal	59	Spain	Aprilia	3	0
=	Alvaro Molina	58	Spain	Honda	3	0
=	Federico Cerroni	14	Italy	Aprilia	3	0
29	Fonsi Nieto	60	Spain	Aprilia	3	0
30	Kazuhiro Takao	54	Japan	Honda	2	0
=	Andrea Iommi	65	Italy	Honda	2	0
32	Claudio Cipriani	64	Italy	Aprilia	1	0
=	Christian Manna	16	Italy	Yamaha	1	0
=	Andrea Zappa	49	Italy	Honda	1	0

Participants

500cc participants

Team Constructor Motorcycle No. Rider Rounds Repsol Honda Honda Honda NSR500 1 Mick Doohan All 2 Tadayuki Okada 1–4, 7, 10–14 4 Àlex Crivillé All 15 Sete Gibernau All Suzuki Grand Prix Team Suzuki Suzuki RGV500 3 Nobuatsu Aoki All 20 Luca Cadalora 7 25 Yukio Kagayama 2–5 27 Katsuaki Fujiwara 10–12 29 Keiichi Kitagawa 1 33 Mark Willis 13 Yamaha Team Rainey Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 5 Norick Abe All 12 Jean-Michel Bayle 10–12, 14 20 Luca Cadalora 5–6 21 Kyoji Nanba 1–4, 9 Marlboro Team Kanemoto Honda Honda NSR500 6 Max Biaggi All Muz Roc Rennen Sport MuZ MuZ 500 7 Doriano Romboni 1–2 16 Jean-Philippe Ruggia 7 20 Luca Cadalora 14 77 Eskil Suter 4–6, 8–12 Movistar Honda Pons Honda Honda NSR500 8 Carlos Checa 1–8, 10–14 14 Juan Borja 8 19 John Kocinski 1–7, 10–14 39 Gregorio Lavilla 9 Honda Gresini Honda Honda NSR500 9 Alex Barros All Team Roberts Modenas Modenas KR3 10 Kenny Roberts, Jr. All 28 Ralf Waldmann 1–7, 9–14 Red Bull Yamaha WCM Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 11 Simon Crafar All 55 Régis Laconi 1, 3–14 Shell Advance Racing Honda Honda NSR500 14 Juan Borja 1–7, 10–14 18 Garry McCoy 1–10, 13 26 Bernard Garcia 11 42 Craig Connell 12, 14 42 Craig Connell 13 53 Russel Wood 2 58 Felisberto Teixeira 3 71 Juan Pablo Gianini 14 72 Fernando Cristóbal 6 72 Fernando Cristóbal 8–9 Dee Cee Jeans Racing Team Honda Honda NSR500 17 Jurgen van den Goorbergh All Tecmas Honda Elf Honda Honda NSR500 22 Sébastien Gimbert 1–6, 10–14 26 Bernard Garcia 7–9 F.C.C. TSR Honda Honda NSR500 23 Matt Wait All Team Paton Paton Paton V70 500 43 Paolo Tessari 11–12 63 Gianmaria Liverani 4 Yamaha Racing Team Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 50 Noriyuki Haga 1 BP Yamaha Racing Team Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 52 Norihiko Fujiwara 2 Team Polini Inoxmacel Honda Honda NSR500 57 Fabio Carpani All Team Zupin Honda Honda NSR500 60 Jörg Schöllhorn 9 Team Vimto Honda/Paul Bird Honda Honda NSR500 68 John McGuinness 8 Team Millar Honda Britain Honda Honda NSR500 88 Scott Smart 1, 3–14

Key Regular Rider Wildcard Rider Replacement Rider

References

• Büla, Maurice & Schertenleib, Jean-Claude (2001). Continental Circus 1949-2000. Chronosports S.A. ISBN 2-940125-32-5
• "The Official MotoGP website". http://www.motogp.com/en/Results+Statistics/1998/NAT/500cc/World+Standing. Retrieved 2010-07-06.