The 1983 South African motorcycle Grand Prix was the first round of the

FIM FIM may refer to: Organizations and companies * Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, the International Motorcycling Federation * Flint Institute of Music, in Michigan, United States * Fox Interactive Media, now News Corp. Digital Media * ...

1983 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 18–19 March 1983 at the

Kyalami Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit (from ''Khaya lami'', ''My home'' in Zulu) is a motor racing circuit located in Midrand, Gauteng, South Africa, just north of Johannesburg. The circuit has been used for Grand Prix and Formula One races and has ho ...

circuit which, has an elevation of 6,000 feet above sea level. It was the first Grand Prix motorcycle race held on the African continent. Because of the cost of flying Grand Prix teams and their equipment to South Africa, organizers were allowed to run just two classes rather than the three normally required by the FIM.

Summary

Qualifying

Qualifying was led by Honda's

Freddie Spencer Frederick Burdette Spencer (born December 20, 1961), sometimes known by the nickname Fast Freddie, is an American former world champion motorcycle racer. Spencer is regarded as one of the greatest motorcycle racers of the early 1980s. Motorcycle ...

with

Eddie Lawson Eddie Lawson (born March 11, 1958) is an American former four-time Grand Prix motorcycle racing World Champion. His record of not crashing and consistently finishing in the points earned him the nickname "Steady Eddie".Takazumi Katayama Takazumi Katayama (片山敬済, born April 16, 1951) is a Japanese former Grand Prix motorcycle road racing world champion. Motorcycle racing career Born in Kobe, Japan, he was the first Japanese rider to win a motorcycle road racing world ch ...

Kenny Roberts Kenneth Leroy Roberts (born December 31, 1951, in Modesto, California) is an American former professional motorcycle racer and racing team owner. In 1978, he became the first American to win a Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championship ...

, Ron Haslam,

Marco Lucchinelli Marco Lucchinelli (born 26 June 1954) is an Italian former professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He was 1981 FIM Road Racing World Champion with Suzuki. He is a MotoGP Legend. Career Lucchinelli was born in Bolano. He began his ro ...

and

Franco Uncini Franco Uncini (born 9 March 1955) is an Italian former professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racing. He was 1982 FIM Road Racing World Champion with Suzuki. He was inducted into the F.I.M. MotoGP Hall of Fame in 2016. __TOC__ Career Uncini ...

filling out the front row of the starting grid.

Race

The race started with the four

factory-backed In motorsports, a factory-backed racing team or driver is one sponsored by a vehicle manufacturer in official competitions. As motorsport competition is an expensive endeavor, some degree of factory support is desired and often necessary for s ...

Hondas leading the field with Spencer out in front. Suzuki's

Randy Mamola Randy Mamola (born November 10, 1959) is an American former professional motorcycle racer and television sports presenter. He competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing between and . A 13-time Premier Class race winner, Mamola was one of the mo ...

was in fifth with Roberts closing in on the leaders. Despite an overheating motorcycle, Roberts managed to secure second place on the ninth lap when he passed Haslam but, by then Spencer had built a 10 second lead. Roberts was able to close the gap to 5 seconds but, his overheating engine prevented him from gaining any further time and he had to settle for second place behind race winner Spencer. Haslam battled Yamaha's

Marc Fontan Marc Fontan (born 20 October 1956) is a French former professional motorcycle racer. He competed in the Grand Prix road racing world championships from 1978 to 1983. Fontan was born in Canet-en-Roussillon in the French department of Pyrén ...

to secure third place. Katayama had made a poor tire choice and when he tried to increase his pace late in the race, he crashed while trying to pass

Jon Ekerold Jonathan "Jon" Ekerold (born 8 October 1946) is a South African former professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Ekerold is one of the few racers in the modern era to have won a world championship as ...

's Cagiva. Katayama's crash promoted Mamola to fifth place.

Jean-François Baldé Jean-François Baldé (born 29 November 1950) is a French former professional Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. Born in Mulhouse, France, Baldé had his most successful year in 1981 when he won the Argentine Grand Prix The Argentine Grand ...

led teammate

Didier de Radiguès Didier de Radiguès (born 27 March 1958) is a Belgian former professional motorcycle racer, auto racing driver and current artist. He also serves as a television sports color commentator for Belgium television, a Moto GP riders manager and as t ...

across the finish line to post an impressive one-two finish in the 250cc race for

Alain Chevallier Alain Chevallier (6 November 1947 – 3 October 2016) was a French Grand Prix motorcycle designer and builder. During the 1970s and 1980s, Chevallier designed and built road racing motorcycles using Yamaha engines and campaigned them in the Grand ...

's privateer Yamaha team.

Classification

500 cc

References

{{MotoGP_race report , Name_of_race =

South African Grand Prix The South African Grand Prix was first run as a Grand Prix motor racing handicap race in 1934 at the Prince George Circuit at East London, Cape Province. It drew top drivers from Europe including Bernd Rosemeyer, Richard "Dick" Seaman, R ...

, Year_of_race = 1983 , Previous_race_in_season = 1982 German Grand Prix , Next_race_in_season = 1983 French Grand Prix , Previous_year's_race = None , Next_year's_race =

1984 South African Grand Prix The 1984 South African Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Kyalami on 7 April 1984. It was race 2 of 16 in the 1984 Formula One World Championship. The 75-lap race was won by Niki Lauda, driving a McLaren- TAG, with teammate Alain P ...

South African motorcycle Grand Prix South African Motorcycle Grand Prix March 1983 sports events in Africa