Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

A lap of Daytona,. my way By Kevin Schw antz Yos himura Suzu ki 's Kevin Schwan tz started on th e p olejor th e 1987 Dayton a 200 ajter fast qualifier Fredd ie Spe ncer das hed and was [arced to miss th e ead and held it u ntiLthe 34th L oj ap race. Schwant z grabbed an 'im m ediate L th e 57~ Lap race, when he crashed in th e chicane. T eam H onda's Wayn e Ra in ey then cruised to an uncontested win in' the 16th run ning oj th e Dayton a 200. Schuian tz; however, wen t on to win Jive A MA /Came L Pro Series Na tio naLs in 1987, Jin ish in g second in the Su per bike Cham pions hi p to Ra in ey. Th e T exan . and his Yos himura Suzuki w iLL return to Daytona in . 1988 before beginning h is assauLt on the 500cc WorLd Cham pions hi p Series... Editor. L.A"! LLOYD At the start of th e race you don 't actually start on the race track, you start on the grid. which you don't run on after the first la p o f th e race. You go o u t of wha t is pit lane and head into turn o ne wh ich is u su ally first or second gear depending o n if there is any tra ffic or anything like that. T he first tu rn is really a cri tica l corner goi ng in because if you ma ke a mistak e th ere's no t much room on th e ou tside of the tra ck a nd you go onto the grass. T he firs t turn is ki nd of two left-b ander corners in o ne; after the first la p you have to go in off the banking, slow down an d the n ac tually tu rn th e bike. You don't start turning until way late in th e corner. 20 Coming o ut of turn o ne, you go through th e esses, which th ey ca ll turns two and th ree. That's seco nd gear, and you come o u t of th at and shift to third gear to go into the In terna ti on al H orsesho e (the Chunky H or sesh oeIor th e '88 Daytona 200), a right-hander. I go back to first ~ear for that corner. Corning o u t o f th ere you shift up to th ird and the n fourth before going through the dogleg to th e left. That corner is really important because if you don't get into the corner right you end up o u t too wide, a nd th en you're la te on th e brakes for th e righ thander; so this actua lly messes yo u up for two corners. You have to mak e sure you ge t th rough that corner in fourth gear, fairl y flat o ut. Then it 's back to seco nd gear for the turn five right-h ander. T ha t's a fairly simple corner. T he re's o ne apex and you just ride th rough it. Coming ou t it kind of tighten s up a little -bit a nd if you do n' t wa tch out you ca n ge t o ff the o u tside edge of the track right th ere. T hen it's u p to th ird gear and back to first gea r for the left-b ander th at takes you up on to th e banking. T hat's prob abl y th e mos t·important pl ace on th e track becau se it helps you carr y your top speed down th e ba ck strai gh taway. If you don't ge t a good drive o ff o f that o ne it 's fairl y har d to get th e speed o u t o f th e bike you need for the back straig ht. I As yo u a ccel erate a rou n d the banking, I stay up towards th e top lin e o n the track. There 's a few bumps aro u nd the banking tha t are fairly n oticable, so there are a few pl aces wh ere I start to pull th e bike down to get mor e rpms ou t of it. By this time you 've a lready shifted to top gear. I start braking for th e ch ica ne ) at abo u t th e " 2" mark er, but this cha nges eac h year because they change th e markers. The chica ne is really hard to make any time in , but you can lose a lot o f tim e th ere if you mak e a mistake . The thing is to JUSt get through the ch ica ne. If yo u get in right, coming o ut you can get a good dri ve to ge t ba ck up onto the banking. By the time you get to the front stra igh t - yo u 've sh ifted into sixth. gear. I do th e same type o f thing on th e banking the re; I stay up high , rig h t below th e to p line, a nd th en th ere's a co u p le of bi g bumps th at act ua lly make th e fa irin g dra g . Tha t' s wh en you start pulling th e bi ke down, a nd as you get closer tow ards going off th e banking yo u let the bike dri ft towards th e wall. T he n it 's across the start /fin ish lin e. You pull the bike down real low there, th a i way you 're in the best position to get set up ' for the first corner. Then you have to ge t a ll th e way back to fir st gea r to get th rough turn o ne. Going into one is probabl y the most difficult part o f Da ytona. It's the part th at tak es th e most time on the track , and th e most ex perience , to get used to. The rest of th e tra ck is rea IIy easy to learn. The first turn is not really th at important for lap tim es, but to go in there a nd ge t th at extra two or three tenths o f a seco nd tha t you need can mak e th e d ifference between winnin g th e race or fini sh ing seco nd or th ird. The first turn is a good pl ace to mak e time if you're racing with someone who doesn't have a lot o f experience th ere. The fir st turn is deceivin g because it look s like it tighten s up real fast, but it actuall y doesn't. It goe s in a lot fu rth er a nd you can ac tua lly dive down o nto th e in field a nd then start ge tti ng o n th e brak es. Wh en you just look a t it , you think you hav e to start brak in g a t the sta rt/ finish line. What yo u do is just co me o ff th e banking r eall y h ard a n d brake s tra igh t up , p o int i t ri ght o u t tow ards the edge of the track and th en turn arou nd and point it th e other direction. T ha t wa y you ca n just mak e o ne bi g corner o u t of it. If you brak e early, up on the bank- ' in g, you ca n ge t under some bo dy, but you don't get th e drive ou t o f th e corner. T hose two corners (the first th e in fi eld exi t and th e seco n d the ch ica ne ex it) comin g o nto the bankin g, how ever, are th e most im por tant. If you don 't get good dr ives th ere it do esn 't matter how fast you do th e rest of th e tra ck, your times won't be any good. If th e su spension works good through the infield, but coming up o n to th e bank it bobbles and wobbles, it do esn 't matter how . good you are through the infield. The big thing is making it work there and then makin!$ ad justm ents to help it through th e infield. . •

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