1983 South African motorcycle Grand Prix

The 1983 South African motorcycle Grand Prix was the first round of the FIM 1983 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 18–19 March 1983 at the Kyalami circuit which, has an elevation of 6,000 feet above sea level.[2] It was the first Grand Prix motorcycle race held on the African continent.[2] 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.[2]

  1983 South African Grand Prix

Race details
Race 1 of 12 races in the 1983 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season
Date	19 March 1983
Official name	Nashua Motorcycle Grand Prix[1]
Location	Kyalami
Course	Permanent racing facility 4.014 km (2.494 mi)
500 cc
Pole position Rider Freddie Spencer Time 1:26.600 Fastest lap Rider Freddie Spencer Time 1:26.430 Podium First Freddie Spencer Second Kenny Roberts Third Ron Haslam
250 cc
Pole position Rider Jean-François Baldé Time 1:31.700 Fastest lap Rider Jean-François Baldé Time 1:31.450 Podium First Jean-François Baldé Second Didier de Radiguès Third Hervé Guilleux
125 cc
Pole position Rider No 125cc was held Fastest lap Rider No 125cc was held Podium First No 125cc was held Second No 125cc was held Third No 125cc was held
50 cc
Pole position Rider No 50cc was held Fastest lap Rider No 50cc was held Podium First No 50cc was held Second No 50cc was held Third No 50cc was held

Summary

Qualifying

Qualifying was led by Honda's Freddie Spencer with Eddie Lawson, Takazumi Katayama, Kenny Roberts, Ron Haslam, Marco Lucchinelli and Franco Uncini filling out the front row of the starting grid.[2]

Race

The race started with the four factory-backed Hondas leading the field with Spencer out in front.[2] Suzuki's Randy Mamola was in fifth with Roberts closing in on the leaders.[2] 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.[2] 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.[2] Haslam battled Yamaha's Marc Fontan to secure third place.[2] 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's Cagiva.[2] Katayama's crash promoted Mamola to fifth place.[2]

Jean-François Baldé led teammate Didier de Radiguès across the finish line to post an impressive one-two finish in the 250cc race for Alain Chevallier's privateer Yamaha team.

Classification

500 cc

Pos.	Rider	Team	Machine	Time/Retired	Points
1	Freddie Spencer	HRC-Honda	NS500	43'58.500	15
2	Kenny Roberts	Marlboro Agostini-Yamaha	YZR500	+7.200	12
3	Ron Haslam	HRC-Honda	NS500	+13.300	10
4	Marc Fontan	Sonauto Gauloises-Yamaha	YZR500	+13.500	8
5	Randy Mamola	HB Sinclair-Suzuki	RG500	+28.400	6
6	Franco Uncini	HB Gallina-Suzuki	RG500	+37.700	5
7	Raymond Roche	Moto Club Paul Ricard	NS500	+41.500	4
8	Eddie Lawson	Marlboro Agostini Yamaha	YZR500	+42.400	3
9	Marco Lucchinelli	HRC-Honda	NS500	+45.400	2
10	Barry Sheene	Heron-Suzuki	RG500	+1'08.300	1
11	Loris Reggiani	HB Gallina-Suzuki	RG500	+1'09.700
12	Sergio Pellandini	Carimati-Pezzani Racing	RG500	+1'13.800
13	Maurizio Massimiani	HIRT Italia	RS500	+1 lap
14	Fabio Biliotti	Moto Club Condor	RG500	+1 lap
15	Virginio Ferrari	Cagiva	GP500	+1 lap
16	Marco Greco		RG500	+1 lap
17	Jon Ekerold	Cagiva	GP500	+1 lap
18	Corrado Tuzii	Beton Bloc Racing	RS500	+1 lap
19	Gary Lingham	Myers Motorcycles	RG500	+1 lap
20	Steve Parrish	Mitsui Yamaha	YZR500	+1 lap
21	Alfons Amerschläger	Skoal Bandit Heron Suzuki	RG500	+2 laps
22	Wolfgang Schwarz	ES Motorradzubeh Racing Team	RG500	+2 laps
Ret	Takazumi Katayama	HRC-Honda	NS500	Accident
Ret	Gustav Reiner		RG500	Accident
Ret	Boet van Dulmen	Shell Nederland-Suzuki	RG500	Mechanical
Ret	Chris Guy		RG500	Mechanical
Ret	Leandro Becheroni		RG500	Accident
Ret	Michel Frutschi		RS500	Accident
Ret	Guido Paci		RS500	Accident
DNQ	Wolfgang von Muralt		RG500	Did not qualify
DNQ	Jean-François Baldé		RS500	Did not qualify
DNQ	Frank Kaserer		RG500	Did not qualify
DNQ	Børge Nielsen		RG500	Did not qualify
DNQ	Philippe Coulon	Marlboro-Suzuki	RG500	Did not qualify
DNQ	Andreas Hofmann		RG500	Did not qualify
DNQ	Walter Migliorati	Moto Club Carate	RG500	Did not qualify
DNQ	Lorenzo Ghiselli		RG500	Did not qualify
DNQ	Bent Slydal		RG500	Did not qualify
Sources: [3][4]

References

1. "Grand Prix uitslagen en bijzonderheden 1983". Archive.today. 25 July 2015. Archived from the original on 25 July 2015.
2. Clifford, Peter (1983), Motocourse 1983-1984, Hazleton Publishing Ltd, ISBN 0-905138-26-0
3. "1983 South African MotoGP". Motorsportmagazine.com. 9 October 2017.
4. "1983 South African GP Results". MotoGP official website. Retrieved March 31, 2015.