Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Epic Battles: Spencer vs. Roberts, 1983 GP season

Between them, Fast Freddie and King Kenny won every race that year. In the penultimate round, in Sweden, Roberts led going into the second-to-final turn. He left his braking to the absolute last moment but Spencer still dove up the inside to pass. Spencer had intentionally carried too much speed into the turn and the two riders bumped as Spencer pushed them both onto the grass at high speed. Spencer won and Roberts is still angry about it to this day.



Watching this video clip (which sadly didn't have a camera angle on 'the pass') you can't blame Roberts for being angry. The Armco barriers were never far away at the gritty Anderstorp circuit. All Spencer had to do win Honda’s first 500cc world championship was finish right behind Roberts in the final race. Roberts won that one but Spencer took the title. Roberts then retired from competition and became a team manager.

No comments:

Post a Comment