Kevin
Schwantz was often called the most spectacular rider to ever
race in Motorcycle Grand Prix and with 25 Premier Class wins
and 21 lap records was one of the most successful. When
Schwantz made a passing move the world held its breath. He
only raced one way to win!
The Texan
won the 500cc World Championship on a Suzuki in 1193 and
retired from professional racing in 1995. When Schwantz
retired, his signature racing number '34' was retired from
future GP use, the only time in history this honour has been
bestowed.
New
Zealanders have had a long wait to see Schwantz ride,
although many fans followed his career through the coverage
of the motorcycle GPs on New Zealand television. Following
the appearance of previous guests - World Champions Geoff
Duke, Umberto Masetti, John Surtees and Giacomo Agostini -
Kevin Schwantz will be the 2009 Classic Motorcycle
Festival's Guest of Honour. But unlike the other Champions,
he will actually race a classic 1962 500cc Norton Max in the
feature races.
The
Festival is known internationally as one of the best classic
motorcycle events in the world with a long list of the
rarest bikes and the most famous riders attending the event
which has been run at Pukekohe continuously since 1980. Up
to 350 bikes compete in over 40 races.
The
Festival will also feature the famous Konig motorcycle owned
and demonstrated by Australian Rod Tingate who was New
Zealander Kim Newcombe's friend and mechanic. The Konig,
never seen before in New Zealand, was designed and built in
Germany by Newcombe using a four cylinder, two stroke motor
originally developed for racing hydroplanes.
Kim
Newcombe led the 1973 500cc World Championship on the Konig
before his tragic death in an accident during a
non-championship event in the UK. He still finished runner
up in the 500cc World Championship.
From the
UK, former Norton team rider Dave Croxford will demonstrate
a 1975 Norton Cosworth 750cc racer, owned by American
collector Jamie Waters. This rare machine was designed to
compete against the super powerful two-stroke race bikes of
the period by using all the technolgoy of the incredibly
successful Ford-Cosworth Formula One DFV car engine but came
at a time when the British bike industry was falling apart
and remains one of the history's "what ifs?".
The Classic
Festival will also feature a huge display of classic road
motorcycles, a demonstration of the Britten V1000 and on
Sunday a flying display by Garth Hogan's World War 11
warbird P40 Kittyhawk.
The Classic
Festival is held at the Pukekohe Park Racing Circuit in
Auckland on February 7th & 8th, 2009.
