Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

(Top) Lackey (6) and Graham Noyce holeshot the first moto . (Above) Lackey passed Vromans on the last lap of the first moto. two seconds behind a t th e fin ish, su fferi ng a peculiar problem. " My rear tire went away . T here were about 100 kn o bs on it, but at th e end of the race th ere were o n ly a bo u t 30 left," he sa id. "I couldn' t go into a corn er as hard as I'd ha ve li ked and h e was faster than me." Hudson moved his Yama ha int o fou rt h ahead of P icco , wi th Spence fifth, Semics sixth and Eddie Sterckx sevent h . 'Lac key's lead was up to six p oints arid he went ba ck to his rnotorhome, p ut on some o ld-fashioned rock a nd ro ll, and relaxed. H e was su rr ounded by a group of about 30 friends a nd relatives from th e U.S., many of whom were wearin g T-sh i rt s th at re a d, " Good as G ol d." . Whe n Lackey ca m e out fo r the fina l moto of the 1982 seaso n he was wearin g a special p a ir of gold Mo toX Fox ra ci ng pants wi th the sa me three wor ds across th e bac k: " G ood as Go ld." j\ lmost as soon as th e seco nd moto start ed th e World C ham p ionship wa s finished. Vromans got the hol eshot, ' but as he led th e field through the first lap he started up the 30 degree hill which wa s bypassed o n the o pen ing lap. When he rea lizedhis mi sta ke and joined the field he was do wn in 17th p lace with " Carla " first foll owed by Pi cco , La ckey, Thorpe, H u dso n and Semics. " O n th e first lap th e World Ch a mpi o n shi p was gone. My on ly ch a nce was to wi n th e moto and hope he somehow failed," said Vromans. " Bu t I m ad e a m istake. It was m y fault. I went up the hill on th e fir st lap whe n I shouldn ' t have." With Carlqv ist repla ying hi s o verall win of 1981 th e foc u s once agai n sh ifted beh ind him . Pi cco was ga ining fan s wi th sh owboa t wheelies a t every chance. La ckey was rig h t behind him, but we ll aware of th e n umbers a nd content to keep the bike on two wheels. Thor pe d ropped out of the seco nd mota wi th mecha n ica l ills, m uch like his first moto. Spence moved up to fo u rt h with H udson fifth a nd a t th e h a lfwav mark ma ns had cha rged to sixth, passing Se m ics along the wa y. As th e minutes tic ked aw a y so d id Vrorna ris' ho pe a nd he backed off as Semics slid by. " H e was slo win g down when he saw tha t he co u ld n ' t win ,"said Sernics, Semics was n ' t slo wing do wn a nd co nt in ued o n up 10 fifth fo r a six th ove ra ll and seve nt h in hi s Iirst yea r on the Wo rld Ch ampionship tra il. " I can't rea lly say that I' m ha p p y wi th the season, " th e Ca rl sbad, Ca li forn ia , resid ent sa id . " Every track is so differ ent a n d so me g uys are fast o n o ne track, but not th e o the rs. I try t~ be a lways in there o n every track. I'd "ro- (Top) Hakan Carlqvist won the last 600cc MXGP of 1982. (Above) Lackey was engulfed by his fans after the second moto was over . , like to race the GPs agai n n ext yea r if I can put a program togethe r." Semics' riding earned him a ride o n last year's works bike and at Ettelbruck he also had the services of H eikki Pent ill a, Andre Malherbe's mechanic. Carla and Picco crossed the fin ish line just before pandemoniu m broke loose. Lackey crossed with o ne arm and his front wheel in the air. H e , didn't get 30 feet past the li ne befo re .he was engulfed by fans and lifted on their shoulders. " 1 was only sure I had the title when I saw the chec kered flag. My nerves were good, that was no problem. If th ere was bad luck it wou ld be with the machine. But I have to thank Srig Peterson. My bike went 24 motos without a p roblem and that 's a m azin g. Since the re were' no bike probl em s it wa s u p to me to do it, th ere wa s no o ne else. There ar e so many peo pl e to th ank. Srig, my wife, Mr. Di Pr ete from the AMA-who ca me over for th e last two rac es to serve o n the j ury, Steve Stafi eski , m y dad , Dick Lei tner, I just ca n ' t th ank them a ll enough. It's been worth it." After he crossed th e fin ish line the fir st thi ng tha t Vromans did was congratu late teammat e Lackey. And co ngratulati ng him a lso was Ca rl qvis t. " Lackey is the World Cha m pion. H e is th e best th is year, " sa id Carl- q vist , About h is own perform a nce he said, .'Whe n I get a good start I can ride li ke this . T his is my ki n d of track. I won h ere last year. I mi ssed six races a n d fin ish ed eig hth. Just , thin k ifI h adn't h urt my wri st." Standing aside and absor bi n g a ll of the g randeu r was Lackey 's wife , L ori , a nd da ughter, Leah. Lori came over with " Bad Brad " in 1971. "I only got to some o f the races ,th is year beca use I had to take care of the children , bu t it's been worth it . Whatever he wants to do is fine with me . He's done this for so long that he should take advantage of it ," said Lori. "I'd like to ride the Trans-USA if I can get the support from Suzuki, bu t I wo n't do it unless its 100 percent," said Lackey. " When yo u 're World .Ch a rnp io n and you've given 100 percen t there's no reason to expect anything less." • Results FIRST MOTO ; 1. Hakan Carlqv ist (Yam); 2. Br ad Lackey (Suz); 3, Andre Vromans (Suz); 4 . Niel Hudson (Yam); 5, Franco Picco (Yam); 6, Laurence Spence (Mia); 7. Gary Sem ics (Hon); 8. Eddie Sterckx; 9. Jukka Sintonen (Yam); 10 , Henk Sep penwoolde (Hon) . SECOND MOTO ; 1 Carlq vist ; 2 Picco ; 3. Lackey ; 4. Spence ; 5. Sem ics ; 6. Vromans; 7, M iche l Heutz (Yam); 8. Werner Sieg le (M ai); 9. Bo Edberg (Hus); 10, Gera rd Rond (KTM) . OVERALL : 1. Carlqv ist ; 2. Lackey; 3. Picco ; 4 . Vromans; 5. Semics. UNOFFIC IAL 500cc WO RLD CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL STAND INGS ; 1. Lackey (228); 2. Vromans (2 17 ); 3. Hudson (259); 4 . Noyce (148); 5. Ma lherbe (121 ); 6 . Thorpe (1 .7); 7. Sem ics (89); 8. Carlqvist (81) , 17

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