Kevin Schwantz Finally Arrives

KEVIN SCHWANTZ FINALLY ARRIVES

DAYTONA'88

DAVID EDWARDS

KEVIN SCHWANTZ HAS NEVER HAD A PROBLEM DOMInating big races. Domination, though, is a lot different from victory, as the 23-year-old Texan knows only too well.

DAYTONA 1987

With fast-qualifier Freddie Spencer sidelined after a practice crash, Schwantz has the race well in hand. Then, in a questionable move, he tries to drive around the outside of a lapped rider, only to be levered into a haybale when that rider blows the corner. Goodbye victory champagne, hello mangled hand. Schwantz' detractors cluck: "Great rider. Just doesn't know when to cool it."

LAGUNA SECA 1987

Again, Schwantz is out front and pulling away. On this day, he and his Yoshimura GSX-R are clearly the fastest combo on the track. Suzuki officials have already booked a banquet hall and are passing out victory party invitations. But then. Good Luck, which should have been giving Schwantz a warm pat on the back, instead delivers a knuckle sandwich. Entering the circuit’s slowest corner, Schwantz inexplicably drops the motorcycle. He tries to rejoin the race, but his bike’s shift mechanism has been pranged into uselessness. With the race lost and the Superbike series championship slipping from his grasp, all that is left for Schwantz to do is curl up in a fetal position trackside and ask himself, “Why?”

DAYTONA 1988

A new Kevin Schwantz tugged on his leathers this year prior to the first practice session on Daytona International Speedway’s high-banked, 3.56-mile roadrace circuit. Exercise and an emphasis on good nutrition had honed his already-slender body. He had recently inked a high-dollar deal to ride Suzuki’s new two-stroke GP bike in the world championships. With major sponsorship from Pepsi-Cola, including a planned worldwide TV commercial a la Michael Jackson, Schwantz is on the brink of superstardom. Insiders say that Schwantz is now riding more with his head than with his ego. A win at Daytona would be a great way to start the season.

One can only imagine, then, what must have been going through his mind when he crashed during the first day of practice. “I just came into the Chicane too hard, caught the edge of the grass and got spit over the high side,” he offered as explanation. As Yoshimura mechanics prepped a backup bike, Schwantz tried to downplay his injuries—a bruised right foot and a swollen left wrist. “I don’t really use the part of my foot that’s sore while riding,” he said, not mentioning his rapidly swelling wrist. Teammate Scott Gray put into words what Schwantz had to be thinking. “Kevin's real lucky,” he said. “If he had hurt his other wrist—his throttle wrist—Daytona 1988 would be history for him.”

Schwantz got back on-track during timed qualifying, posting the best lap time of the week, a half-second quicker than second-fastest qualifier Bubba Shobert—although the Honda rider had given the Yosh team a shock by lapping quicker than Schwantz in the first qualifying session. Stickier, soft-compound tires had to be mounted on Schwantz’ GSX-R before it could better Shobert’s time, and that was done with only a few minutes remaining in the second and last timed session.

In a race as long as the 200-miler, having the pole is a psychological advantage more than a strategic one, but for the Yoshimura Suzuki team, pride was at stake. For months the Southern California-based team had been toiling non-stop over its racebikes. Yoshimura Vice President Suehiro Watanabe, a man of well-chosen words, allowed that his team had been “very busy since November.” Schwantz was the only Yoshimura rider mounted on a 1988-model GSX-R750 Superbike, and for it to be beaten in qualifying by the three-year-old Honda of Shobert would have been a severe blow to the team’s self-esteem.

With qualifying taken care of, Schwantz’ next hurdle was his 50-mile heat race. For five heart-stopping laps he battled Yosh teammates Gray and Doug Polen, along with a very hard-riding Mike Baldwin, who was wringing every last mph out of a privately owned Honda VFR. Polen and Schwantz finally pulled away as Gray slowed and Baldwin crashed, and the two jousted for another five laps before Schwantz was able to pull ahead for the win.

Afterwards, Schwantz talked of his plans for the 200. “I’ll go out and try to set the pace. Hopefully, I’ll be out in front with a big lead, but it will probably be a lot closer. I'm prepared for a 200-mile race: If it comes down to racing for the win on the last lap, that’s what we’ll do.”

As it turned out, last-lap heroics weren't called for. The anticipated Suzuki-Honda duel evaporated when Shobert’s engine died on the warm-up lap. Shobert rejoined the race almost a lap down and, despite putting in a thrilling ride, wouldn't be a concern for Schwantz.

Still, Schwantz had an opportunity early on to display his newfound riding maturity. Because of heavy rains Saturday and gray skies Sunday, the race schedule was abbreviated. The Camel Challenge, which normally pits the top three riders from each heat race against one another in a five-lap sprint for $10,000, was incorporated within the first five laps of the 200 instead of being a separate event. On the fourth lap, Polen was in the lead, and Schwantz didn't press, allowing his teammate to take the money rather than risk a crash. “Winning the 200 was the most important thing to me," he said later.

The rest of the race was relatively uneventful for Schwantz. Dispatching lapped riders more quickly than Polen and with tidier pit stops, he was safely in the lead before the race was half over. On this day he would make no errors, there would be no crashes to ponder, no questions to ask. no tears to shed. When the checkered flag fell.

Schwantz had lapped every rider on the track save Polen.

And rarely has there been a more joyous victory lap in motorcycle racing. As if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders, Schwantz stood on the footpegs and flailed his arms, and for a while it looked like he was going to stop and shake hands with every spectator in attendance. And why not? They had witnessed something special. Kevin Schwantz had finally won a big race. There will be others in his career, no doubt, but Daytona 1988 will always be remembered as the first.

DAYTONA 200 RESULTS

1. Kevin Schwantz (Suzuki) 2. Doug Polen (Suzuki) 3. Bubba Shobert (Honda) 4. Scott Gray (Suzuki) 5. Reuben McMurter (Yamaha) 6. Mike Harth (Suzuki) 7. Dale Quarterly (Suzuki) 8. Randy Renfrow (Suzuki) 9. Scott Russell (Suzuki) 10. Jeff Farmer (Yamaha)