1983 Individual Speedway World Championship

The 1983 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 38th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4] It was the first time the World Final had been held in West Germany.^[5]

Final summary[]

An almost capacity crowd of around 50,000 at the 400 metres (440 yards) long Motodrom Halbemond circuit, saw local favourite Egon Müller became the first German rider to win the World Championship. 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 (United States), 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.

New Zealand Qualification[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
South Island Final
??	Invercargill	Ivan Mauger	Larry Ross
North Island Final
??	Napier	David Bargh	Mitch Shirra
New Zealand Final
26 February	Christchurch	Mitch Shirra	Larry Ross	David Bargh

New Zealand Final[]

27 February 1983
Christchurch
First 2 to Overseas final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Mitch Shirra	14
2	Larry Ross	14
3	David Bargh	13
4	Ivan Mauger	13
5		11
6		10
7		7
8		7
9		7
10		6
11		6
12		5
13		3
14		2
15		2
16		0
R1		0
R2		0

British Qualification[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Preliminary Round
3 April	Kings Lynn	Simon Wigg	Sean Willmott	Melvyn Taylor
12 April	Weymouth	Kevin Smith	Mike Ferreira	Melvyn Taylor
15 April	Edinburgh	Alan Emerson	Martin Dixon	Bobby Beaton
19 April	Milton Keynes		Neil Middleditch	Peter Carr
21 April	Oxford	Simon Wigg	Barry Thomas	Sean Willmott
27 April	Long Eaton	Colin Richardson	David Gagen	Joe Owen
Semi-Finals
8 May	Eastbourne	John Davis	Paul Woods	Dave Jessup
17 May	Leicester	Peter Collins	Simon Wigg	Neil Collins
Final
1 June	Coventry	Chris Morton	Michael Lee	Andy Grahame

British Final[]

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

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	21
	(4) Chris Morton	12	2							2				3				2				3	12	1
	(12) Michael Lee	11			0					3		2			3						3		11	2
	(9) Andy Grahame	10			2		0						2					3		3			10	3	3
4	(5) Kenny Carter	10		2			3					0					3					2	10	4	2
5	(1) Peter Collins	10	1				1				3				2				3				10	5	1
6	(13) John Davis	10				2	2							2		2					2		10	6	0
7	(2) Phil Collins	9	0					3				1				3				2			9	7
8	(15) Les Collins	8				0			2			3						1	2				8	8
9	(3) Paul Woods	7	3						1				1				1				1		7	9
10	(11) Dave Jessup	6			3				3		F					M						M	6	10
11	(14) Simon Wigg	6				3		0					3		0							E	6	11
12	(6) Gordon Kennett	6		3				1			2							0			0		6	12
13	(16) Colin Richardson	6				1				1	1						2			1			6	13
14	(10) Malcolm Simmons	5			1			2						1			0		1				5	14
15	(7) Sean Willmott	2		1					0					0	1					0			2	15
16	(8) Neil Collins	1		0						0			E			1			0				1	16
R1	(R1)	1														0						1	1	R1
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	21

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

Swedish Qualification[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Semi-Finals
7 May	Nassjo	Hans Danielsson
9 May	Motala	Lillebror Johansson	Bernt Persson	Conny Samuelsson
9 May	Malilla		Pierre Brannefors	Mikael Blixt
Final
24 May	Karlstad	Tommy Nilsson	Lillebror Johansson
25 May	Gubbangen	Pierre Brannefors	Tommy Nilsson
27 May	Eskilstuna	Bernt Persson	Tommy Nilsson	Pierre Brannefors

Sweden Final[]

First 4 to Nordic final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Tommy Nilsson	40
2	Pierre Brannefors	38
3		33
4		30
5	Bernt Persson	29
6	Lillebror Johansson	27
7		24
8	Hans Danielsson	23
9	Conny Samuelsson	19
10		18
11		15
12		15
13		14
14		10
15		8
16		6
17		4
18		4

Intercontinental Round[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Australian Final
21 January	Adelaide	Billy Sanders	Glyn Taylor	Phil Crump
Danish Final
9 May		Hans Nielsen	Erik Gundersen	Ole Olsen
American Final
11 June	Long Beach	Dennis Sigalos	Mike Faria	Lance King
Nordic final
12 June		Hans Nielsen	Erik Gundersen	Ole Olsen
Overseas Final
17 July	Belle Vue	Phil Collins	Kenny Carter	Mitch Shirra
Intercontinental Final
7 August	White City	Hans Nielsen	Michael Lee	Erik Gundersen

Australian Final[]

January 21, 1983
Adelaide
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		(1,1,3,3,0)	8
7		(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		(1,2,0,1,0)	4
13		(0,1,1,2,1)	4
14		(2,0,1,1,0)	4
15	(Res)	(-,-,2,-,-)	2
16	Wayne Baxter	(0,0,0,0,1)	1
17	(Res)	(1,-,-,-,-)	1
18		(0,0,0,0,0)	0

Danish Final[]

May 9, 1983
First 6 to Nordic final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Hans Nielsen	15
2	Erik Gundersen	13
3	Ole Olsen	12+3
4	Tommy Knudsen	12+2
5	Peter Ravn	11
6	Finn Rune Jensen	8
7	Preben Eriksen	8
8		7
9		7
10	Jens Rasmussen	6
11	Finn Thomsen	6
12		6
13	Alf Busk	6
14		2
15		1
16		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			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			3
15			2
16			1

Nordic Final[]

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

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	21
	(4) Hans Nielsen	15	3							3				3				3				3	15	1
	(12) Erik Gundersen	14			3					2		3			3						3		14	2
	(14) Ole Olsen	12				2		3					3		2							2	12	3
4	(5) Peter Ravn	11		3			3					1					3					1	11	4
5	(9) Jan Andersson	11			2		2						2					2		3			11	5
6	(13) Pierre Brannefors	10				3	1							2		2					2		10	6	3
7	(2) Kai Niemi	10	2					1				2				3				2			10	7	2
8	(6) Tommy Knudsen	8		1				2			3							1			1		8	8
9	(15) Finn Rune Jensen	7				1			3			0						F	3				7	9
10	(8) Ari Koponen	5		2						0			1			0			2				5	10
11	(11) Tommy Nilsson	5			0				2		2					1						0	5	11
12	(3)	3	0						1				0				2				0		3	12
13	(16)	3				0				1	1						0			1			3	13
14	(10)	3			1			0						1			1		0				3	14
15	(1)	2	1				0				0				0				1				2	15
16	(7)	1		0					0					0	1					0			1	16
R1	(R1)	0																					0	R1
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	21

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

Overseas Final[]

July 17, 1983
Manchester, Belle Vue
First 10 to the Intercontinental Final plus 1 reserve

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	21
	(11) Phil Collins	12			1				3		3					2						3	12	1
	(16) Kenny Carter	11				3				3	0						2			3			11	2	3
	(1) Mitch Shirra	11	2				2				1				3				3				11	3	2
4	(8) Larry Ross	10		3						2			2			3			0				10	4
5	(2) Billy Sanders	10	3					3				3				1				F			10	5
6	(6) Dennis Sigalos	9		0				2			2							2			3		9	6
7	(7) Chris Morton	9		1					2					3	1					2			9	7
8	(4) Andy Grahame	9	1							1				2				3				2	9	8
9	(5) Michael Lee	8		2			3					1					1					1	8	9
10	(15) Lance King	8				2			1			2						1	2				8	10
11	(14) Shawn Moran	7				1		1					3		2							0	7	11
12	(10) Les Collins	6			2			0						0			3		1				6	12
13	(12) John Davis	4			3					0		0			0						1		4	13
14	(3) Peter Collins	3	E						0				1				0				2		3	14
15	(9) Glyn Taylor	2			E		1						0					0		1			2	15
16	(13) Mike Faria	1				0	0							1		E					F		1	16
R1	(R1) Paul Woods	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2)	0																					0	R2
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	21

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

Intercontinental Final[]

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

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	21
	(1) Hans Nielsen	14	3				3				3				2				3				14	1
	(8) Michael Lee	12		3						2			3			2			2				12	2
	(7) Erik Gundersen	11		0					3					3	3					2			11	3
4	(14) Dennis Sigalos	10				3		2					2		X							3	10	4
5	(4) Kenny Carter	10	0							3				2				3				2	10	5
6	(13) Billy Sanders	10				1	2							1		3					3		10	6
7	(2) Ole Olsen	9	2					3				3				1				0			9	7
8	(16) Mitch Shirra	9				2				1	2						1			3			9	8
9	(6) Chris Morton	7		2				1			0							2			2		7	9
10	(3) Lance King	7	1						2				1				3				0		7	10
11	(12) Phil Collins	6			2					0		2			1						1		6	11
12	(10) Peter Ravn	6			3			E						0			2		1				6	12
13	(9) Jan Andersson	3			0		1						0					1		1			3	13
14	(11) Pierre Brannefors	3			1				0		1					0						1	3	14
15	(15) Andy Grahame	2				0			1			1						0	0				2	15
16	(5) Larry Ross	1		1			E					0					0					0	1	16
R1	(R1) Kai Niemi	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2) Shawn Moran	0																					0	R2
R3	(R3) Les Collins	0																					0	R3
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	21

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

Continental Round[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Preliminary Round
23 April	Ruhpolding	Giuseppe Marzotto		Andrzej Huszcza
24 April	Szeged	Milan Špinka	Boleslaw Proch	Jerzy Rembas
24 April	Lendava	Petr Ondrašík	Armando Dal Chiele
24 April	Neustadt Donau
Quarter-Finals
6 May	Wiener Neustadt	Karl Maier	Jiří Štancl
8 May	Miskolc	Mikhail Starostin	Bogusław Nowak	Rif Saitgareev
8 May	Shumen	Petr Ondrašík	Viktor Kuznetsov	Armando Dal Chiele
8 May	Lonigo	Egon Muller	Roman Jankowski	Zenon Plech
Semi-Finals
12 July	Pocking	Egon Muller	Henny Kroeze	Roman Jankowski
12 July	Slany	Karl Maier	Jiří Štancl	Antonín Kasper Jr.
Final
6 August	Rybnik	Zenon Plech	Egon Muller	Jiří Štancl

Continental Final[]

6 August 1983
Rybnik
First 5 to World Final plus 1 reserve

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	21
	(2) Zenon Plech	15	3					3				3				3				3			15	1
	(11) Egon Muller	14			3				3		3					2						3	14	2
	(4) Jiří Štancl	12	1							3				3				3				2	12	3
4	(3) Petr Ondrašík	11	2						2				2				3				2		11	4
5	(13) Antonín Kasper Jr.	10				3	3							2		1					1		10	5
6	(16) Karl Maier	9				2				2	1						2			2			9	6	3
7	(14) Henny Kroeze	9				1		1					3		3							1	9	7	2
8	(6) Andrzej Huszcza	8		3				E			2							E			3		8	8
9	(9) Valery Gordeev	7			2		1						1					2		1			7	9
10	(7) Mikhail Starostin	5		2					0					1	2					0			5	10
11	(5) Aleš Dryml Sr.	5		E			2					2					1					0	5	11
12	(8)	4		1						1			0			0			2				4	12
13	(10)	4			1			2						0			0		1				4	13
14	(1) Rif Saitgareev	3	0				0				0				0				3				3	14
15	(12) Viktor Kuznetsov	2			0					0		1			1						0		2	15
16	(15) Armando Dal Chiele	2				0			1			0						1	X				2	16
R1	(R1)	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2) Bogusław Nowak	0																					0	R2
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	21

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

World Final[]

September 4, 1983
Norden, ^[6]
Referee: () Rolf Randborg

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[]

^ "World Championship 1936-1994". Edinburgh Speedway. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
^ "HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK". Speedway.org. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
^ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
^ "WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX". British Speedway. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
^ "WORLD FINALS 1936-1994" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
^ Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-2402-5

[1] "World Championship 1936-1994". Edinburgh Speedway. Retrieved 10 July 2021.

[2] "HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK". Speedway.org. Retrieved 10 July 2021.

[3] "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 10 July 2021.

[4] "WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX". British Speedway. Retrieved 10 July 2021.

[5] "WORLD FINALS 1936-1994" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 10 July 2021.

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

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v t 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 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
See also	Medalists Medal Classification Grands Prix SGP riders Super Prix SGP Statistics