Watched it yesterday.
I don't understand this pass. How was schwantz able to come out of there faster than rainey, after stomping on the brakes? Would love to see an overhead view.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4e7eeb8qb4
While working for the old version of CityBike, I interviewed both Rainey and Schwantz on separate occassions, and asked them both about that pass.
Rainey knew Schwantz was coming but thought he had a 50/50 shot at actually getting the pass done without running straight on. He intentionally gave him the room to try to make the pass. He did say it was a bit hairy when he saw how out of shape the RGV was.
Schwantz was surprised a bit when Rainey moved over and started braking as it was earlier than he'd done the rest of the race, but they'd been riding together so long at that point he felt like he could trust Rainey not to slam the door on him. He also knew that was his one shot at the win as he'd never get past Rainey once they got on to the infield sections. I'll be super gauche and quote my own article:
No incident more epitomizes their rivalry and mutual respect than one of Schwantz’s passes at Hockenheim. Running behind Rainey going into the corner, Schwantz was caught off guard when Rainey deviated from the pattern he had set in the previous laps and began braking early. Schwantz was forced to take evasive action, pulling quickly to the inside of Rainey before he could even begin to try and brake. The result was a spectacular pass with Schwantz sliding past into the lead, rear wheel waving in the air as the front end collapsed and skidded under the force of the sudden deceleration. “I trusted Wayne and he was the only guy I would have put myself in some of those situation with,” Schwantz said. “When I passed him at Hockenheim, if he hadn’t moved over to give me a bit of space, we both could have been laying in the dust. And when he gave me space, he gave me the race, and I think there was a bit of intimidation in the fact that he couldn’t believe Id even thought about trying. He was the only guy I felt 100% safe with.”
There was one other quote from Schwantz that night that really set both him and Rainey apart from everyone else as true sportsmen:
“I don’t think I would have been the rider that I was, and I don’t think he would have been the rider he was, without each other,” says Schwantz. “The reason I rode in 1994 was because I was world champion, not because I wanted to, and that’s because Wayne wasn’t there.”
