1983 Speedway World Pairs Championship
Introduction The '''1983 Speedway World Pairs Championship''' was the fourteenth FIM Speedway World Pairs Championship. The final took place on 18 June at the Ullevi Stadium in Göteborg, Sweden.England won their sixth World Pairs Championship after Kenny Carter and Peter Collins scored 25 points. Australia, represented by Billy Sanders and Gary Guglielmi finished second on 24 points, while the two men who would go on to dominate Motorcycle Speedway for the next six years, Hans Nielsen and Erik Gundersen, rode Denmark to third place with 19 points.Heading into Heat 16 of the Final, Billy Sanders was the only unbeaten rider. He won the start from Guglielmi and out of form West German pair Egon Müller and Karl Maier when he unbelievably fell in turn 2 of the first lap. Although Guglielmi went on to win the re-run of the heat, the points lost as a result of Sanders exclusion ultimately cost Australia its first (and only) World Pairs Championship. While Australian referee Sam Bass had no hesitation in excluding Sanders, he had earlier allowed Peter Collins to re-start after video replays suggested that he fell with no help in the first turn of Heat 10 against Denmark. England went on to a 5-0 score in the heat after Nielsen was excluded from the re-start for falling off his bike over the tapes and Gundersen suffered engine failure a lap from the flag while leading the race.Defending champions Dennis Sigalos and Bobby Schwartz (USA), finished fourth with 18 points. The USA had also won the World Pairs in 1981 with Bruce Penhall and Schwartz.
Preliminary round *  Ilirija Sports Park, LjubljanaPos. Team Rider Points1st  '''- 27''' Zoltan Hajdu 14Zoltan Adorjan 132nd  '''- 21''' Henny Kroeze 13Frits Koppe 83rd  '''- 20''' Nikolaj Manev 15Veselin Markov 54  '''- 18''' Armando Dal Chiele 9Valentino Furlanetto 95  '''- 17''' Kreso Omerzel 14Joze Zibert 36  '''- 15''' Adi Funk 10Robert Funk 57  '''B - 8''' Zvonko Pavlic 5Artur Horvat 3
Semifinal 1 *  Olympic Stadium, Wrocław* 5 June
Semifinal 2 *  Hansa Stadium, Bremen* 5 June
World final *  Ullevi, Göteborg* 18 June* Referee:  Sam Bass
See also * 1983 Individual Speedway World Championship* 1983 Speedway World Team Cup* motorcycle speedway* 1983 in sports
References