[3] In qualifying Christian Sarron went down hard and was heaved roughly off the tarmac by track marshals, which brought complaints from riders that the race organization was unprofessional.

At the start, Wayne Rainey led, followed by Mick Doohan and Niall Mackenzie, while behind them two Cagiva riders collided and crashed: Ron Haslam and Randy Mamola.

Schwantz found his rhythm and caught the group of three chasing Rainey: Doohan, Mackenzie and Chili; a small gap to the fight for sixth between Ruggia and Sito Pons.

As the red flags finally come out the situation worsened, with people and rescuers crossing the track on the site of the shunt with the riders still going at good speed to pit.

While Milner and Criville were lifted by rescuers again with unprofessional methods, Reinhold Roth was airlifted in critical state with cerebral injuries and thoracic trauma.