MOTORCYCLES / U.S. GRAND PRIX : Italy’s Cadalora Right at Home in Winning Title

Luca Cadalora of Italy ended the American domination of the U.S. Motorcycle Grand Prix with an easy victory at Laguna Seca Raceway on Sunday, but in a way it had all the trappings of a hometown victory.

Cadalora rides a Yamaha for Marlboro Team Roberts, owned and managed by Kenny Roberts, who has a home in Carmel Valley, and coached by Wayne Rainey, a three-time world champion who lives in the hills above Monterey, overlooking the track.

“It felt like I won a home Grand Prix,” Cadalora said after finishing 7.8 seconds ahead of defending champion John Kocinski of Little Rock, Ark., and almost 25 seconds ahead of world champion Mick Doohan of Australia. A crowd estimated at 28,000 sat in on round 12 of the 14-race world championship series.

Before Cadalora’s victory, U.S. riders had won all five USGP events at Laguna Seca.

Once Cadalora took the lead from pole-sitter Doohan on the second turn of lap 8, he was never challenged for the remainder of the 33-lap, 73-mile race. He averaged 90.974 m.p.h.

“There was not much I could do,” Kocinski said. “I could feel my toes dragging the ground and I was leaning over so far that my elbows were touching the curb, but it didn’t do any good. I knew I was at my limit and couldn’t gain on Luca, so I decided to finish as high as I could.”

Both Kocinski and Doohan complained of tire slippage caused by a surprisingly warm track.

It was Cadalora’s third 500cc GP victory and his second at Laguna Seca, where he won the 250cc race in 1991. The third-place finish was Doohan’s worst since the opening race in Australia, where he was also third.

From lap 10, when Kocinski passed Doohan for second, there was not a lead change among the first six riders for the remainder of the race.

Shinichi Itoh of Japan was fourth on a Honda and Doug Chandler, who lives a few miles away in Salinas, was fifth on a Cagiva in a photo finish. Only .005 separated Itoh and Chandler. Japanese teen-ager Norifumi Abe, Cadalora’s teammate, was sixth.

Kocinski’s finish moved him 20 points closer to the injured Kevin Schwantz for second place in the world standings behind Doohan. Schwantz, who suffered a dislocated left hip in a fall during practice Saturday, did not start and announced that he will also sit out the season’s final two races in Argentina and Spain. He has 169 points to 140 for Kocinski. Cadalora is fourth with 139.

The follow-the-leader 500cc race was in sharp contrast with the 250cc, in which there were seven crashes and numerous passes among the leaders before Doriano Romboni of Italy powered his Honda across the finish line ahead of fast-closing Massimiliano Biaggi, an Aprilia rider also from Italy.

Takeshi Tsujimura of Japan won the 125cc race on a Honda.

Grand Prix Notes

Kenny Roberts Jr. completed a 250cc race for the first time this season, finishing eighth after qualifying 13th. Roberts sat out the first 10 races after suffering a broken arm in preseason practice and he crashed in his only other start, two weeks ago in the Czech Republic GP.

Wayne Rainey, who became Roberts Jr.’s team manager after a crash last year left Rainey paralyzed from the chest down, was given a lap of honor before the races. Laguna Seca officials also announced that turn nine would be known as “Rainey Corner.” Rainey, who lives in the Monterey hills overlooking the track, won three USGPs at Laguna Seca.