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His name is Frederick Burdette Spencer, but to everyone he is just Freddie. American, class of '61, after making his debut in MotoGP in 1980 in the 500 class, he won in the same category in 1983 and 1985, a year, this one, in which he also won in 250.
Among the riders who most of all have left a mark in the history of the sport, the American has also entered the heart of Dr. Claudio Costa who, via Instagram, this December 20 wished him well on his 63rd birthday , calling him "a friend who considers me different from his doctors in Louisiana." An odd statement, but one motivated by a video posted by the Clinica Mobile patron himself with an interview with the Shreveport-based racer, which makes it very clear how strong and special their bond is.
"That relationship that I had with Doctor Costa that I recognized at the beginning is that he was different from a doctor in Louisiana. It was more because there was the passion, commitment and empathy - were the words of the champion who for a long time was also one of the MotoGP stewards - Sometimes when I was injured, he would sit outside my motorhome and wait to check on me. After years, reflecting on these things, I realized how important they were."
"One example of that was in the 1993 Japanese GP. The last memory of that was the guardrail and I thought there's no way I'm going to survive this. Then I woke up in the ambulance, but I was really hurt. I had broken both ankles, both wrists, and my right wrist was shattered, my finger was basically.... I remember so clearly being in the emergency room of the local hospital and I remember so distinctly feeling this hand on my right arm, I looked up and it was Dr. Costa, the same face I had seen after my crash in '87 at Misano when I woke up in the medical centre, and then also after I hurt my leg in '85 at the Yugoslav GP. At that moment I felt that everything would be OK," he concluded his tribute.
