Throwback Thursday: 1995 Australian 125cc Grand Prix
Larry Lawrence | April 13, 2017
Photo by Henny Ray Abrams
Traditionally the 125 Grand Prix class was nearly always the most closely contested of the Grand Prix classes and this picture from the 1995 Australian Grand Prix at Eastern Creek Raceway lends an illustration of the competitiveness. The Henny Ray Abrams photo shows Akira Saito (No. 14 Docshop Racing Honda) leading with Haruchika Aoki (No. 12 Blumex Rheos Racing Honda) coming up around the outside, while Gianluigi Scalvini (No. 17 Team IPA Aprilia) tries to find an inside angle.
Also giving close chase are Tomoko Igata (No. 21 F.C.C. Technical Sports Honda), Loek Bodelier (No. 15 L.B. Racing Team Aprilia), Manfred Geissler (No. 23 Marlboro-Eckl Aprilia), Hideyuki Nakajyo (No. 9 Jha Racing Honda), Ken Miyasaka (No. 37 Jha Racing Honda) and Jorge MartÃnez (No. 6 Team Aspar-Cepsa Yamaha).
Aoki took the lead and pulled away to a dominant 15.6 second victory over Kazuto Sakata and Tomomi Manako to make it a Japanese rider sweep of the opening round podium.
Aoki went on to equally dominate the 125cc GP Championship that season, winning the title by a massive 84 points. Haruchika, the youngest of the famous Aoki racing family of three brothers, would go on to win the title again in 1996.
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