1983 Individual Speedway World Championship

1983 Individual Speedway World Championship
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The 1983 Individual Speedway World Championship was the first time the World Final had been held in West Germany.

An almost capacity crowd of around 50,000 at the 400 metres (440 yards) long Motodrom Halbemond saw local favourite Egon Müller became the first German rider to win the World Championship. As of 2014 he is the only German to have obtained the honour. Australian Champion Billy Sanders, in career best form and always at his best on the longer tracks like those in his native Australia, scored his best ever World Championship placing by finishing second, with England's 1980 World Champion Michael Lee finishing third.

With both Sanders and former champion Lee in good form, and with the winner of the previous two World Finals Bruce Penhall having retired from speedway while on the podium at the 1982 World Final, the 1983 final was expected to be one of the most open in years. Others including Kenny Carter (England), Dennis Sigalos (USA), and Danes Ole Olsen, Hans Nielsen and Erik Gundersen, were all expected to challenge. Like surprise winner Jerzy Szczakiel who won at home in Poland in 1973, Egon Müller was expected to do well in front of his home crowd, but wasn't among the pre-meeting favourites.

In his last World Final appearance, "The Great Dane" Ole Olsen, the 1971, 1975 and 1978 World Champion, finished 6th with 10 points. He fittingly won his last ride, defeating Gundersen, Czechoslovakia's Jiří Štancl, and American Lance King in Heat 18.

Overseas Qualification

Australian Final

January 21, 1983
Virginia, Speedway Park
Referee: () Sam Bass
First 2 to Overseas final

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Billy Sanders	(3,3,3,3,3)	15
2	Glyn Taylor	(3,2,2,3,3)	13
3	Phil Crump	(3,3,3,X,3)	12
4	Gary Guglielmi	(2,1,3,2,3+3)	11+3
5	Rod Hunter	(2,2,2,3,2+2)	11+2
6	Danny Kennedy	(1,1,3,3,0)	8
7	Les Sawyer	(1,3,1,2,1)	8
8	Steve Baker	(3,0,2,0,2)	7
9	Mark Fiora	(2,2,0,1,2)	7
10	John Titman	(X,2,1,2,2)	7
11	Steve Regeling	(0,3,0,2,1)	6
12	David Jackson	(1,2,0,1,0)	4
13	Dean Johnson	(0,1,1,2,1)	4
14	Rob Ashton	(2,0,1,1,0)	4
15	Kevin O'Connell (Res)	(-,-,2,-,-)	2
16	Wayne Baxter	(0,0,0,0,1)	1
17	Tony Boyle (Res)	(1,-,-,-,-)	1
18	Chris Higgs	(0,0,0,0,0)	0

New Zealand Qualification

First 2 from New Zealand final to Overseas final

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
South Island Final
??	Ortegi Park Speedway	Ivan Mauger	??	??
North Island Final
??	Palmerston North Showgrounds	David Bargh	??	??
New Zealand Final
??	Ruapuna Speedway	Mitch Shirra	Larry Ross	David Bargh

British Final

June 1, 1983
Coventry, Brandon Stadium
First 8 to Overseas final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Chris Morton	12
2	Michael Lee	11
3	Andy Grahame	10+3
4	Kenny Carter	10+2
5	Peter Collins	10+1
6	John Davis	10+0
7	Phil Collins	9
8	Les Collins	8
9	Paul Woods	7
10	Dave Jessup	6
11	Simon Wigg	6
12	Gordon Kennett	6
13	Colin Richardson	6
14	Malcolm Simmons	5
15	Sean Willmott	2
16	Neil Collins	0

American Final

June 11, 1983
Long Beach, Veterans Memorial Stadium
First 4 to Overseas final

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Dennis Sigalos	(3,3,3,3,3)	15
2	Mike Faria		11+3
3	Lance King		11+2
4	Shawn Moran		10+3
5	Rick Miller		10+2
6	John Cook		10+1
7	Dubb Ferrell		9
8	Ron Preston		8
9	Mike Bast		7
10	Kelly Moran		7
11	Bobby Schwartz		7
12	Brad Oxley		5
13	Steve Lucero		3
14	Shawn McConnell		3
15	Alan Christian		2
16	Gene Woods		1

Nordic Final

June 12, 1983
Elgane, Elgane Speedway
First 6 to Intercontinental final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Hans Nielsen	(3,3,3,3,3)	15
2	Erik Gundersen		14
3	Ole Olsen		12
4	Peter Ravn		11
5	Jan Andersson		11
6	Pierre Brannefors		10+3
7	Kai Niemi		10+2
8	Tommy Knudsen		8
9	Finn Jensen		7
10	Ari Koponen		6
11	Tommy Nilsson		4
12	Tormod Langli		3
13	Uno Johansson		3
14	Olli Tyrväinen		3
15	Dag Haaland		2
16	Anders Kling		1

Overseas Final

Manchester, Belle Vue Stadium
Referee:
First 10 to the Intercontinental Final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Phil Collins	12
2	Kenny Carter	11+2
3	Mitch Shirra	11+2
4	Larry Ross	10
5	Billy Sanders	10
6	Dennis Sigalos	9
7	Chris Morton	9
8	Andy Grahame	9
9	Michael Lee	8
10	Lance King	8
11	Shawn Moran	7
12	Les Collins	6
13	John Davis	4
14	Peter Collins	3
15	Glyn Taylor	2
16	Mike Faria	1

Continental Final

Rybnik, Rybnik Municipal Stadium
Referee:
First 5 to World Final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Zenon Plech	15
2	Egon Müller	14
3	Jiří Štancl	12
4	Petr Ondrašík	11
5	Antonín Kasper, Jr.	10
6	Karl Maier	9+3
7	Henny Kroeze	9+2
8	Andrzej Huszcza	8
9	Valerij Gordeev	7
10	Michail Starostin	5
11	Aleš Dryml, Sr.	5
12	Zoltan Hajdu	4
13	Emil Sova	4
14	Rif Saitgareev	3
15	Viktor Kuznetsov	2
16	Armando Dal Chiele	2

InterContinental Final

7 August 1983
London, White City Stadium
Referee:
First 11 to World Final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Hans Nielsen	14
2	Michael Lee	12
3	Erik Gundersen	11
4	Kenny Carter	10
5	Dennis Sigalos	10
6	Billy Sanders	10
7	Ole Olsen	9
8	Mitch Shirra	8
9	Chris Morton	8
10	Lance King	7
11	Phil Collins	6
12	Peter Ravn	5
13	Jan Andersson	4
14	Pierre Brannefors	3
15	Andy Grahame	2
16	Larry Ross	1

World final

September 4, 1983
Norden, Motodrom Halbemond^[1]
Referee: () Rolf Randborg

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Egon Müller	(3,3,3,3,3)	15
2	Billy Sanders	(3,3,2,2,2)	12
3	Michael Lee	(3,2,0,3,3)	11
4	Erik Gundersen	(3,0,2,3,2)	10
5	Kenny Carter	(2,3,3,1,1)	10
6	Ole Olsen	(1,3,1,2,3)	10
7	Hans Nielsen	(2,2,2,3,E)	9
8	Dennis Sigalos	(2,1,3,0,2)	8
9	Karl Maier	(1,1,1,2,3)	8
10	Chris Morton	(2,1,3,1,0)	7
11	Mitch Shirra	(1,2,2,0,2)	7
12	Lance King	(0,2,0,2,0)	4
13	Phil Collins	(0,1,1,1,1)	4
14	Antonín Kasper, Jr.	(0,0,1,1,1)	3
15	Zenon Plech	(1,0,0,0,0)	1
16	Jiří Štancl	(0,0,0,0,1)	1
R1	Peter Ravn	did not ride	-
R2	Henny Kroeze	did not ride	-

Karl Maier replaced the injured Petr Ondrašík. Henny Kroeze replaced Maier as a reserve

Classification

Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos
1	(12) Egon Müller	15			3					3		3			3						3		15	1
2	(5) Billy Sanders	12		3			3					2					2					2	12	2
3	(4) Michael Lee	11	3							2				0				3				3	11	3
4	(16) Erik Gundersen	10				3				0	2						3			2			10	4
5	(10) Kenny Carter	10			2			3						3			1		1				10	5
6	(7) Ole Olsen	10		1					3					1	2					3			10	6
7	(13) Hans Nielsen	9				2	2							2		3					e		9	7
8	(1) Dennis Sigalos	8	2				1				3				0				2				8	8
9	(15) Karl Maier	8				1			1			1						2	3				8	9
10	(8) Chris Morton	7		2						1			3			1			0				7	10
11	(3) Mitch Shirra	7	1						2				2				0				2		7	11
12	(2) Lance King	4	0					2				0				2				0			4	12
13	(14) Phil Collins	4				0		1					1		1							1	4	13
14	(6) Antonín Kasper, Jr.	3		0				0			1							1			1		3	14
15	(11) Zenon Plech	1			1				0		0					0						0	1	15
16	(9) Jiří Štancl	1			0		0						0					0		1			1	16
	(17) Peter Ravn	0																					0
	(18) Henny Kroeze	0																					0
Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos

m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fell • ns - non-starter • nc - non-classify

gate A - inside	gate B	gate C	gate D - outside

References

↑ Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-2402-5

Individual Speedway World Championship and Speedway Grand Prix seasons

Speedway World Championship	1936 1937 1938 1939 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994

Speedway Grand Prix (SGP)	1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

See also	Medalists Medal Classification Grands Prix SGP riders Super Prix SGP Statistics