Malaysian Grand Prix

Press, 26 April 1983, Page 6

Malaysian Grand Prix

NZPA-Reuter Kuala Lumpur Robert Handford, of Australia, won the Malaysian Grand Prix yesterday at the Shah Alam circuit in a Halt RT4. Fellow Australians, Geoff Nicol, Bob Creasy and Andrew Miedecke, finished second, third and fourth respectively in similar cars. The defending champion, Graeme Lawrence, of New Zealand, set the pace in another Ralt RT4 until the eighteenth lap when he dropped out with electrical failure. Miedecke took over the lead but was forced into the pits in the, twenty-fourth lap with a broken valve spring. He re-

turned to the race hut was already five laps behind the third-placed Creasy. Handford, a real estate salesman from Brisbane, took over the leadership from Miedecke and held it until the end. In the grand prix for motorcycles, Mike Baldwin, of the United States, led all th way to win on a Honda RSRSOO. Singapore's Fabian Looi was second on a Yamaha TZ after an early tussle with Brent Jones, of Australia, and a Malaysian, Foreman Oh. Jones finished third but Oh dropped out with fuel injection problems. Both were also .on Yanina TZ bikes.