We went to Japan on Wednesday, October 20, which was the day after our last school of the 2004 season at Road Atlanta.  All in all everything went pretty smooth.  The flight was good, probably a bit longer than we all would have liked, but it was fine.  We got there and the people from the Suzuki Domestic Department led by Mr. Yoshihide Miyamoto and Ms. Tomomi Ito were there to greet us and help us get all our bags to Hamamatsu-City where the Suzuki factory is as well as Ryuyo, the Suzuki test track where we were doing the school.  We had two big bags each and getting through the Narita airport, down to the Narita Express train and into Tokyo station and then changing down trains there was quite an ordeal both going and coming back home but the people from Suzuki helped us a lot.  Likewise they did a great job organizing the school. 

Between Marnie’s work and the Japanese wanting to be as good as they possibly could be, the school came off really well.  Ryuyo is a little bit longer and probably not a real challenging track from a riding aspect but I think all the students had a really good time.  We were really lucky with the Japanese weather, a typhoon had just come through and the weather was really nice for the two days we had the school.   I actually wore shorts on both days which is not usual for that time of year.  A little cool in the mornings but really nice, a little bit windy the second day, but all in all the schools went well.  The KSSS program in Japan was accepted as good as it has been anywhere, whether it be Germany or France or even in the States.  In addition to the school program, they had also organized a fan party-talk show on Sunday evening at the Grand Hotel for about 300 people that included the 30 students, about 70 press and then invited guests.  Among the special invitees up on stage with me were Fujio Yoshimura and Mitsuo Ito, neither of whom I had seen in many years, we recalled old racing stories and laughed quite a bit.  For me it was a lot of fun, I enjoyed getting to see the factory, getting to go see the Grand Prix workshop, talk to some of the guys that worked at the factory when I was racing.  I didn’t think many of those guys were still alive but I guess I am not as old as I think I am!

Once again Suzuki Japan by no means had they surprised me, but I think everybody else involved with KSSS was pleasantly surprised at how well they were organized for it and how professional they were in their presentation, we even had Halloween decorations for the school.  It would be neat to be going back to Japan real soon, but it sounds like the Domestic Department being as small as it is and the Tokyo Motor Show happening next year we may only be going back to Japan every other year, but I guess that’s ok.  It would be fun to do more schools over there, but getting the test track there at Suzuki isn’t the easiest think in the world to do either.  Suzuki Japan organizing Satoshi Tsujimoto and Masaru Mizutani really helped the school.  Both those guys are quite famous in their own right.  Having them there benefited the school as well as the staff we took from the US, which was Lee (Acree), Ted (Cobb), and Brad (Coleman).  A tip of the hat to Suzuki Motor Corp for a great job.

After two rain delays, South Boston finally ran on Monday afternoon, 1 September – it was an ok race. They ended up having to take all the dirt out of it, which I think made it a lot easier for everybody to be, more competitive but at the same time it took a dirt section out that was real single file and there wasn’t any real passing in the dirt anyway.

All in all I think the event ran pretty well on Monday. I think everybody was pretty discouraged not getting to run on Saturday night and not getting to run on Sunday night. A lot of the competitors had gone home which I guess was a good thing for me because falling in the first turn at Laguna I’d probably have been lucky to get back to 20th but I managed to get back to 4th.

 

Road Race Start

The weekend of March 21-24 I was at Laguna Seca competing in a race,not a motorcycle race a bicycle race. I competed in a road bike race on Friday and a Mountain Bike race on Sunday.

The road bike race I rode Master 30+ 4/5 and the class had 100 riders. I finished 51st. The race was 57 miles long and it had some 2000 feet of climbing each of the three laps.It took me 3 hours and 9 minutes to complete the race, the winner did it in 2 hours and 43 minutes. My legs hurt worse than they have ever hurt before.

The Mountain Bike race was much more to my liking. I raced in Sport 35-39 on the MTB, the race was 18 miles long and took me an hour and twenty minutes to complete. The winner of my class was 7 minutes in front of me. I rode my Litespeed Ghisalo on the road and I rode a Maverick in the MTB race.

I loved them both and want to say thanks to Maverick,Litespeed, Rock Shox, Michelin, Lew Wheels, Campagnolo, Selle Italia, SRAM, RLX Polo Sport,Smith Sunglasses and Boyer Bikes. I don't think this is a career move for me but I sure had a good time.

 

 

Sorry everyone for the delay in getting this update in, but I have been very busy since Daytona. Bike week started off on Tuesday at the 1st round of GNCC racing in Okeechobee. I rode the industry race and finished fifth. I did get the holeshot and all in all it was a great time.

I'm not lyin'. Here's the hole shot!

Thursday I was in a AMA Pro-Racing Board meeting all day. It sure seemed like we covered alot of stuff and I am honored to be on that board. The Hondas were 1,2 & 3 for qualifying. Things then made a turn for the worse on Friday with Mladin crashing and eventually missing the race.

The 600 Supersport race was a win for Suzuki with Yates getting to the flag first. It was a tight group of 5 going to the line and Hacker ended up 4th by less than the width of a tire.

Saturday was the AMA Supercross,and what a show it was. Travis Pastrana was running a very close second behind RC when he decided to pull off and lay down. I guess he was sleepy. Travis was said to be suffering from dehydration, at least he is OK now.

Sunday in the 200 Gobert was at the front on both starts but the big red freight train was not long in catching up. Miguel's bike broke and Kurtis had tire problems. Gobert had to stop early for his first tire and the Suzuki guys stuck with it and had great pit stops. Hacking and Yates rode brilliant races and got the points that they could. I think this years championship is going to be a tough battle and we will see some great racing. Come see us at the races.

We had our second Kevin Schwantz Suzuki School on March 18 and it was very well attended. Make sure you come visit us at the school, it is great fun for all levels of riders.

I am in Monterey,CA competing in The Sea Otter Classic, a bicycle race of all things. I will have a update with photos coming soon.

Until next time.

Kevin