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fought race, Uncini beat Villa, but the press played it up as the ultimate form of selfishness on the part of Uncini. Young Franco had gone from Italy's favorite son to its biggest villain in the span of one summer. In 1978, Uncini rode for the Venezuelan Yamaha importer Venemotos, the team that rose to fame with Johnny Cecotto. The bikes were supposed to have direct factory support but didn't, and they proved unreli- able. Though he scored podi- ums in both the 250 and 350cc classes, good results were few and far between. Uncini was said to be withdrawn and dour. He spnt much of his time at the races alone, leaning on the team's transporter and hiding behind mirrored sunglasses. Uncini decided the only way for him to be happy was to race on his own team. He stepped up to the 500 class for the first time. His father bought him a custom Suzuki RG500 and, hap- py in the supportive atmosphere of his family team, Franco rode the wheels off his Suzuki: He scored eight top-10 finishes, in- cluding a podium at Yugoslavia. He finished the season ranked fifth, top privateer. Again the annual offer from Gallina Suzuki came, but the bid wasn't what Uncini thought he deserved– especially considering he was just fine racing for Team Uncini, thank you very much. So that's just what he did again in 1980, this time with even better results. Along the way, the fans' per- ception of Uncini slowly began to turn around. He was seen as the underdog taking on the big factory teams. In the paddock, Uncini also became a riders' representative, and his tolerant, polite and studied input began to produce positive changes with track safety. At the end of 1981, Roberto Gallina lost his World Champion Marco Lucchinelli to Honda. Gallina and Suzuki made a better offer to Uncini, and he finally accepted. The union proved perfect. After Roberts won the 1982 opener in Argentina, Uncini won in Austria. Roberts ran into Uncini in the paddock at Salz- burgring and joked: "That was really good, Franco. Now cut it out. How can I beat you if you go that fast?" "I don't know," Uncini smiled back. "I enjoyed it and may want to do it again." While rivals, Roberts and Un- cini became fast friends; Uncini called Roberts the greatest racer he ever knew. The two traded wins at nearly every round in the first half of the season before Freddie Spencer stepped in to stop the two-rider domination. Uncini was atop the victory podium at Silverstone when he was told that Roberts had crashed hard. Uncini rushed to the medical center, missing postrace functions, to check on his friend. When it was learned shortly afterward that Rob- erts would miss the rest of the season due to his hand injury, Uncini would accept no congrat- ulations, not while his friend was in such agony. Perhaps that is why the pad- dock was so grim after Uncini's horrifying crash at Assen while trying to defend his title in 1983. In an accident so vividly caught on tape, Uncini highsided out of a tight right-hander, and then, as he attempted to run off the track, he was hit by Wayne Gardner, who had nowhere else to go. The impact tore Uncini's hel- met from his head, and he laid motionless, face down on the pavement, as riders rode past. Uncini came close to dying that day at Assen. He resumed his racing career the next year, and it would go on for another three years, but even though he scored decent results, he never regained the form he had prior to the accident. Uncini hung up his leathers after the 1985 season. He left the sport a hero in Italy and beyond. CN This Archives edition is reprinted from the August 20, 2008, issue of Cycle News. CN has hundreds of past Archives editions in our files, too many destined to be ar- chives themselves. So, to prevent that from happening, in the future, we will be revisiting past Archives articles while still planning to keep fresh ones coming down the road. -Editor CN III ARCHIVES P130 Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives