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Schwantz and Mackenzie on the Nurburgring box

A 500GP bike never fails to stop me in my tracks and that’s exactly what happened when I spotted this Schwantz example from the early nineties, proudly displayed on the Arai stand at the recent Motorcyclelive show.  On loan from Crescent Suzuki and accompanied by a rostrum publicity shot from the 1990 German GP at the Nurburgring, I felt the urge to write a few words on that special weekend. I started the year running my own 250 GP team with fairly standard TZ Yamahas but was drafted in as Kevin Schwantz’s team mate after Kevin Magee suffered a serious head injury at the second Grand Prix in Laguna Seca.  With no testing and some major Spanish food poisoning I finished 8th at the next round in Jerez then followed that up with a 5th place in Misano. Next up was the Nurburgring and after qualifying on the second row of the grid, my crew chief Geoff Crust informed me he had a premonition of a race day rostrum finish. He also told me I better make it come true as he was already looking forward to a few post race celebratory refreshments. While I hoped Crusty was the new mystic meg, the truth was I would have been more than happy to buy the beers if I made it to the flag inside the top five. I had an outside chance of catching one major scalp as Wayne Rainey was riding with a nasty hand injury but I suspected adrenalin would see him through the day. I also followed Mick Doohan a fair bit in practice but he was beginning to find his feet on the Rothmans Honda so was going to be another problem.  When the lights went out Schwantz and Rainey went straight to the front I while I hung in behind Doohan and Pier Francesco Chilli, and then it happened. Coming out of the bottom right hand hairpin, Doohan and Chilli simultaneously high sided in one of the most spectacular crashes of the season. I never liked seeing any fellow riders crash but I made the most of this early race gift and rode my 160bhp/115kg RGV hard to the flag, claiming my first podium of the season.  We partied hard (win or lose we always did) that night and I went on to have my best ever season finishing fourth overall in the championship. After the last round in Australia, I finished second to Kevin at Sugo in Japan then won in Malaysia at another international race that KS didn’t attend. I also tested at Eastern Creek for the following season but then was flicked from the team for reasons that still remain a mystery. Hey Ho!       

Motorcycle.com Weekly Community Round-up!

Here are a few things going on around the Motorcycle.com Forum Network: What the heck is this? HomerSaurus of the 1000RR.net forums had a bit of an accident on his Honda and wound up with this extra part leftover after rebuilding his bike. So what the heck is it?

2024 Suzuki GSX-S1000GX+ Review – First Ride

A tech-laden, long-legged addition to the K5 family Photography by: Ula Serra, Amylee Photography Suzuki has produced more than 180,000 of its K5 999 cc Inline Four cylinder engine in the last 18 years, and now we’re seeing that engine tasked with powering a tall sport touring bike that Suzuki calls the “supreme sport crossover," sitting between the sport-touring GSX-S1000GT that the GX is heavily based on, and adventure tourers like that of Suzuki’s V-Strom line. Leggy sport tourers, or crossovers, aren’t exactly a new thing, and since bikes like the Kawasaki Versys, Yamaha Tracer 9 GT, and BMW S 1000 XR exist, there is already some healthy competition for Hamamatsu to contend with. Suzuki tells us this is its most technologically advanced motorcycle yet, making the GSX-S1000GX a sort of flagship product for the brand.