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. It was the first time the World Final had been held in West Germany.

Final summary

A near-capacity crowd of around 50,000 at the long Motodrom Halbemond circuit, saw local favourite Egon Müller became the first German rider to win the World Championship. [1983 1983 Australian Individual Speedway Championship|Australian Individual Speedway Championship|Australian] champion Billy Sanders, 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, Dennis Sigalos, 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 Ole Olsen, the 1971, 1975 and 1978 World Champion, finished 6th with 10 points. Olsen won his last ride, defeating Gundersen, Czechoslovakia's Jiří Štancl, and American Lance King in heat 18.

First round

Swedish qualification

Top 6 in each heat to Swedish final

Third round

Continental quarter-finals

Top 32 to Continental semi-finals

Date

Venue

Winner

2nd

3rd

6 May

Sweden Finals

Top 5 over three meetings + Jan Andersson to Nordic final
R1
R2
R3

Pos.	Rider	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	Tommy Nilsson	13	13	14	40
2	Pierre Brannefors	10	15	13	38
3	Uno Johansson	12	11	10	33
4	Anders Kling	10	12	8	30
5	Bernt Persson	5	10	14	29
6	Lillebror Johansson	13	5	9	27
7	Karl Erik Claesson	13	9	2	24
8	Hans Danielsson	3	9	11	23
9	Conny Samuelsson	7	4	8	19
10	Gert Carlsson	6	8	4	18
11	Goran Waltersson	8	4	3	15
12	Per Ove Gudmundsson	-	9	6	15
13	Ulf Blomqvist	8	3	3	14
14	Lennart Bengtsson	1	-	9	10
15	Hans Hallén	2	6	0	8
16	Bent Baar	4	2	0	6
17	Dick Jaglard	2	2	0	4
18	Mikael Messing	4	-	-	4

Norwegian qualifying

Elgane Speedway, Varhaug
24 April, top 2 to Nordic final

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Tormod Langli	15
2	Dag Haland	11+3
3	Dagfinn Jorgensen	11+2
4	Roy Otto	11+1
5	Asgeir Bjerga	10
6	Jörn Haugvaldstad	9
7	Geir Aasland	7
8	Kurt Ueland	7
9	Sigvart Pedersen	7
10	Kjell Gimre	6
11	Tom Fjeldberg	6
12	Arne Svendsen	6
13	Ingve Madland	5
14	Roy Martinsen	4
15	Lars Otto Holt	3
16	Nils O. Haraldsen	0

Finland Final

Iinat Motor Sports Center, Oulu
8 August 1982, top 3 to 1983 Nordic final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Kai Niemi	15
2	Ari Koponen	14
3	Olli Tyrvainen	13
4	Veijo Tuoriniemi	11
5	Hannu Lehtonen	11
6	Pekka Hautamaki	8
7	Jari Kortelainen	8
8	Markku Haapala	7
9	Heimo Kaikko	7
10	Seppo Keskinen	7
11	Timo Kiansten	7
12	Kari Valtonen	4
13	Ismo Kivela	3
14	Ari Heinonen	3
15	Pasi Valtonen	1
16	Pekka Turkia	1
17	Markku Parkkari	0
18	Isto Maja	0
19	Seppo Nykanen	0

Danish Final

9 May 1983
Fjelsted Speedway Stadium, Harndrup
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	Hans Ove Cristinsen	7
9	Kent Noer	7
10	Jens Rasmussen	6
11	Finn Thomsen	6
12	Flemming Pedersen	6
13	Alf Busk	6
14	Hans Albert Klinge	2
15	Bent Juul Larsen	1
16	Kjeld Hansen	0

British Final

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

American Final

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

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Dennis Sigalos	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

Australian Final

21 January 1983
Speedway Park, Adelaide
First 2 to Overseas final

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

New Zealand final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Mitch Shirra	14
2	Larry Ross	14
3	David Bargh	13
4	Ivan Mauger	13
5	Alan Mason	11
6	Chris Martin	10
7	Robin Hampton	7
8	Roger Wright	7
9	Barry Free	7
10	Craig Blackett	6
11	Max Brown	6
12	Peter Nightingale	5
13	Craig Williamson	3
14	Merv Salt	2
15	Martin Waygang	2
16	Alan Crosbie	0

Fourth round

Overseas Final

17 July 1983
Hyde Road, Manchester
First 10 to the Intercontinental Final plus 1 reserve

Nordic Final

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

Fifth round

Continental Final

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

Intercontinental Final

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

World Final

4 September 1983
Motodrom Halbemond, Norden.
Referee: Rolf Randborg