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 Posté le: Sam Aoû 31, 2013 4:19 pm Sujet du message: 1wbpa5vv |
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On The Record: Freddie Spencer – Part 2 of 5 Inauspicious beginnings...
When I was 11 years old, I saw Kent Anderson in back of Cycle News on a Yamaha TA125. A few weeks later, I was at Ross Downs sitting on back Orient Express Racing of the truck when they announced over the loudspeaker they custom motorcycle helmets were going to have a road race at Green Valley, Saturday and Sunday. This was the Friday night dirt track,adjustable clutch lever, I was riding my 100 and my 125. I remembered that TA, it was a black and white photo, but it looked like a white bike with a black stripe or a red stripe, I couldn’t tell. But I’m thinking that’s cool. I’d seen On Any Sunday and been to the Astrodome since I could walk, and everything was about the Grand National Championship. But that TA125 just looked cool to me. There was something about it. At intermission I told my dad, I want to do that roadrace at Green Valley. “What you gon bar end mirror na ride?”Leon Schoenberger,motorcycle brake levers, the local Yamaha dealer, was pitted next to us, and opened up the shop the next morning at 5 am. The only thing I could fit on was an RD100, and the class was 0-250cc. I couldn’t touch the ground, but my feet could reach the footpegs. That’s good enough for me, and they listened to me, which, think about that for a moment. I was 11, and all these adults listened to me. We took the bike out there, we showed up and signed up. They looked at Dad and said “okay,” and he said, “no, him”—pointing at me. They’d never had a kid want to roadrace. PeeWee Gleason was the next youngest, I think he was about 20.Of course, I finished dead last, but after that I knew that’s what I wanted t brake clutch levers o do. I just felt like I could do it. I met Kent Anderson in ’84 on a Friday night at the German Grand Prix. He walked motorcycle stands up to me, I was World Champion at the time. We were having this big thing at the new Nurburgring circuit, Niki Lauda was there, all these people were there, and he walks up to me and says, “Freddie, I’m Kent Anderson.” I said, “Of course, Mr. Anderson. When I was 11 years old I saw you in Cycle News.” I knew the years he’d won championsh adjustable handle ips better than he did.Anyway, racing equipment next spring the local Yamaha dealership was able to get a TA125. I took it to Daytona and almost won my first amateur race at 12. The only way I could reach the clutch was to take my hand off the grip. The rule was, you were supposed to be 16. I was 16 for three years in a row.There was a Freddie Spencer Day in Shreveport as of 1983. Maybe there still is? Two grandmothers, mother, sister, brother, uncle and friends welcome the champ home.Tomorrow: Freddie talks about his favorite bike, the NSR500.View custom helmets full-size images in photo gallery:Studio side view of the Yamaha TA125'>There was a Freddie Spencer Day in Shreveport as of 1983. Maybe there still is? Two grandmothers, mother, sister, brother, uncle and friends welcome the champ home.'> --> |
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