# 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.

## 500 cc classification

Source:
| 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: |||||||||

## 250 cc classification

Source:
| 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:
| 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.
| Pos. | Rider | Points |
| 1 | Max Biaggi | 25 |
| 2 | Tadayuki Okada | 20 |
| 3 | Noriyuki Haga | 16 |
| 4 | Àlex Crivillé | 13 |
| 5 | Kyoji Nanba | 11 |
| 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.