Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126827
~ ~ ..J W Z < 0 > < a: > al '" 0 to :I: a.. U) 00 Q") ...... ~ c::> G(") S >..- '" Q ::l i:' I--) ~ World Champion Eddie Lawson won the Yugoslavian Grand Prix. (Below . left) Mamola (2) leads Haslam (5 ). de Radigues (9). Katayama. Spencer and Lawson. (Below. right) Katayama just before he crashed in front of Spencer (4 ) and Lawson (1 ). Spencer later hurt his knee trying to pass Mamola. World Championship Road Racing Series: Round 6 . Lawson takes Yugoslavian GP By Pe ter Clifford RIJEKA, YUGOSLAVIA, J UNE 16 After winning the 250cc race earlier in the day Freddie Sp en cer collapsed from his machine a t the end of the 500cc race and was rushed to the medical center with badly-torn 6 muscles in his right leg , after fini shing second to Eddie Law- I so n , Spencer had hit th e knee on a trackside haybale as he went 10 p a ss Ron H aslam o n th e third lap. H e fought ago n izin g pain 10 fin ish seco nd a hea d o f Wa yne Gard ne r a n d hang o nto hi s cham p ionshi p lead. In hea t-wa ve co nditions both La wson and Spencer suffered tire p roblem s bu t Lawson' was a ble 10 keep th e Marlboro Yamaha a hea d a fter taking th e lead on th e fourth lap from Randy Mam o la. " I had no real p robl ems," said Lawson. "We made some cha nges 10 the bike a fter pra cti ce an d it wa s bett er in th e race so I went fa ster an d even if Spe ncer hadn 't hurt himself I think it wou ld have been a good race. I ca ugh t up a n d was just getting rea dy togo a ro und him wh en he hit th e bal e. T he next laps were m y fastest of th e ra ce a n d he was still ch argin g th en , but I gues s hi s leg didn 't sta rt hurting until lat er. "T he bike a n d th e tires worked real good, th e front wa s great a nd th e back was a wh ol e lot bett er th an la st yea r a lt hough it did sta rt to slide aro u nd a bit. It was co ntrolla ble, th ough , and you co u ld j us t gas it up, leav e a bl ack strea k o n th e tra ck an d go forwa rd, j us t like dirt trackin '." Spe ncer had ice packs pl aced on th e muscl e immed iat el y after th e race a n d flew home from Europe 10 see h is' specia lis t an d ge t treatment in the 10da y break before pra cti ce sta rts for th e Dutch 'IT.. " I have had th e sa me injury pl ayin g basketball, " he said, "Th en I wasn 't a llowed to move th e leg for I0 days. Ba sketball would be . out of th e question for a month but I think I can rid e a bike at Assen . " After I hit th e bal e I co uld no t move around on th e bik e using my legs so I had 10 push m yself arou nd using m y back muscles," said Spencer. " After a bo ut 10 laps of that I started 10 get muscle spasms in my back and th en I had to ease off. " . Yet aga in Ron Haslam on the