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Winner Kenny Roberts is flanked by Barry Sheene (left) and Freddie Spencer (right) on the victory podium in Buenos Aires.
World
Cham~ionshi~ Road
Race Series: Round 1
Roberts by whisker in Argentina
King Kenny Roberts st arted the season off w ith a bang . He 's seeking hi s
fourth World Championship road racing t itle.
By Norrie Whyte
Photos by John Noble
BU EN O S AI RES, ARGENTINA, MAR. 28
What a star t to the 500cc G ran Prix season !
In the opening Argen tine rou nd, Yamahas
notched a decisive 1-2 with Kenny Roberts
pipping a revitalized Barry Sheene by half a
second .
And on a twisty track that
suited them, the new H o n da
two-strokes were in the hunt.
12
Fast Freddie Spencer was only half
a second dow n on Sheene in third
place.
Teammates Marco Lucchinelli and
Takazumi Katayama were CiCth and
sixth on the deep-throated Honda 3s.
It was a disappointing day Cor
Suzuki. Their best finisher was Franco
Uncini-Luchinelli 's replacement in
Roberto Gallina's Italian team-who
was fourth .
Randy Mamola Celt he could have
won. He charged through from a
poor start to dose on th e leaders
when mechanical grem lins sidelined
him.
And his new teammate Virginio
Ferrari, riding with a broken bone in
his wrist as the result of his U.S. practice prang, was never Car Crom the rear
and retired.
This really was one of the great
GPs of all time, mainly because noone was quite sure what the new
Honda 3s would do.
On circuits where o utright horse-
power isn 't the all-important factor ,
they 'll do OK on this first showing.
Though it wasn 't really noticed by
the 25,000 crowd around the 2.47mile Buen os Aires track, tension was
power-packed.
Four Japanese works tea ms. Less
than a second sp lit the first seven in
qualifying, Add the Honda excitement and the sunshine. Has there
ever been a better start to a G P season?
New Team Agostini member
Graeme Crosby led Cor the first lap.
Then Spencer got ahead. You could
tast e the "Will Spencer and Honda do
it?" in the pits area air.
With Crosby retiring on lap four
with on e cylinder broken, the leaders
formed into a quartet-Spencer,
Roberts and Sheene with World Champion Lucchinelli a lways at the rear as
Spencer found the pace.
Mamola was trying desperately hard
to overcome his terrible start. He
pulled up well through the traffic
and by halfway was up to fourth .
Soon after, the bike broke-the
gear selection went awry because the
footrest turned, he said-and Mamola
was out.
That left Ro bert s. Spencer and
