Cycle News

VOL. 52 ISSUE 45 NOVEMBER 10, 2015 P103 friendly to Roberts, KR found it hard to keep his anger burning. The controversial pass by the young Honda rider is one that the two participants still dispute to this day. Even after all these years Roberts looks back at the Swedish clash with as much hurt as a guy like Roberts can show. When asked by TV personality and fellow Hall of Famer Dave Despain if he was bitter about the pass Spencer put on him in Sweden, Roberts answered, "Yeah. I don't think you run guys off the racetrack. I never did it. I had mishaps as well, but I never intentionally ran someone off the racetrack and then win it. "Today that would have never happened," Rob- erts said, citing today's much tighter racing regula- tions when it comes to on-track confrontations. In other words Roberts feels Spencer's Swed- ish victory may have been taken away from him, or he might have been penalized for the final race and the championship would have ended very dif- ferently. But Roberts may not be correct. Based on today's FIM Penalty Points system Spencer, who was not a chronic offender, may have only been given a point or two penalty, maybe three at the most under today's standards, which would not have had any effect on the final race at Imola. And another thing—racing fans who watched the always aggressive Roberts race over the years probably choked on Roberts' assertion that he never forced another rider off the track. There's video evidence to the contrary. Don't believe it? Look up the YouTube video of the last lap of the 1982 Argentina 500cc Grand Prix where Roberts, while battling Barry Sheene for the win, punted lapped rider Antonio Grecco into the weeds. If nothing else, it would have been interesting to see fan reaction to the controversy had social media been around in those days. After the Swedish clash, the '83 series came down to the season finale at Imola. TV announc- ers called the tension in the atmosphere the high- est they'd ever felt before a race. The place was absolutely jammed packed with fans. Spencer had to finish second to win the championship. It was thought that Roberts' Yamaha teammate Eddie Lawson might have been able to come up and put himself between Roberts and Spencer, but in that final race Spencer was full in control. At the start of the season finale Spencer rocketed out to an early lead, while Roberts, who got a bad push start, was mired back in the field. Robert quickly passed his way to second and then chased down Spencer, who was ahead of him by five points in the championship. There was a big gap back to Marco Lucchinelli and Lawson, so no help was coming for Roberts. He knew even if he passed Spencer that wouldn't be enough. So for a few laps he parked behind Spencer, perhaps contemplating a retaliatory move as payback for Sweden. Instead Roberts made the pass and then seemingly tried to slow the pace to in an attempt to perhaps get some help from Lawson, who'd finally gotten around Lucchinelli for third. Roberts ran out of time. While Lawson closed on the leaders he was never close enough to make a move on Spen- cer. Spencer obliged by not making a passes on Roberts. He knew second was all he needed and he wasn't about to give Roberts a chance at a reprisal by passing him. Only once did Spen- cer let his pride get in the way when he made a move around the outside of Roberts at Curva Tosa. Roberts could have returned the Swedish favor by punting Spencer at some point when he came upon him, but didn't. "I don't want to win that way," he said. And so it was. Spencer took second, won the title by two points and had finally given Honda the championship coveted so much since Soichiro Honda declared it as a goal nearly 30 years before. CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives

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