VOLUME ISSUE APRIL , P119
Yeah, there's a lot of stuff that goes
on over there that you never hear
about! The thing about racing in Eu
-
rope is that they can cheat and then
make up some stupid rule to cover
themselves."
INTO THE FINAL
"When we rolled into Luxembourg
my points lead had been reduced to
about a five-point gap [over Vro-
mans]. All season long I had main-
tained a chart of the lap times of the
guys I was racing against at each
race and when they would fade. Af-
ter practice I knew I was faster, but
again, I just had to figure out a way
not to get killed by the locals. Our
only shot was to let Vromans lead
the race by up to 25 seconds and I
would stay back so no one would
feel the need to screw with me.
"The key to the strategy was to
wait until there were five laps to
go, and then I would put the ham
-
N
ot long after stepping off
the plane in San Francisco,
having just won the 500cc MX
World Championship, Cycle
News Editor Dale Brown chat-
ted with Lackey about winning
the title while it was still fresh.
Here are a few excerpts from
that interview.
How do you feel?
I don't know. It hasn't sunk
in yet. We left the race and flew
home, not getting any sleep.
We had a little party when
we got here, so we're a little
zombied out. It feels like I did
what I set out to do. I just feel
satisfied. That's the best word.
Luxembourg, if we remem-
ber correctly, was the site of
your first GP moto win? Did
that give you any extra confi-
dence going in?
For me, Luxembourg has
been a very emotional place.
It was where I won my first GP
moto in '75. But then in 1978, I
was still in the hunt with Heikki
Mikkola when I got knocked
off at the start there and had
to go to the hospital; the only
time in my life that I had to do
that.
Then in 1980 I had the
championship stolen from me
there in a first-turn incident.
Now, in '82, I win it all there.
I've had the good and the bad
there, so it's a funny place for
me. I like the track and I'm very
comfortable there, but I never
know what to expect.
From what we've heard the
reaction in Europe was not a
particularly pleasant one. It
was reported that you had to
stay behind Vromans in the
race to avoid being hit by flying
bottles and rocks from the
crowd. Is that true?
Right After
Hundreds of Lackey fans
greeted the new World
Champion at San Francisco
Airport when he returned home
from Luxembourg.
PHOTO: BILL SPENCER
Lackey had small points lead going into
the final round. Everything was on the
line that day—it was now or never.
