INTERVIEW I KEVIN SCHWANTZ
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place in Austin meant the Frenchman
would all but be assured of the title at
the time.
Would Quartararo be a deserving
champion in Schwantz's eyes?
"I think he's earned it. I think he de-
serves it," he said. "In the first year he
was fast and we were like, 'Wow, that
was amazing!' Then last year he was
like, boom, boom, boom at the start of
the season, but then couldn't finish in the points.
I thought, 'Wow, how did that happen?' Then this
year, that eighth place at Aragon has been one
of his worst races all season.
"It used to be you had to be top three every
weekend. But this sport has gotten so competi-
tive that I think if you can keep yourself within
the top five, or occasionally, top 10 every week-
end, and avoid those races where you DNF to
a minimum, you'll be in contention to win [the
But first, the Texan, now 57, gave his
opinion on Fabio Quartararo, who was
on the cusp of clinching his first Mo-
toGP Championship. Back in his day,
Schwantz regularly fronted up to the
might of Honda and Yamaha even if the
capabilities of his Suzuki RGV500 were
some way off those of his rivals. Some
of his most memorable victories—think
of that epic four-way slug at Suzuka
at the start of 1991 or the late-braking duel with
Wayne Rainey at Hockenheim the same year—
came when his bike wasn't necessarily the fast-
est one.
And while Yamaha's 2021 M1 is undoubtedly
a fine motorcycle in the right hands, there has
been something reminiscent of Schwantz in how
Quartararo has single-handedly taken the fight to
a hoard of Ducatis and, occasionally, Joan Mir's
Suzuki. An intelligent, mature ride to second
Schwantz
presents a
special 46 Arai
Corsair-X to
good friend
Valentino Rossi.
It's probably
the first Arai the
lifetime AGV
rider Rossi has
ever had!
