Freddie Spencer is totally underrated when conversation turns to 'best of the best'. Rossi gets nominated because of longevity, Stoner gets mentioned because of sheer pace and natural ability, but Freddie Spencer was a perfect combination of both. A natural.
The 'dirt riding' referred to concerning the American riders, was what we call flat-track racing here in the U.S. The top class was contested on 750cc machines. So these guys learned to power slide extremely powerful motorcycles on bumpy, inconsistent dirt surfaces ringed by walls 'cushioned' with hay bales. On the typical one-mile oval track, cornering speeds were around 100 MPH. Mistakes led to devastating crashes, so the riders who survived and won in that form of racing were truly special. Led by Kenny Roberts, those were the American riders who revolutionized GP racing.
i remember watching lawson and spencer at sir in seattle riding those big pi superbikes lawson on a kawi and spencer on a honda wobbling in front of the stands right up against the cement wall.........they have had some great battles two of the best....
Spencer and Lawson were some of the first riders to pay attention to what they did off the track. Sleep, Diet, Exercise, Women. It gave them an edge over the others by giving them better focus and endurance.
Lawson would train his arse off to prepare himself for the racing, He would Run 20 miles and then Go straight to the gym for 2 hour's for a workout,no junk food or crappy stuff that would impare his performance on the bike,a icon of racing and life 👍😁
Freddie Spence had a strange career, was wining consistently all the way up to 1985, then dropped off so drastically, I know some injury was part of the cause, but something else also prevented him from ever being even close to where he was.
There were 7 months between the South African MotoGP event and the F1 race. The situation changed politically in that time, at least in the countries that were applying the sanctions. For example the EC imposed comprehensive sanctions on SA in the September of that year, i.e. after the MotoGP race but before F1 came to visit.
Haslam's problem, and in a way it wasn't a problem, was that he never rode outwith himself. It was why it took him 3 seasons to get on a V4, but also why he's in one piece to this day and rode past the sell by of most riders of his era.
Most European 500cc riders of that era walked normally and could play with their kids when they retired. The Yanks & Aussies smashed themselves off the tarmac to win World Championships.
Dunno if they just thought Ron would do his best work on the triple. The Americans rode off all that excess power with power slides. Look at Sarron & Mackenzie. Great talents who managed a single race win between them on the V4 bikes cos they rode them like they were 250's.
This was Much More Realistic than the useless Computer first than a so-called Rider second IMU garbage they have today, friggin anyone including the MacDonald's mascot can easily be the New world champion with of course the Total & Complete aid of the IMU Sensors. Swantz, Lawson , Roberts Senior are the very best ever unaided Riders the world will ever see. And forget goofy broke back rainy One of if not the Worst sore loser there ever was , Very glad goof overshot the braking point & Head first into the Back snapping gravel trap.
How can you disrespect Wayne Rainey? I was always rooting for Schwantz personally but Rainey was an awesome competitor & world champion. Your comment is terrible.
