Freddie Spencer made motorcycle grand prix racing history in 1985 by becoming the first rider to win both the 250cc and 500cc world championships in the same year in a campaign he dominated on the Rothmans Honda.
As the 2026 MotoGP season gets under way, here’s the full story on the iconic 1985 campaign and how Spencer made grand prix racing history from the Duke video achieve.
Having seen Eddie Lawson march to the 500cc title for Yamaha in the previous year, a first full campaign on the NSR500 delivered instant success for Spencer and Honda, with seven wins from 12 rounds, plus three further rostrums, meant nobody could live with the speed and consistency of the Louisiana-native.
Second place in the opener at Kyalami was a relatively modest return for ‘Fast Freddie’, but in front of a packed crowd at Jarama Spencer delivered on that great potential for his first victory of the season, winning by over 13s from Lawson, to leave the duo level on points after the opening two rounds.
Despite wet weather aiding Christian Sarron’s maiden 500cc grand prix victory at Hockenheim, Spencer took the outright points lead with second as Lawson only managed fourth in tricky conditions. Sarron’s win was the first by a non-US rider since the 1982 Swedish GP.
Spencer returned to winning ways in Mugello, with a comfortable charge to victory in the 500cc race, to set-up his double on the day – becoming the first rider in 12 years to win both the 500cc and 250cc races on the same day.
Freddie Spencer
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images
Lawson finished in front of Spencer on the road in Austria, but in an aggregate race following a red flag after 16 laps for oil on the track, the Honda rider held on to take victory by just 0.03s on the combined times. A third win from the opening five rounds allowed Spencer to open up his lead to 10 points over Lawson when the gap had looked set to go down to four points.
Yamaha’s Lawson halted his rival’s momentum with victory in Yugoslavia, aided in part by Spencer colliding with a straw bale which left the American in serious pain – so much so that he collapsed after crossing the finish line as runner-up.
Spencer’s only retirement in 1985 came through no fault of his own, as an unsighted Sarron accidentally took out the championship leader in wet conditions at the Dutch TT. It provided a huge opportunity for Lawson to capitalise, but the Yamaha rider failed to do so as he crashed out of second. Randy Mamola made history with the victory – the first rider to carry a live camera for TV coverage on his Honda.
It was back to winning ways for Spencer at Spa-Francorchamps with a dominant display, winning both the 500cc and 250cc races, and duly re-extended his championship lead in the premier class to 10 points.
Lawson lost his chance to strike back at Le Mans with a tardy getaway which dropped him to last and half a lap down, as Spencer saw off challenges from Sarron and Wayne Gardner to clinch another victory. Yamaha’s Lawson got back to fourth at the chequered flag, but the damage was done at the start and he faced an unlikely task of overhauling Spencer’s 17-point lead with three rounds remaining.
Having sealed the 250cc title earlier in the day at a soaking wet Silverstone, Spencer was peerless in the rain again as he romped to another victory over Lawson. It gave Spencer two opportunities to seal the 500c world title, and he did so at the first attempt as he took a storming victory in Sweden ahead of Lawson to secure a historic title double.
Spencer missed the final round of the season at Misano to recover from a thumb injury, which enabled Lawson to end his campaign with a win.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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