Roberts Wins Belgian, British Gps

Roberts wins Belgian, British GPs

RACE WATCH

Kenny Roberts won the Belgian and British rounds of the 500cc Road Racing World Championship, closing to within two points of Freddie Spencer in the series points lead.

Spencer qualified fastest in Belgium, with Roberts second fastest. Randy Mamola and Eddie Lawson were third and fourth fastest.

Spencer led until the 13th of 20 laps, at which point Roberts wheelied past and pulled away, finishing 6 sec. ahead. Spencer was second. Mamola third, and Takazumi Katayama fourth. Lawson was fifth. The finish moved Roberts up to within five points of Spencer in championship points.

In England, Roberts qualified fastest, followed by Spencer, Mamola and Lawson. Spencer led the race until he got into a tremendous, heart-stopping slide that turned into what should have been a crash. Somehow, Spencer’s bike came back upright after falling on his leg, and he continued, being passed at that point by Roberts and Mamola. Soon after, the race was stopped (on the sixth lap) when a serious crash claimed the lives of Peter Huber of Switzerland and Norman Brown of North Ireland.

The race was restarted, and Roberts crossed the finish line ahead of Spencer, Mamola and Lawson. Scored on aggragate time for the first section (before the red flag) and the second section (after the restart) of the race, Roberts was declared the winner with Spencer second, Mamola third and Lawson fourth.

With two races left in the series, Spencer led Roberts by two points, 117 top 115.