Cycle World Race Watch
CYCLE WORLD RACE WATCH
Roper wins at Isle of Man
Dave Roper, the 35-year-old New Yorker noted for his Vintage roadracing prowess here in the U.S., has become the first American in the 77-year history of Isle of Man racing to win any kind of event. His victory came in the Island's Historic TT race, an event limited to four-stroke machines manufactured be-
tween 1945 and 1972, and two-strokes built between 1945 and 1967. Riding a single-cylinder, 500cc Matchless G5, vintage 1959, Roper averaged 96.114 mph for the three laps of the 38-mile road course; that’s nearly 10 mph faster than legendary TT winner John Surtees went back in 1959 on his factory fourcylinder MV Agusta.
Roper and his fellow Team Obsolete members, Rob Iannucci and Jeff Elghanayan, had been to the IOM TT twice before; in ’82 he finished sixth in the Formula III race on a 350cc Aermacchi, and last year he averaged over 100 mph on a Ducati 950cc Desmo before gearbox failure dropped him out of the Classic lOOOcc event.
Based on Roper’s past performances, IOM railbirds had him picked as a favorite to win this year’s Historic event, but called off all bets when he crashed his G5 in practice two days before the race and broke his left wrist. Roper, however, wasn’t about to give up so easily. He had the Island doctors fashion a special wrist brace that allowed him to move his fingers, while Iannucci fitted the G5 with a new diaphragm clutch to make the lever easier to squeeze.
As if Roper didn’t have enough to worry about when he rolled his Matchless to the grid for the final, ACU officials devised one more hurdle before allowing him to compete: He had to do a dozen push-ups to prove his fitness. Said Iannucci, “I don’t know how he did them, but he did.”
One hour and ten minutes later, Roper demonstrated his fitness in a much more dramatic fashion, emerging as the fastest man in the 70-rider field that comprised the event. A memorable performance, not just because Roper was the first Yank to win on the Island, but because of the circumstances surrounding his victory.
500 GP fever pitch
What was once a sizable, 30-point lead for world-championship contender Eddie Lawson has been trimmed by defending champ Freddie Spencer to a 17-point margin. Spencer strung together three convincing victories in Germany, France and Yugoslavia to tighten a points battle that might well go down to the wire.
Baffled by mysterious jetting problems in the new V-Four, the Honda team took a quantum leap backwards and allowed Spencer to ride an updated version of last year’s NS500 triple in Germany. Spencer responded by grabbing the pole with a second to spare over Lawson, and eventually winning his second GP of the season. Lawson followed, after being run off the track by a slower rider. Randy Mamola rounded out an American sweep.
In France, Spencer was back on the V-Four and again grabbed the pole. He led from start to finish, while behind him, Lawson slipped his Yamaha past Mamola for second at the finish line.
Spencer was on the pole once again in Yugoslavia, the last in a string of four GPs in five weeks. This time, he won by 18 seconds over Mamola. Frenchman Raymond Roche locked his Honda-supported RS500 into third, while Lawson wrestled his ill-handling Yamaha to fourth.
For Spencer to earn his second worldchampionship title, he must win every remaining race, and Lawson will have to be nosed out of second place just once.
A non-finish in either the Honda or Yamaha camp could well decide the championship, but it seems unlikely that Lawson will have problems; the firststring Yamahas haven’t suffered a mechanical DNF since the 1982 Dutch GP 25 GPs ago.
Race Watch Calendar 1984
World Championship MX Series
