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(Above) Wayne Gardner (1) leads Sheene and .John Cronshaw (25) In their epic battle In the first race on Saturday. Gardner won the first race, In his first motorcycle race In 10 years. (Below) Gardner and Sheene do a lap of honor for the large crowd. (Above) Bany Sheene was the man of the meeting. Not long after being diagnosed with cancer, Sheene made the trek from his home In Australia and came away the winner at Goodwood. (RIght) Freddie Spencer (right) discusses the action with Wayne Gardner (left). Spencer rode an MY Agusta. With his ex-model wife Stephanie in attendance at Goodwood, Sheene had the support of his family in his adventure, which was duly recognized by the event's organizer, 47-year-old Lord March. In his spare time in between organizing the two annual Goodwood Historic events, the Revival Meeting in September and July's Festival of Speed hillclimb up the drive of his 18th-century stately home, which this year attracted 115,000 spectators over three days, Lord March is an active Ducati road rider who's president of the MCA Britain's motorcycle industry association - so is well placed to appreciate Sheene's feat. "It seems to me there's nobody loved by the fans as much as Barry on two wheels or four. You can see that somehow, he makes a difference to people's lives. He's full of fun, gracious and at the same time the ultimate professional. There's a whole world of people wishing him well, and having him at Goodwood allowed many of them to express that personally." Another focus for the fans was 40year-old Freddie Spencer, also racing for the first time since ending his 500cc GP career in the last millennium. Spencer rode a genuine historic period racer rather than the replicas competing at the front of the field an ex-works 1957 four-cylinder 500cc MV Agusta previously raced by former car and bike World Champion John Surtees, and put at his disposal by current owner Peter Jones, who rode the bike himself on Sunday's race after Spencer was forced to fly home early owing to a playground injury suffered by his young daughter. But in Saturday's race, the former 250cc and double 500cc World Champion had thrilled the crowds with a concert performance by the musical MV with its four megaphone exhausts, in a spirited battle halfway down the order with former sidecar ace and chassis constructor Colin Seeley (Seeley-Matchless) and BMW executive Karl-Heinz Kalbfell - the man responsible for building the new Rolls-Royce car factory being constructed in the Goodwood estate less than a mile from the circuit. Kalbfell was riding one of the prized twowheeled exhibits from the German firm's factory museum, the ex-Walter Zeller RS54 Rennsport boxer twin. "I had so much fun, even if I was scared stiff of damaging the bike'" Spencer said after his ride. "I have so much respect for the history and tradition of motorcycling, and it was an honor to race such a famous motorcycle. The only time I rode anything as old as this before was back in 1984, when I demonstrated Mike Hailwood's 500cc Honda four at Donington - that made a nice sound, too! But this is a fantastic occasion, and it's great to be here and taking part in it." Joining Fast Freddie as the first American to take part in the Goodwood Revival Meeting, which in its five years of operation has seen the two bike events come to be regarded as one of the star attractions among the dozen or so car races, was Los Angeles-based Mitch Boehm, editor of Motorcyclist magazine and a previous winner of the Daytona Formula 750 historic event. Boehm rode a genuine 1961 Matchless G50 which he'd been loaned, finishing 11th out of the 30 starters. Among the array of more than a dozen Manx Nortons, a quartet of the much rarer Matchless G50s, the trio of Aermacchi push rod singles, and historic highlights like the MV Agusta, BMW boxer-twin and four-cylinder Benelli joining them on the grid, was a Latin rarity brought to Goodwood by Finland's Pentti Elo, a fast but fragile 1968 Unto 500 twin with which Elo - a pilot with Finnair - currently dominates Scandinavian historic racing. But the Unto developed engine problems in Friday's qualifying, which were only resolved when Pentti persuaded a fellow pilot to fly in spare parts on that evening's flight cue •• from Helsinki. Starting from the back of the grid in Saturday's race, Elo carved his way through to the top 10, before falling back again to coast over the line at the finish just behind Boehm's Matchless, with a dead engine caused by ignition problems. In Sunday's race, Pentti finished seventh after a race-long battle with former GP star Chas Mortimer, whose 1962 Manx Norton - a bike which Sheene won the race on two years ago, before he switched to a faster modern replica - the great-sounding Unto got the better of on the last lap. It was just reward for a weekend of constant endeavor. But, as the last of the pack of revived Rockers, whose Ace Cafe selection of polished-up cafe racers had helped provide a period background to glorious Goodwood, kickstarted their British singles to ride off into the sunset, the question in everyone's minds was whether they'd seen Barry's last victory. Hundreds of thousands of race fans around the world will be joining those at Goodwood who witnessed a true superhero in action in willing him onward to beat his illness. eN n e _ S • OCTOBER 2, 2002 31