Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

u.s. trounces • G.B. In Transatlantic Trophy Match Races o 00 0') ...... ~ 0.. < By Chris Carter Photos by John Owens BRANDS HATCH, MALLORY PARK. OULTON PARK, ENGLAND, APR.4·5·6 Freddie Spencer, the talented teenager from Shreveport, LA, took the British road racing scene by storm at Easter as the Americans handed out a .72 point thrashing to the host nation in the 10th annual running of the Marlboro Transatlantic Trophy Match Races. With two wins at Brands Hatch, a second and a third at Mallory and runnerup spot to Kenny Roberts in the opening race at Oulton, Freddie looked like he might emerge as top scorer of the series as he led the second Oulton team clasb. But to prove "Fast Feddie" is human. 'after all, he slid off at Esso Bend on the futh lap when holding a lOO·yard lead. The British squad had their share of problems and all told 14 riders at one time or another were actually in the nine·rider·strong ,British lineup. But the simple fact of the matter is that the British had no one to consistently beat or even match Roberts. Spencer and Randy Mamola. Between them, this trio scored 242 of their team's final tally of 442 points, but they were ably supponed by the rest of the American crew who fared much, much better than the Britons in the reliability stakes. Britain managed to win the sixth leg to halt a near certain American "white· wash," but with the overall win the Americans have now narrowed the series score six wins to four in Britain's favor. Even before the racing had staned. though, the British were in trouble. The method of seeding some riders, like Barry Sheene, Miclr. Grant. Ron Haslam. Dave Potter and Graeme Crosby directly into the nine man squad, and leaving the rest to race at the season opener at Mallory Park on March S for the remaining four places was not well received in some quaners. But even when Graham Wood, John Newbold. Keith Huewen and Steve Manship had done the job the hard way the arguing was not over. Several riders, panicularly Newbold and Manship, were unhappy about the offers of stan money. Manship was offered a miserable 500 pounds sterling for the three meetings. but it was not until the press conference in London on the Tuesday before the meeting that matter came to a head. Manship withdrew from the team after being unable to persuade MCD supremo Chris Lowe to increase his offer. With the injury to Graham Wood at the weekend's Cadwell Park international race, that put the inexperienced Chris Guy and Alan Pacey into the British lineup. There was more bad news in store for the British fans. When Mid Grant arrived from his Honda factory-testing session in Japan he announced that he had broken a hone in his ankle when a mechanical fault on the NR500 had thrown him off the bike. In comparison things looked quite good for the Americans. Only Dale Singleton had any real injury problems, and repons that he had received a bad concussion and had broken his arm in a crash at Magny Cours. France the previous weekend had been misleading. The Georgia pig farmer had indeed unloaded in a bIg way when his Yama· ha seized but Dale had escaped with only bruises and a dislocated thumb. Branda HlI'tch Sensation of the Brands Hatch races was Freddie Spencer. The 2.61 mile Brands long circuit is not easy to learn. but even in Thursday's practice. Fast Freddie looked good. In Good Friday's race he was sensational. No one could live with him and the teenager made the rest of the field, which included such names as Kenny Roberts and Barry Sheene, looked decidedly substandard. Another man very keen to make an impression was Graeme Crosby. There had been mixed feelings whether this likeable Kiwi should have even been considered for the series. but British fans were glad he was in the first IS· lap battle. He finished second. S.2 seconds behind Spencer, but well clear of an entenaining scrap between Roberts andSheene. Barry led for much of the race, but it looked as though Kenny was playing to the 65.000·strong gallery. Sure enough. two laps from the flag. he went ahead and stayed there. John Newbold was futh over the line. pleased with the result in view of the fact that his 750cc Yamaha was without sixth Roberta ltopl posted top point total while Haslam labovel was second highest Briton.lBelowl Spencer after Qulton Park races. Overall points scored Brands Hatch British Team Barry Sheena Graeme Crosby Ron Haslem Dave Potter MickGrant Steve Parrish Stan Woods John Newbold ChriaGuy Keith Huewen Alan Pacey Roger Marshall 1 14 3 11 2 7 0 Qulton Park 2 16 0 9 82 15 4 6 10 14 5 3 0 15 5 70 78 81 61 442 13 15 4 10 6 2 3 13 12 0 12 14 7 1 9 12 0 13 0 4 40 0 7 14 11 12 5 0 1 8 8 6 4 10 7 5 10 58 5& 8 13 0 12 13 2 9 8 66 15 0 10 14 6 7 5 16 8 9 1 1 4 11 11 4 0 7 0 11 3 66 5& 64 1 16 Rnal Total 1 16 2 5 13 3 6 10 15 0 16 2 MaloryPark 70 U.S. Team Kenny Roberta Dave Aldana Skip Akslend Randy M.-nole Dale Singleton WesCooley Richard Schleeter Freddie Spencer John Long 9 11 14 8 2 15 3 12 16 6 1 0 0 8 92 17 67 74 34 23 34 7& 3& 30 52 9 15 13 9 56 10 59 10 21 370 13

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