2002 EC250 2T. My swingarm bolt appears to be locked in, is this normal?

[esskay]

I'm trying to remove my swingarm to swap in some fresh linkage bearings, but I'm stuck: the head of the swingarm bolt seems to be locked in by a "retainer" chunk of steel tack welded into the swingarm pivot tube. You can see what I'm talking about here; http://i.imgur.com/HkaCAB8.jpg

I assume this is factory work because there's residual plating on the chunk that matches the plating of the frame, but I could be wrong.

Am I not seeing something here? How do I remove this swingarm bolt?