Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1542340
I I rand Prix racinS's Solden age was driYen by a massive flowering of talent, especially Irom America and Australia. AmazinSly, it was often iust Donington Park in 1991, SchwanE finally claimed pole by .021 of a second. lt might as well have Lreen a year, the way he crowed "No sleep for Rainey tonight." Simon Tonge, Schwantz's chief mechanic at Suzuki at the tifie. recalls the importance: "lf Kevin wasn't on pole, he was already strugglinS. He wasn't as psychologically strong as Wayne. He couldn't figure or-rt he had a chance ofwinnin8 if he hadn't beaten him in practice." Kevin won that race by less than wvo tenths of a second. The pair arrived in Grand Prix racin8 together in 1988, both winning mces rn their first season, Within two years, they were the standard-bearers in the fastest of company - Eddie Lawson, Wayne Gardner, Randy Mamola and, eventually, also l4ack Doohan- For the two career rivals, it was often a5 not a two-man race. ln some wap, GPs saw the best of it. Surprisingly, this was tame, compared with what had gone before. The Schwantz And Rainey show had started when they met on track in 1986. as rivals in the AMA Superbike Series. And peaked with extraordinary ferocity in 1987. Rainey embodied eflort and aPplication as wellas talent (plenty ofeach, you under- stand). Raised on minibike rrack around L.A., he'd come through dirt trackinS to a Kawasaki superbike ride, winning the 1983 AMA S'rperbike ritle. He ran 250cc GPs in 1984, and by 1986 was back on superbikes in the AMA Series, the former chamPion from Texas, mom and dad in tow in the biggest motorhome in the paddock, and the hot new Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R750 in the pit. He'd started out in trials and motocross, until (as his father,.lim, told me) "he got tired of cleaning off the mud " His road-racing progress had been meteonc, and almost as soon as he arrived in the Superbike class, he was Pushing for wins. Or - a hallmark of his career - falling off Rainey had been forewarned. "l'd first seen him in'85, going through an ess-bend real sideways on a 250, and I thought 'that 8uy's 8ot some talent.' I knew it was something most riders didn't 8et Through 1986, the new Suzuki was unreliable and Schwantz's record highly erratic, but his speed was awe-insPirinS. background music. At the front of the stage, from 1989 until 1993, was the "Schwane And Rainey Show." It was a rivalr/ made in America Or hell. Two superlative riders at the peak of their abilities, on wild and wayward 500cc two-strokes. Two contrasting styles _ Texas cowboy Kevin Schwanu, all arms and elbows and natural talent on lhe skittering Suzuki; Wayne Rainey, the dogged perfec- tioni5t, driven by hard work and dedication on the steadfast Yamaha- and each obsessed with the other. , Every sinde was bitterly practice session contested. At t 1A Arnerican Honda on the a late-season I ffi Kevin Schwan? vs. woyne Roiney l-\ I .- It f -: E\ rl where it qll stortedr On A A Superbikes ond in the Tronsollonli( Alolch Roces in Englond. Woyne nqiney (6) vs. Kevin Sthwontr (34) wsr the show thcrt evcryone.wqnled lo see ond rhe poir provided PlcnrY of firuwor*s olong tho wEy - ord, ultimoEly, four World Cho4pionrhipr. r I L /. F ) t $ I I \ E $\ rh l. ( $, b. No two men have gone at each other harder than Kevin Schwantz aid Wayne RaineY BY ftlrcHAEr Scorr PHoros BY GorD & GoosE 24 FEBRUARY i 5, 2006 CYCLE NEWS