1993♕ 500cc World Champion Kevin Schwantz recently visited Japan to💟 take part in an official test for the 2014 Suzuka 8-Hours.

Schwantz, who came out of retirement to finish third at Suzuka last year riding for Team Kagayama, is part of t♉his year's Yoshimura Suzuki Legend Team and wil🎃l ride alongside his 1986 Suzuka 8-Hour partner Satoshi Tsujimoto and Suzuki MotoGP test rider Nobuatsu Aoki.

The Texan visited Suzuki headquarters in Hamamatsu prior to the test and was met by Representative Direct💟or and Executive Vice President, Yasuhito Harayama, plus Suzuki MotoGP R&D staff at Suzuki Plaza adj🧸oining the main office, where Schwantz talked about his enthusiasm for the upcoming event at the end of this month.

"In the Suzuka 8-Hour race in 1986, I finished third with Tsujimoto," said Schwantz. "I remember that he and 🎐I managed fairly similar lap-times, and as we were both ඣfast, we were good enough to win. But so many things happen in a long race like Suzuka and it didn't quite happen. Now it is good to be back together again after 28 years.

"I always think, whenever I race, my aim is to win. After practice and testing I'll have a better idea about the race. You always know there will be changing conditions during the race, which is why we will be keeping an open-mind. But we are still hoping for the🐼 best and aiming for the win.

"The preparations that I've made for this race are the same as last year; motocross and mountain bike riding. Last year I did three or four 600 races in Texas, but for this year I did an AMA Su༒perbike test in Austin.

"Fitness is the 👍most important thing to maintain a good pace in a long race. You need to ride more consistently from start to finish and maintain optimum strength and stamina. Although diet is important, I do now tend to eat what I want to, when I want to.

"At present I don't have any strategy for the race. First I have to develop a plan for my 24 to 25 laps. The team str🐠ategy will be sorted after testing, when we have more information about the machine, such as fuel consumption and tyre wear.

"The key 💮points for success at Suzuka are to be f🐻ast, consistent and to make no mistakes, and myself, Nobu and Satoshi will aim to do those things.

"As a team, the pit stops are the easiest places to lose time and I know that Team Kagayama𒁃 is superior in its pit stop str𒆙ategy and performance.

"I expect a good test on the track next week and of course the objective of an🌃y race is to win!" he added prior to the Suzuka test.