The last time Kevin Schwantz rode in an AMA road race was in 1988, when he won the Daytona 200 for Suzuki. The last time he raced at Road America was 1987, when Yoshimura Suzuki’s Ben Spies was three years old. His last race on a 600cc machine, a Yamaha FJ600, was in 1985 at the CCS Race of Champions in Daytona.
That long absence from AMA road racing will end this weekend in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, when the 1993 500cc Grand Prix World Champion will race Chris “Opie” Caylor’s Team EMGO Taiwan Suzuki GSX-R600 Formula Xtreme racebike.
During a recent bicycle ride, Schwantz asked Caylor, an instructor at the Kevin Schwantz Suzuki School at Road Atlanta, what he planned to do, considering his wife was overdue to give birth to their first child and the Road America event was nearing. Caylor felt he would just have to miss the race, according to Schwantz.
“I told him I could ride his bike for him, so he could stay home with his wife during the birth. Or, I said I could stay home and help his wife while he went and raced. But I told him, I didn’t think his wife would like that idea very much,” joked Schwantz, who added Caylor thought he was joking when he made the offer.
Schwantz followed that conversation up with another telephone call to Caylor, to display his seriousness, and the deal was done. Caylor would stay home and support his wife as doctors induced labor (scheduled for Friday, June 3), and Schwantz would race Caylor’s bike at Road America.
“The main thing is getting Opie and his sponsors some exposure,” said Schwantz, during promoter practice Thursday at Road America. “I’m just planning on going out, getting up to speed and having fun. Wherever I end up is wherever I end up, as long as I have fun doing it.”
While Caylor races on Dunlops, Schwantz will ride on Michelins at Road America. He will also wear number 44 because 34 is taken and because, “I retired with the number 34 10 years ago, so I thought my number should go up. Luckily, it’s not my age,” said the 40-year-old.
Schwantz lapped in the 2:24-range Thursday, which would’ve put him on the third row of last year’s FX grid at Road America.
Miguel Duhamel’s 2004-race-winning pace was 2:18-2:19.
“I think it’s great,” said current AMA Formula Xtreme Championship leader Jake Zemke, when asked what he thought of Schwantz joining the field. “I’m gonna go hunt him down in practice, for sure. Maybe I can learn something. I raced with him in a couple of supermotos in the last couple of years, and he definitely knows how to gas it up.”
LE QUALIFICHE:
Kevin Schwantz qualified eighth fastest in his one-off appearance in the Lockhart-Phillips Formula Xtreme class while filling in for the expectant first-time father, and Kevin Schwantz Suzuki School instructor, Opie Caylor.
“I’m glad I’m not farther back than the second row,” Schwantz said after FX qualifying at Road America. “Opie Caylor’s EMGO Taiwan GSX-R600 is a pretty neat bike. I didn’t think it was going to be real fast, but got a draft behind Jake (Zemke) there those last couple of laps. I think in race trim it’s going to be a decent motorcycle.”
Schwantz qualified with a lap of 1:23.877, off the 1:20.097 run by pole-sitter Jake Zemke of American Honda.
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