The first round of 1990 in Japan was drama packed from start to the finish. Wayne Gardner (Honda) was back with a bang, crash happy Suzuki star Kevin Schwantz was determined to remain glued to his saddle, Wayne Rainey made his debut appearance on the Marlboro Team Roberts YZR500 and Eddie Lawson was ready to fight off all-challengers to his title. The spectacular 250 race saw Latin genius Luca Cadalora in a titanic battle with John Kocinski while Carlos Cardus enhanced his reputation considerably. In the 125s the knees-and-elbows brigade went hard at it with a sparkling performance from Hans Spaan on his factory Honda. A cracking first round in what proved to be a cracking season.