CN
III ARCHIVES
BY LARRY LAWRENCE
P116
I
t could never happen today.
Kevin Schwantz was all set
to begin his first season as a
full-time factory grand prix rider
in 1988. Then Suzuki called.
There was a little favor they
had to ask of him. Would Kevin
consider racing in the Daytona
200?
Schwantz had accomplished
a lot in a short amount of time
racing in America, but the one
thing he hadn't managed was a
win in the prestigious Daytona
200. He had a great chance to
win in 1987, but crashed in the
chicane, so he was eager to
get back and he'll freely admit
that Suzuki didn't have to twist
his arm.
Schwantz was actually
excited about the prospect of
racing Daytona one more time.
He was further bolstered by
the fact that he would be the
only leading contender on the
new 1988 Suzuki GSX-R750,
dressed in the livery of his GP
sponsor, Pepsi. The other Yo-
shimura Suzuki riders would be
on the previous year's machine.
"Once I got there, I felt like
we had such a great bike in '87,
that whatever was coming in
'88 must be better," Schwantz
recalls. "Well, big-bore, short
stroke, high revving, no torque,
it was horrible to race. The '87
was an easy five miles-per-hour
faster at the start-finish line.
After practice I was thinking,
'Oh my god, what have I gotten
myself into?'"
On top of that, a new, un-
developed racing motorcycle
wasn't the only thing Schwantz
had to worry about. A crash in
practice just about ended his
week.
"It had an electrical prob-
lem," Schwantz continued.
"And as I was going off into the
chicane it cut back to three
cylinders. It felt similar to what a
Unfinished Business
The headline says it all.
