South African motorcycle Grand Prix

South African Grand Prix

Grand Prix motorcycle racing
Venue	Phakisa Freeway (1999–2004) Kyalami (1983–1985, 1992)
First race	1983
Last race	2004
Most wins (rider)	Valentino Rossi (3)
Most wins (manufacturer)	Honda (10)

The South African motorcycle Grand Prix was a motorcycling event that had been part of the Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championship, held intermittently from 1983 to 2004.

History

The first South African Grand Prix was held in 1983 as the season opener at the Kyalami circuit in Midrand. The circuit lay more than 1700 metres above sea level and the high altitude caused problems for the riders to set up their bikes. The race was held on a Saturday, similar to the Dutch TT. In 1984 the races were plagued by bad weather conditions, resulting in many accidents. The race in 1985 was the final to be held at the old Kyalami circuit before it was removed for the 1986 season due to the Apartheid policies which were in place in the country at the time. These policies prompted the subsequent boycott from many sport associations (such as the FIM and the FIA), which refused to race in the country until the lift of these bans in the early 1990s.

After the Apartheid policies were abolished and the FIM removed the restrictions for South African riders and venues, the round returned on the calendar in 1992 on a new and shortened variant of the Kyalami circuit. The race was placed on a Sunday timeslot compared to the previous three South African GPs, which were held on a Saturday. However, due to ongoing financial and political problems going on in the country, it was decided to cancel the 1993 installment of the race which was planned for 3 October that year. This decision was made at the 1993 Italian Grand Prix.

In 1999, the South African Grand Prix returned. The venue chosen was the Phakisa Freeway in Welkom. In the 2002 event, the South African Department of Health announced a week before the Grand Prix that it was no longer allowed to advertise tobacco products in motorsports. This caused a big problem because that year's official sponsor of the race was French cigarette brand Gauloises. All the posters and programs - who were already printed and ready for distribution - had to be thrown away and quickly altered and all the teams who were sponsored by tobacco companies that year were forced to order new and censored stickers for the bikes, overalls for the riders, team clothing for the crewmembers and more. This caused significant financial damage as a result. In 2003, the start of the MotoGP race was delayed for almost one hour to clean up an oil spill from Kenny Roberts Jr.'s Suzuki. The 2004 race was the final South African Grand Prix so far and saw Valentino Rossi and Max Biaggi famously battle for the victory.

Official names and sponsors

• 1983: Nashua Motorcycle Grand Prix
• 1984: Technics Motorcycle Grand Prix
• 1985: National Panasonic Motorcycle Grand Prix
• 1992: Nashua South African Grand Prix
• 1999: South African Grand Prix (no official sponsor)
• 2000–2001: Gauloises Africa's Grand Prix
• 2002: Africa's Grand Prix (no official sponsor)
• 2003: Arnette Africa's Grand Prix
• 2004: betandwin.com Africa's Grand Prix

Formerly used circuits

• 
  The old Kyalami track, used from 1983 to 1985.
• 
  The new, shortened Kyalami track, used in 1992.

Winners

Multiple winners (riders)

# Wins	Rider	Wins
		Category	Years won
3	Valentino Rossi	MotoGP	2004
		500cc	2001
		250cc	1999
2	Freddie Spencer	500cc	1983
		250cc	1985
	Eddie Lawson	500cc	1984, 1985
	Max Biaggi	500cc	1999
		250cc	1992
	Manuel Poggiali	250cc	2003
		125cc	2002
	Daniel Pedrosa	250cc	2004
		125cc	2003

Multiple winners (manufacturers)

# Wins	Manufacturer	Wins
		Category	Years won
10	Honda	MotoGP	2002, 2003
		500cc	1983, 2001
		250cc	1985, 2001, 2004
		125cc	1992, 2003, 2004
8	Yamaha	MotoGP	2004
		500cc	1984, 1985, 1992, 1999, 2000
		250cc	1984, 2000
6	Aprilia	250cc	1992, 1999, 2002, 2003
		125cc	1999, 2000

By year

Year	Track	125cc		250cc		MotoGP		Report
		Rider	Manufacturer	Rider	Manufacturer	Rider	Manufacturer
2004	Welkom	Andrea Dovizioso	Honda	Daniel Pedrosa	Honda	Valentino Rossi	Yamaha	Report
2003		Daniel Pedrosa	Honda	Manuel Poggiali	Aprilia	Sete Gibernau	Honda	Report
2002		Manuel Poggiali	Gilera	Marco Melandri	Aprilia	Tohru Ukawa	Honda	Report
Year	Track	125cc		250cc		500cc		Report
		Rider	Manufacturer	Rider	Manufacturer	Rider	Manufacturer
2001	Welkom	Youichi Ui	Derbi	Daijiro Kato	Honda	Valentino Rossi	Honda	Report
2000		Arnaud Vincent	Aprilia	Shinya Nakano	Yamaha	Garry McCoy	Yamaha	Report
1999		Gianluigi Scalvini	Aprilia	Valentino Rossi	Aprilia	Max Biaggi	Yamaha	Report
1992	Kyalami	Jorge Martínez	Honda	Max Biaggi	Aprilia	John Kocinski	Yamaha	Report

Year	Track	80cc		125cc		250cc		500cc		Report
		Rider	Manufacturer	Rider	Manufacturer	Rider	Manufacturer	Rider	Manufacturer
1985	Kyalami					Freddie Spencer	Honda	Eddie Lawson	Yamaha	Report
1984						Patrick Fernandez	Yamaha	Eddie Lawson	Yamaha	Report
1983						Jean-François Baldé	Chevallier	Freddie Spencer	Honda	Report