Cycle News

Cycle News 2015 Issue 38 September 22

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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CN III ARCHIVES BY LARRY LAWRENCE W hat if I told you that America assembled 1980s motorcycle racing's version of the Dream Team that included Kenny Roberts, Ed- die Lawson, Randy Mamola, Wes Cooley, David Aldana and Mike Baldwin? And then what if I told you that very Dream Team went to England and got beat by an underdog British squad? You might not believe it, but that's exactly what happened in the 1983 Transatlantic Match Races. The Brit squad featured just two big-name riders in Barry Sheene and Ron Haslam. The rest of the Brit- ish squad (Roger Marshall, Graham Wood, Keith Huewen and Mark Salle) was a mix of veteran and young riders mostly unknown outside of British motorcycle racing circles. That spring of 1983 Britain pulled off what was certainly the biggest upset in the history of the Match Races. Getting beat by the Brits was not unusual in the history of the Match Races. In fact, coming into the 1983 event the Brits held an 8-4 record in the history of the series, which began in 1971. It was for that reason that the Americans decided to get their act together and build an unbeatable squad. Roberts and Lawson would race their Daytona 200 specials, the Yamaha OW-69, essentially Ya- maha's GP machine punched out to 680cc. It was a lethal weapon in the hands of Roberts and Lawson on the high banks of Daytona, but on the scratcher circuits of Britain, often in the wet, riding the big OW was like trying to control a raging bull through the narrow aisles of a china shop. Still Roberts was confident America had the team for the job. He told the British media: "We'll smoke them, No problem." The Match Races were held that year on three dif- ferent circuits—Oulton Park, Snetterton and Brands Hatch. Besides being unfamiliar with the tracks, sev- eral of the American riders were racing on machines they were unfamiliar with. Cooley was racing a Kawa- saki KZ1000-based Formula One machine he'd only ridden once. Aldana was racing a borrowed and worn out Roberto Pietri Suzuki RG500 that was nowhere near competitive. Baldwin raced a Honda RS500 he too was not that familiar with. But regardless of the machines and unfamiliar tracks, this was the U.S. Dream Team and surely this largely unheralded British squad couldn't beat these guys. But they did. And while it's true the Americans wouldn't have had any luck at all had it not been for bad luck, the Brits stepped up and packed the midfield numbers. Under instructions from team captain Barry Sheene, the Brits raced like a team. "I just told my team that they shouldn't try to become heroes since this is a team and that's what we did," said British captain Sheene. The British team went out and packed the scores and made few mistakes. During all six rac- es the Brits only suffered two DNFs and that was among riders running at the back of the pack. But the real hero of the British squad was Haslam. After finishing second to America's top scorer Randy Mamola in the two opening rounds at Oulton Park, factory Honda rider Haslam, racing a works NS500, dominated the next four rain-plagued races—two at Snetterton on Sunday and two at Brands Hatch on a holiday Monday. DREAM TEAM UPSET P134 The scrappy British Match Race squad that took down the American Dream Team in '83. HENNY RAY ABRAMS PHOTO

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