Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

The return of Fas-t Freddie Spencer By Michael Scott Photos by Malcolm Bryan and Scott Arguably the world's most naturally talented rider, Freddie Spencer is also a natural enigma. Double World Champion in 1985, he then virtually disappeared, nursing an arcane and to some, implausible wrist injury. ' . b k Now h e s cOlI\lng ac, reborn and recharged. When Spencer pulled out of the opening GP of 1986, having already failed to show up at Daytona, he did more than abort his defense of his 500cc World Championship crown. ' He also robbed the 500cc class of its king. . Racing didn't really know how to react. Always rather hard to understand, Spencer had become very re-' mote in his double-championship season of 1985. What had happened now? It was certainly a crisis point 'in a shining career that led from minibikes at the age of six to the first of three World Championship titles at 21. In 1986, the Spencer Express ran right off the rails. By year-end, however, Spencer had turned a corner. He' had undergone what he said was successful surgery that was brought about by tendinitis and a median nerve that he says was f'!ur or five times too large an~ when hlS tendons swelled up an~ pmc~ed that nerve they cut off the clrculaUon to his hand. He had been out on a race bike and tests had gone well. Spencer was feeling,very positive and aggressi ve ... Freddie's train was rolling again. . Or was this just another smoke screen? We had to go to Shreveport, Louisiana, to find out. ' We hadn't known what to expect when we finally got there. There was even a lingering fear that perhaps Freddie wouldn'tturn up. He'd done, worse to Honda before today. It had certainly taken protracted negotiation with his intermediates ta arrange the interview. While apparently eager to put the record straight, he had also asked for a list of questions in advance, and further that his full answers should be' printed in question-and-answer format. When we arrived at his designerdecorated towl1 hO\lse, we were courteously met by Freddie Revived, in a talkative and even jaunty·mood. He hustled us straight into his new Fer- rarCMondial, and we went for a 95 mph spin around the new upper class suburbs of Shreveport, and then he began to talk - about his disappointments, his difficulties, and the strength of his new hopes. . Inevitably, we departed from the script (and inevitably we were forced to condense his answers), as he spoke with unprecedented frankness. But he told it all in a positive turn of voice, speaking as a man who had broken .. mental as well as physical barriers, and whose urge to win has returned as strongly as ever it's been. Freddie's early test sessions at Willow Springs and Daytona had gone well, and he had been to Surfers' Para-. dise in -i\ustralia and Suzuka in Japan for further successful tests of the '87 bike. The Lions of 1986-Lawson, Gardner, Mamolaetal, be warned. Freddie Spencer is coming back hungry. Freddie, your return to racing is certainly exciting news. Can you tell us how it feJt to get back on a racing bike. At Wiliow Springs, I sure was apprehensive, because I wanted to come back, and of course didn't want the wrist problem to recur. But I was also confident that we'd be allowed the proper amount of time. , I rode a superbike, and it (wrist) was a little tight in the beginning, but it really loosened up well, and it was fine. The more I rode, the better it got. There' was never a confidence problem. Racing is second nature - it's like walking. I never am really concerned about my talent. That's Godgiven. And it's something I've developed. From the time I was six years old, I'd ride two or three hours every day. Every single day. Day in, day out: cold, rain, sleet - no matter what. I did that until I was 13 or 14. There's no teHing how many thousands of miles or laps. It was only the wrist - would a lot of questions abou't the injury, and how long I stayed away - but it was either give it the time, or my racing career was most likely over. And my career is more important to me than taking the chance. I've ridden wi th broken bones - in Spain and Silverstone in 1985, and I've CUI a plaster cast off to race, back in the States. Something like that, w'hen you can tape it up and still ride ....., I've dealt. with the pain. But when it's a nerve or a circulation problem .... it's like if your leg goes to sleep, no matter how bad you want to get upand walk, you have to waft for it to wake back up. When you rode the '86 GP bike, were you able to discover any faults as revealed by Wayne Gardner, and any cures for them? Pretty much the same problems that we've always had. I didn't have any less of a problem in 1985 when I won the World Championship. . . . The Honda has a problem the way it was designed with a single crank -mainly flywheel inertia. The Yamaha with the twin-cylinder crankshafts is thinner; the mass - the inertia is more· in the middle. The Yamaha steers'better, and that's'that. It's more forgiving. The way that you deal with it is - that you have to overcome it. If not, you don't win. You can complain about it all !lay long, but th~ only way you can solve that problem is by making handling changes or whatever. Of course, I'd prefer it to be easier to steer. Hopefully this next year it will be. Bu't you have to work with the factory, and you have to work with what you have. Would you like Honda to make a twin-erank engine? , Well, I think there's ways of geuing around it; ways they can stay with their .basic design - I really can't get into that. You'd have to shorten and lighten the crank. . Or you have to counteract the inertia ... equal it out in some way. [Freddie was reluctant to be drawn, but some details have emerged since of the '87 Honda. It is very different, with 'carburetors now between the vee, and one pair of pipes running rearward through. the seat, as' with the ramaha. Current speculation centers on either a twin-crank design; or a widened vee" perhaps lfiith some sort of contra-rotating device to counteract the crankshaft effects. J Talking of Gardener at the start of 1986, you told me the powerband was "too soft," and Gardner felt it was "too savage." Can you explain this contradie.tion? I think a lot of the difference is in . riding style. It depends on how hard you turn the throttle. If your 'corner speed is not up, you have to run the throttle a lot faster. Anything that weighs 256 pounds with 150 horsepower is going to be savage. That's simple to understand. You have to compensate - either by corner' speed, or engi ne speed, or how fast you turn the throttle, and by different engine combinations. It depends what you like. Is there any 'residual weakness with your wrist? Would you tell us if.here were? I can only tell you exactly what the doctors tell me. I have to be ,very careful, I have to keep the strength up in my forearm and my wrist, in case the tendinitis might flare up. . After surgery, I was told that if it didn't heal properly, I might never race again. There is always that chance that it will come back to haunt me. An I can do is prepare for it the best I can, by strengthening that hand. How would you describe your relations with HRC at the moment? Really good. I'll be just HR<;::-sponsored this fear. They're looking forward to getting everything ready to test, and to coming back and winning the World Championship. They want to win that very much. How do you feel about cigarette or "unhealthy" sponsors? . I think that any swnsorship is good for the sport. There is money that is required to organize and to run a team. It's very important for' the professionalism, from the marketingand PR standpoint that there is that organization. It's st,rictly a business, so ... I would like'to see a more'diversifi~ group of companies involved because of the advertising limitations put on· cigarette sponsors. l think that in a lot of countries this will get more severe. Personally, Idon'tsmoke. Of course I'd prefer - and I don't mean this in any way putting down the cigarette companies or anybody that smokes - to represent what I believe in. Soft drinks, 0.£ whatever. Most of the other' GP riders have. plenty to say about you. What are your feelings towards,them? Anyti~eyou~re on top; anytime,you're the guy to beat, everybody's gonna be gunning for you. Tnat's just the way it is. I was brought up in a Southern Baptist environment where if you . didn't have any~hing good to say about somebody, not to say abything . 'at all. I've always wanted to remain the same person, no matter how successful I was' to become. And that's pretty much how it's been. I view Freddie. as Freddie. . At 'the races, I'm private - I've always been shy,- but I'm also doing my-job. Racing is my profession. I'm proba61y not that much of an enthusiast because I've been doing it since I

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