1997 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season

The 1997 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season was the 49th F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season.

Season summary

A fourth world championship in a row for Honda's Mick Doohan with another dominating performance. He broke Giacomo Agostini's record for victories in one season with 12 wins.^[1] It was also dominating year for Honda with eight of the top ten riders aboard Hondas.^[1] The Yamaha and Suzuki teams were in disarray.^[1] Kenny Roberts left Yamaha to start his own venture with a lightweight, three-cylinder Modenas.^[1] Wayne Rainey's team was left with the inconsistent Norifumi Abe and Sete Gibernau, a rookie.^[1] Daryl Beattie wasn't able to come back from head injuries and retired at the end of the year while Anthony Gobert failed a drug test and was dismissed by the Suzuki team.^[1] The Elf team soldiered on with their Swiss-Auto V4 but Aprilia decided to pull their V twin from the 500 class at the end of the year.^[1]

Max Biaggi had a harder time defending his title from Tetsuya Harada and Ralf Waldmann, not clinching the title until the last race of the year.^[1] A new star emerged from the 125 class with Valentino Rossi winning 11 races for a commanding win on an Aprilia.^[1]

Grands Prix

Round	Date	Grand Prix	Circuit	125cc winner	250cc winner	500cc winner	Report
1	April 13	Malaysian Grand Prix	Shah Alam	Valentino Rossi	Max Biaggi	Mick Doohan	Report
2	April 20	Japanese Grand Prix	Suzuka	Noboru Ueda	Daijiro Kato	Mick Doohan	Report
3	May 4	Spanish Grand Prix	Jerez	Valentino Rossi	Ralf Waldmann	Àlex Crivillé	Report
4	May 18	Italian Grand Prix	Mugello	Valentino Rossi	Max Biaggi	Mick Doohan	Report
5	June 1	Austrian Grand Prix	Zeltweg	Noboru Ueda	Olivier Jacque	Mick Doohan	Report
6	June 8	French Grand Prix	Paul Ricard	Valentino Rossi	Tetsuya Harada	Mick Doohan	Report
7	June 28	Dutch TT	Assen	Valentino Rossi	Tetsuya Harada	Mick Doohan	Report
8	July 6	City of Imola Grand Prix	Imola	Valentino Rossi	Max Biaggi	Mick Doohan	Report
9	July 20	German Grand Prix	Nürburgring	Valentino Rossi	Tetsuya Harada	Mick Doohan	Report
10	August 3	Rio de Janeiro Grand Prix	Rio de Janeiro	Valentino Rossi	Olivier Jacque	Mick Doohan	Report
11	August 17	British Grand Prix	Donington	Valentino Rossi	Ralf Waldmann	Mick Doohan	Report
12	August 31	Czech Republic Grand Prix	Brno	Noboru Ueda	Max Biaggi	Mick Doohan	Report
13	September 14	Catalan Grand Prix	Catalunya	Valentino Rossi	Ralf Waldmann	Mick Doohan	Report
14	September 28	Indonesian Grand Prix	Sentul	Valentino Rossi	Max Biaggi	Tadayuki Okada	Report
15	October 20	Australian Grand Prix	Phillip Island	Noboru Ueda	Ralf Waldmann	Àlex Crivillé	Report

Final standings

500cc standings^[2][3]

Pos Rider Bike MAL JPN ESP ITA AUT FRA NED IMO GER RIO GBR CZE CAT INA AUS Pts 1 Mick Doohan Honda 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 Ret 340 2 Tadayuki Okada Honda 10 3 3 Ret 2 3 12 5 2 2 2 Ret 6 1 4 197 3 Nobuatsu Aoki Honda 3 5 5 3 4 Ret 4 2 4 4 4 3 5 4 Ret 179 4 Àlex Crivillé Honda 2 2 1 4 5 4 4 3 3 1 172 5 Takuma Aoki Honda 5 4 4 Ret Ret 5 Ret 3 3 10 6 7 7 2 134 6 Luca Cadalora Yamaha 4 11 11 2 3 Ret Ret 6 Ret 3 5 2 4 Ret Ret 129 7 Norifumi Abe Yamaha 8 7 7 7 9 7 10 7 Ret 5 9 5 12 5 3 126 8 Carlos Checa Honda 6 6 Ret Ret 6 2 2 4 Ret Ret Ret Ret 2 6 10 119 9 Alex Barros Honda 11 10 8 6 13 6 6 9 6 Ret 3 8 Ret Ret 8 101 10 Doriano Romboni Aprilia 6 11 10 11 3 Ret 5 7 7 Ret 10 10 11 88 11 Daryl Beattie Suzuki Ret Ret 12 5 11 12 7 13 12 13 6 10 17 12 Ret 63 12 Alberto Puig Honda 7 8 Ret Ret 8 8 5 12 10 14 Ret 13 15 14 15 63 13 Sete Gibernau Yamaha 9 Ret 9 9 Ret 13 19 11 7 Ret Ret Ret Ret 8 6 56 14 Régis Laconi Honda 12 12 10 10 Ret 9 Ret 7 11 16 5 52 15 Anthony Gobert Suzuki 13 7 10 13 10 9 10 Ret 12 44 16 Kenny Roberts, Jr. Modenas KR3 Ret Ret 18 Ret Ret Ret 8 17 Ret Ret 11 9 8 9 14 37 17 Juan Borja ELF 500 14 Ret Ret Ret 12 9 15 Ret 8 Ret 8 Ret 9 Ret Ret 37 18 Jean-Michel Bayle Modenas KR3 Ret 14 13 8 14 Ret Ret 8 Ret 8 Ret Ret Ret 16 31 19 Jurgen van den Goorbergh Honda 15 15 14 Ret Ret 15 Ret Ret 11 11 13 11 14 Ret 12 29 20 Jurgen Fuchs ELF 500 Ret Ret 16 Ret Ret 16 9 14 13 6 15 Ret 16 11 Ret 28 21 Kirk McCarthy Yamaha Ret 16 15 14 17 Ret Ret 15 15 12 12 Ret 13 15 13 20 22 Peter Goddard Suzuki 13 Ret 13 9 13 23 Troy Corser Yamaha 13 Ret Ret 12 Ret 14 14 11 24 Yukio Kagayama Suzuki 7 9 25 Norihiko Fujiwara Yamaha 9 7 26 Bernard Garcia Honda 17 11 Ret 14 7 27 Laurent Naveau ROC Yamaha 17 Ret 19 16 15 Ret 16 Ret 16 16 18 14 19 18 19 3 28 Jason Vincent Honda 14 2 29 Lucio Pedercini ROC Yamaha 16 Ret 17 15 16 19 18 16 Ret 15 16 Ret 18 17 17 2 Pos Rider Bike MAL JPN ESP ITA AUT FRA NED IMO GER RIO GBR CZE CAT INA AUS 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^[4]

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins	Poles	F.Lap
1	Max Biaggi	1	Italy	Honda	250	5	3	2
2	Ralf Waldmann	2	Germany	Honda	248	4	4	5
3	Tetsuya Harada	31	Japan	Aprilia	235	3	1	4
4	Olivier Jacque	19	France	Honda	201	2	5	2
5	Tohru Ukawa	5	Japan	Honda	173	0	0	0
6	Loris Capirossi	65	Italy	Aprilia	116	0	1	2
7	Takeshi Tsujimura		Japan	Honda	109	0	0	0
8	Haruchika Aoki		Japan	Honda	102	0	0	0
9	Stefano Perugini		Italy	Aprilia	85	0	0	0
10	Jeremy McWilliams		United Kingdom	Honda	73	0	0	0
11	Sebastian Porto		Argentina	Aprilia	60	0	0	0
12	Noriyasu Numata		Japan	Suzuki	55	0	0	0
13	Osamu Miyazaki		Japan	Yamaha	47	0	0	0
14	Franco Battaini		Italy	Yamaha	44	0	0	0
15	Cristiano Migliorati		Italy	Honda	35	0	0	0
16	Luis D'Antin		Spain	Yamaha	32	0	0	0
17	Emilio Alzamora		Spain	Honda	31	0	0	0
18	Marcellino Lucchi		Italy	Aprilia	30	0	0	0
19	Daijiro Kato		Japan	Honda	25	0	0	0
20	William Costes		France	Honda	23	0	0	0
21	Jose Luis Cardoso		Spain	Yamaha	19	0	0	0
22	Jamie Robinson		Great Britain	Suzuki	18	0	0	0
23	Oliver Petrucciani		Switzerland	Aprilia	14	0	0	0
24	Luca Boscoscuro		Italy	Honda	13	0	0	0
25	Giuseppe Fiorillo		Italy	Aprilia	12	0	0	0
26	Yukio Kagayama		Japan	Suzuki	10	0	0	0
27	Troy Bayliss		Australia	Suzuki	10	0	0	0
28	Naoki Matsudo		Japan	Yamaha	6	0	0	0
29	Eustaquio Gavira		Spain	Aprilia	5	0	0	0
30	Scott Smart		Great Britain	Honda	4	0	0	0
31	Naoto Ogura		Japana	Yamaha	3	0	0	0
32	Sebastien Gimbert		France	Honda	3	0	0	0
33	Idalio Gavira		Spain	Aprilia	2	0	0	0
34	Maurice Bolwerk		Netherlands	Honda	2	0	0	0
35	John McGuinness		Great Britain	Aprilia	2	0	0	0
36	Choujun Kameya		Japan	Suzuki	1	0	0	0
37	Claudio Vanzetta		Switzerland	Aprilia	1	0	0	0
38	Callum Ramsay		Great Britain	Honda	1	0	0	0

125cc standings

Place	Rider	Number	Country	Machine	Points	Wins	Poles	F.Laps
1	Valentino Rossi	46	Italy	Aprilia	321	11	4	7
2	Noboru Ueda	7	Japan	Honda	238	4	3	2
3	Tomomi Manako	3	Japan	Honda	190	0	0	2
4	Kazuto Sakata	8	Japan	Aprilia	179	0	2	2
5	Masaki Tokudome	2	Japan	Aprilia	120	0	0	1
6	Jorge Martínez	5	Spain	Aprilia	119	0	3	0
7	Garry McCoy	12	Australia	Aprilia	109	0	1	0
8	Roberto Locatelli		Italy	Honda	97	0	0	0
9	Mirko Giansanti		Italy	Aprilia	83	0	0	0
10	Frederic Petit		France	Honda	83	0	0	0
11	Gianluigi Scalvini		Italy	Honda	81	0	0	0
12	Youichi Ui		Japan	Yamaha	77	0	0	0
13	Yoshiaki Katoh		Japan	Yamaha	74	0	0	0
14	Lucio Cecchinello		Italy	Honda	73	0	0	0
15	Masao Azuma		Japan	Honda	66	0	0	0
16	Manfred Geissler		Germany	Aprilia	31	0	0	0
17	Juan Enrique Maturana		Spain	Yamaha	22	0	0	0
18	Ivan Goi		Italy	Aprilia	21	0	0	0
19	Steve Jenkner		Germany	Aprilia	20	0	0	0
20	Gino Borsoi		Italy	Yamaha	19	0	0	0
21	Jaroslav Hules		Czech Republic	Honda	17	0	0	0
22	Hideyuki Nakajoh		Japan	Honda	16	0	0	0
23	Peter Oettl		Germany	Aprilia	11	0	0	0
24	Kazuhiro Takao		Japan	Honda	8	0	0	0
25	Dirk Raudies		Germany	Honda	8	0	0	0
26	Angel Nieto Jr.		Spain	Aprilia	8	0	0	0
27	Josep Sarda		Spain	Honda	3	0	0	0
28	Alex Hofmann		Germany	Yamaha	2	0	0	0
29	Darren Barton		Great Britain	Honda	2	0	0	0
30	Benny Jerzenbeck		Germany	Honda	1	0	0	0
31	Alvaro Molina		Spain	Honda	1	0	0	0

500 cc participants

Team Constructor Motorcycle No Rider Rounds Repsol Honda Honda Honda NSR500 (NV0X) 1 Mick Doohan all 2 Àlex Crivillé 1-7, 12-15 7 Tadayuki Okada all Honda NSR500V (NVAB) 24 Takuma Aoki all Yamaha Promotor Racing Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 (OWH0) 3 Luca Cadalora 1-3 11 Troy Corser 1-3 Red Bull Yamaha WCM Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 (OWH0) 3 Luca Cadalora 4-15 11 Troy Corser 4-7 22 Kirk McCarthy 9-15 Honda Gresini Honda Honda NSR500V 4 Alex Barros all Yamaha Team Rainey Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 (OWH0) 5 Norick Abe all 20 Sete Gibernau all Lucky Strike Suzuki Suzuki Suzuki RGV500 (XR87) 6 Daryl Beattie all 23 Anthony Gobert 1, 4-12 26 Yukio Kagayama 15 27 Peter Goddard 2-3, 14-15 MoviStar Honda Pons Honda Honda NSR500 8 Carlos Checa all 9 Alberto Puig all Marlboro Team Roberts Modenas Modenas KR3 10 Kenny Roberts, Jr. all 12 Jean-Michel Bayle all Tecmas Honda Elf Honda Honda NSR500V 13 Bernard Garcia 6-9 55 Regis Laconi 1-5, 10-15 ELF 500 ROC Elf Elf 500 14 Juan Borja all 16 Jürgen Fuchs all Soverex FP Racing ROC-Yamaha ROC-Yamaha 15 Frédéric Protat 1-3 Honda Honda NSR500V 4-15 Team Pedercini ROC-Yamaha ROC-Yamaha 17 Lucio Pedercini all Rheos Elf F.C.C. TS Honda Honda NSR500 18 Nobuatsu Aoki all IP Aprilia Racing Team Aprilia Aprilia RSW-2 19 Doriano Romboni 3-15 39 Alessandro Gramigni 1-2 Team Millar MQP Honda Honda NSR500V 21 Jurgen van den Goorbergh all World Champ Motorsports ROC-Yamaha ROC-Yamaha 22 Kirk McCarthy 1-8 Millet Racing ROC-Yamaha ROC-Yamaha 25 Laurent Naveau all Marlboro Yamaha Yamaha Yamaha YZR500 51 Norihiko Fujiwara 2 Team Paton Paton Paton V70 C10/3 53 Francesco Monaco 4, 8 Padgett's Honda Honda NSR500V 98 Jason Vincent 11 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/1997/NAT/500cc/World+Standing. Retrieved 2010-07-06.  ^ a b c d e f g h i Noyes, Dennis; Scott, Michael (1999), Motocourse: 50 Years Of Moto Grand Prix, Hazleton Publishing Ltd, ISBN 1-874557-83-7  ^ 1997 500cc Final Standings at MotoGP.com ^ 1997 500cc Entries List at www.f1network.net ^ 1997 250cc Final Standings at MotoGP.com v t e Grand Prix motorcycle racing seasons 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013