Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

o 00 0') ~ By Ray H i I I - . : - - - - - - - - - - - - - - . . - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Six months ago, if you asked any knbwledgeable f'e.TSon who the fas.test road racer in the world was, the answer was almost sure 10 be Kenny Roberts. If his trquipment is working, nobody can race with him, they UJOuld say. Sure, there was this Freddie Spencer kid down south, WERA National Champion in four classes at the age of 15, AMA Novice road racing champion at 16, and AMA Lightweight Expert road racing champion last year at 17. Yeah, there was no doubt that this kid had potential. He might even beat Kenny someday. Then came Daytona, 1980. To the surprise of no one, Kenny Roberts sat on the pole. To the surprise of many, the n'der next to him on the starting grid was 18-year old Freddie Spencer. What might have happened between King Kenny and Fast Freddie at theirfirst meeting on a race track will never be known. ods we all know, Kenny had to pull out. And Freddie went on to lead both segments ofthe rain·interupted event, so far ahead that nobody else was in the race . with ht·m..untll his bike broke. Okay, the kid was fast. Faster than a lot of people thought. He might give Kenny . a good run, someday. A few weeks later the annual Trans-Atlantic Match Race Sen'es rolled around. Freddie Spencer, l8·years·old, never. on a European track before, never infact, out of Ihis country before, flew to England, and with his awesome talent and Ero Kanemoto's TZ750, rocked the world's road-racingfratemity. . . Someday was here. Going into Oulton Park for the last two races of Ihe six-race series, Freddie was tied with Kenny Roberts for the highest score. Both had two firsts, a second, and a third. In Ihe first race at Ouhon, Kenny passed Freddie on the last lap to take the win by less than a bike length. In the second race at Oulton, and the last race of the series, Freddie was about six laps into the race, and in Jhe lead, when the suspension bottomed in a fast bumpy left handel', the fairing scraped the pavement, the rear wheelufted, and Freddie and motorcycle parted company. Who is this mild·spoken poute young man, who seemingly overnight leaped into the road· racing sjl(llu'ght at the highest possible levels of competitioft' How ditl em l8·year·old who Iras never n'dden a motorcycle 0": the street beat the best pawmerat scratchers in the world' In an effort to find· out, 1 spem much of an AMA Loudora race weekmd wrth Freddie. 1 had never talked to Freddie before. But 1 had raced against him in a 4l0cc WERA Production race at Charlotte a few years ago. 1 remember it well. I led the pack through the first few turns and then Freddie passed me like I -.s backing up. That was the last 1 saw of him'" until now. As 1 walked toward the Honda pits early Fridayaftemoora, the sounds and smeUs .of racing filled the air. Bikes were on the track practicing. Riders were standing around in leathers talking, looking, sweaty and uncomfortable under the Iaot afternoon sun, while their mechanics, sweaty and uncomfortable, tried to make things work. Fr-eddU was stcmding by one of the Honda suptxm trucks, t4lking with his ddd. He had taken six laps ofpractice that morning on his superbike to scu.f{ in the tires emd make sure It was running okay. He had long since taken off his leaThers. 1 stuck out my hand, introduced myself, an.d began learning the story of Fast Freddie. t all started back on December 20, 1961. That was the day that Frederick Burdette Spencer, Jr. w~s born to Fred and June Spencer of Shreveport, Louisiana. Yamaha mini-bike. I had the first one in Shrevepon," he says. When Freddie was nine he started racing a 100, and at 10 he began' racing a 125. He raced l00's and I25's until he was 12. Then he staned running a 250. At 15 he picked up a factory sponsorship and rode a Bultaco 560. Freddie's riding time -on a ,!,otorcycle wasn't limited to the racetrack. "We have two acres of land here at the house," he says. "From the time I was about six until I was 15, I used to ride every day after school. That's where 1 used to practice a lot of my dirt tracking. My dad used to, well, not really make me, but tell me to go out there and ride. And I wanted to improve my riding." Up until he was 15, most of Freddie's dirt tracking had been on short tracks. But that wam't the only form of racing he had done. Oh no. At I Freddie's very first memories are of racing. When Freddie ' d d d F dd" was born, h IS a an ~e Ie s . older brother were racmg go- 6 karts. Shortly thereafter' they began racing motorcycles. "That's how I got into racing," Freddie says. "I would go to the races with them, and I had one of these little . plastic push· motorcycles that I would ride around on." When Freddie was six. he graduated to a Briggs and Stratton mini-bike. "I started riding that around, and they said, why shoot, why don't we let him race it?" ("Shoot" is Freddie's strongest expletive. Freddie neither swears, dnnks, ~rsm~kes.) Freddie did not devastate the competion with his Briggs and Stratton. He lost. But the B & S wasn't exactly your top·of·the·line, din tracker. A few minor items, such as suspension, handling, and power were I!,oticeablyabsent. Freddie's dad decided after that to at least give him a little better machine. So he bought a Honda MiniTrail 50. And Fast Freddie's racing career was underway. He raced the Mini· Trail 50 until he was eight. "Then Yamaha came out with the Mini-Enduro 60, the first the elderly age of 11 he entered a IOOcc Yamaha twin in a local club race at the 'Grttn Valley Raceway in Dallas, Texas. "It was in the 250cc Production class, and I got last," he says, with a smile. "I was a little uncompetitive. I was trying to shon track it a little bit. you know··which I think all dirt trackers have a tendency to do their first time out," In his characteristically modest manner. Freddie neglects to mention that he was also spotting the competition 150cc's.. kind of like trying to race a 500cc thumper against a GS 1000. Unfortunately for the other racers, that last· place finish on uncompetitive machinery was not a forerun~r of things to come. A couple of races later' Freddie's parents bought him a Yamaha TAI25. He entered the 125 GP class, and won. "I was pretty successful after tltat,"

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