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| Freddie Spencer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.jpg) Spencer atLaguna Seca Raceway in 1985 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1961-12-20)December 20, 1961 (age 63) Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Frederick Burdette Spencer (born December 20, 1961), is anAmerican former professional motorcycleroad racer. He competed in theFIMGrand Prix motorcycle racing world championships between 1980 and 1993, most prominently as a member of theHonda factory racing team where he was a three-timeworld champion.[1] NicknamedFast Freddie, Spencer is regarded as one of the most accomplished motorcycle racers of the early 1980s.[2]
Spencer was born inShreveport, Louisiana. He was a racing prodigy who began racing at the age of four, competing indirt track events near his hometown of Shreveport.[1] After winning the 1978 250cc U.S. National Novice Class Road Racing Championship for first year professionals, Spencer was contracted to ride for theAmerican Honda racing team in theAMA Superbike Championship.[1] He gave Honda their first-ever super bike victory when he won theRoad America round of the 1980 AMA Superbike Championship.[1]
Spencer gained international prominence at the1980 U.S. versus BritainTransatlantic Trophy match races when he won two legs atBrands Hatch, defeating World ChampionsKenny Roberts andBarry Sheene in the process.[1] Spencer went on to finish third in the 1980 Superbike championships and second to Eddie Lawson in 1981.[1] In1981, he split his time between theAMA Superbike series, and the EuropeanGrand Prix circuit, helping Honda develop the exotic, oval-pistonedNR500four-stroke Grand Prix bike.[1]
By1982, Spencer had been promoted full-time to Honda'sGrand Prix team, who by then had given up on theNR500 and developed theNS500 three cylinder,two-stroke. In1983, Spencer won his first500cc World Championship at the age of 21, becoming the youngest person to win the title, a distinction previously held byMike Hailwood.[1][2] His record has since been surpassed byMarc Márquez in 2013.[3]
The1983 season would be remembered as one of the most dramatic title chases in the history of Grand Prix racing; Honda's Spencer and Yamaha's Kenny Roberts fought back and forth for the points lead with each of them earning six victories.[4] The season culminated at thepenultimate round in Sweden when the two riders collided on the last lap.[5] Roberts ran off the track leaving Spencer to sprint to the finish line and victory. Roberts won the last race but Spencer finished second, securing his first world title by two points.[2]
In1984, Honda developed a radically new V4NSR500 that featured the fuel tank under the engine and the expansion chambers under a false tank above the engine. Teething problems and injuries from crashes hindered Spencer's defense of his crown and he was relegated to fourth place in the championship.[6] In spite of this, he still managed to win three times with the NSR500, and twice more on the NS500 three cylinder machine.
1985 proved to be a historic year for Spencer. He began the season by winning the prestigious season openingDaytona 200. Spencer also won the Formula 1 and 250cc classes, making him the only rider to win all three divisions in a single year.[1][7] Spencer also competed in both the 250cc and 500cc Grand Prix World Championships, winning both titles in the same year. That made him the fifth (and last) rider ever to win in the 500cc and the next class down and, due to class changes, the only rider to win in both 500cc and 250cc in one year. His career was cut short by wrist injuries that some believe were caused by the physical strain of competing in two championships during a single season.
After his historic 1985 season, Spencer never won another Grand Prix race. He retired from Grand Prix racing at the beginning of1988, although there were a couple of GP comeback attempts, in 1989 and 1993.[1]
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Spencer returned to race in theAMA Superbike Championship in the 1990s, winning three races. He was eighth in 1991, riding a Honda for Two Brothers Racing, and went one better in 1992. In 1995 he raced a Fast By Ferracci Ducati to ninth, and at the end of the year took over the works Ducati from Mauro Lucchiari inSuperbike World Championship.
Spencer raced under several different marques during his career, winning his first Superbike National Championship race aboard aKawasaki, but he is most closely associated with Honda and his partnership with Grand Prix tuner,Erv Kanemoto. He won all three of his world titles on Hondas with Kanemoto as head mechanic. Spencer had a short stint with the AgostiniYamaha team and ended his career on aDucati in the US National Championship.
For many years, Spencer operated a motorcycle riding school, Freddie Spencer's High Performance Riding School, until October 2008. Primarily based inLas Vegas, Nevada, the school countedNick Ienatsch andKen Hill as chief instructor and lead instructor, respectively.[8] After it closed, Ienatsch founded a successor-program, theYamaha Champions Riding School.[9]
Spencer now lives in London, England and comments on television for various racing series. In 2019, Spencer was appointed the chairman of the FIM MotoGP™ Stewards Panel.[10]
The following is a list of results achieved by Spencer.[15]
Points system from 1968 to 1987.
| Position | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Points | 15 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Points system from 1988 to 1992.
| Position | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| Points | 20 | 17 | 15 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)
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