Honda's Mick Doohan won the Spanish GP of Jerez on May 8, 1994. Doohan battled with Kevin Schwantz for most of the race but, in the end, he put Schwantz (who set pole) away and won by a half a second. American John Kocinski finished third. American Jimmy Filice subbed for an injured Kenny Roberts Junior in the 250 race. Filice couldn't do much with the Yamaha 250 at Jerez.

The 1994 Spanish GP of Jerez should be remembered not for Doohan's win, Schwantz's pole or Filice's misfire, but because it is where Aprilia debuted their 400cc V-twin GP bike in the 500 class, almost putting the RSV400, a bored-and-stroked Rotax disc-valve engine, on the front row.

During that era, Grand Prix had a weird love affair with "big 250s", and some people were tantalized by the idea that a bigger engine in a 250 chassis--using the lighter-weight rules for Twins-- might hold the answer to beating Honda. The Aprilia 400 (and later the NSR500V Honda twin) put forth breathtaking corner speeds, and if alone on a track, could lap nearly as fast (or in the case of the Honda, occasionally faster) as a full-blown V-four 500.

This intriguing possibility--going faster with a smaller bike--raises its head in racing about once ever 10-15 years, usually when all the sage designers and wrenches--who know that the ultimate key to going fast is all the power you can muster--have retired. The little twins were held up by the slower cornering speed of the ultra-fast 500s, and they did not have the steam to pass the fire-breathers on the straights. End of story, really.

American Eddie Lawson had been retired from GP for a year when the little Aprilia debuted, but he made his thoughts known about trying to win races against more powerful bikes using some little Franken-250. "You'll be pulling straw out of your ass for a week if you ever come off one of those mid-corner," Lawson was quoted as saying.