Schwantz: Super Karts more fun than a bike!

500cc world champions Wayne Rainey, Eddie Lawson and Kevin Schwantz, along with three-time US Superbike champion Doug Chandler, spent Wednesday testing for the Superstars of Super Karts race, one of the support events at this July's US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca.

While Rainey and Lawson have raced Super Karts several times on the 2.238-mile, 11-turn road course in the hills outside Monterey, California, it was the first time Schwantz and Chandler had driven the high-performance karts anywhere.

"I've been trying to get these guys (Schwantz and Chandler) into a Super Kart for a while," said Rainey, a three-time world champion (1990-92) who lives in Monterey. "I think they were impressed."

"That was a lot more fun than riding a bike around here," admitted Schwantz, the 1993 world champion. "I didn't much care for this track on a bike, but these Super Karts are a kick to drive here. I was smiling the whole way around the track."

"People look at these Super Karts and think they are cute little toys, but they haul butt around here," according to Lawson, who should know: The four-time world champion (1984, '86, '88 and '89) set the Super Kart lap record at Laguna Seca in 2003 of 1 minute, 23.875 seconds.

That's an average speed of 100.864 mph and faster than the quickest ever two-wheel lap of the circuit, of 1min 24.833secs set by Ducati's Troy Bayliss during the 2002 World Superbike event.

Chandler, who won three US Superbike Championships (1990, '96 and '97) and competed in 54 GPs from 1991-94, also enjoyed his first taste of Super Karts.

"Driving a Super Kart around here is completely different than racing a motorcycle. These karts have so much more grip than a bike through the corners," he said. "It is going to take some getting used to, physically. But this is just a good opportunity for us (Rainey, Lawson, Schwantz and himself) to get together on the race track again."

The 250cc Super Kart machines feature semi-enclosed bodywork and rear wings and reach speeds of up to 140 mph at Laguna Seca.