8. KEVIN SCHWANTZ
1993 World Champ Revvin’ Kevin Schwantz, out of Texas, USA. One of the finest ever riders of a 500cc two-stroke Grand Prix motorcycle
Getting my first GP rides was 100% because of Barry,” says Kevin Schwantz. A rider who had so much natural talent that he probably would’ve made it to the very top anyway, but it was Suzuki man Barry Sheene that got him his first Grand Prix rides, which were the first step towards the American winning the 1993 500cc World Championship, with Suzuki.
It all started at the annual UK versus USA Match Races at Donington Park in Easter 1986, when Schwantz dazzled aboard a borrowed Suzuki GSX-R750. Sheene knew this 21-year-old had something special, so he got him a ride on Suzuki’s ancient, outdated RG500 at three GPs. Schwantz finished tenth at Spa and Misano, had a few outings on the factory’s brand-new RGV500 in 1987 and became a full-time GP rider the following year, winning 25 GPs and one world title over the next seven seasons.
“In March ’86 Steve McLaughlin [winner of the first Daytona Superbike race in 1976 and creator of the World Superbike Championship in 1988] comes up to me at Daytona and says, ‘Hey, do you wanna go do the Match Races?’. I was like, ‘Are you f••king kidding?!’. He says, ‘I talked to Suzuki and they aren’t interested but I can get you a bike that’ll be good’. I was like, Caption words inn her for sure Caption words inn her for sure Caption words inn her for sure ‘Sure!’. I didn’t ask any more – Whose race bike is it? Has it been winning any races? – not one more question. ‘Sure I’ll go, as long as it’s a Suzuki’.
“So I went over to the UK and the bike was a GSX-R750 that belonged to Tony Rutter, Michael’s dad. Europe and the rest of the world got GSX-R’s in ’85 but the US didn’t get them until ’86, so the first time I’d raced one was at Daytona that March. Tony had spent 1985 developing the thing and racing it at the TT [ Rutter’s career ended in July 1985 when he crashed a GSX-R during the Montjuic round of the TT F1 World Championship].
“We never had great conditions that year at Donington, there was rain, there was snow, there was sleet, all kinds of stuff, so the bike was just fast enough and it was a dream to ride.
“As the weekend progressed Barry started talking to me, then a little bit more and a little bit more. After all the races were done he said, ‘Hey do you have to get back to the US for anything?’. After Daytona the next AMA race was two months later, so I said, ‘No, I real
