Hugh Neville "Kork" Ballington (born 10 April 1951) is a South African former professional motorcycle racer. He competed in the Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships from 1976 to

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C., Un ...

, most prominently as a member of the

Kawasaki Kawasaki ( ja, 川崎, Kawasaki, river peninsula, links=no) may refer to: Places *Kawasaki, Kanagawa, a Japanese city **Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki, a ward in Kawasaki, Kanagawa **Kawasaki City Todoroki Arena **Kawasaki Stadium, a multi-sport stadium *K ...

factory racing team. The four-time FIM

road racing Road racing is a form of motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held either on a closed circuit or on a street circuit utilizing temporarily closed public roads. Originally, road races were held almost entirely on p ...

world champion was inducted into the MotoGP Legends Hall of Fame in 2018. __TOC__

Motorcycle racing career

Born in

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a landlocked self-governing British Crown colony in southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally k ...

, Ballington used his domestic production

experience as a springboard to gain entry into the British racing scene. He raced an over-the-counter Yamaha twin for several years before taking a well-earned place on the Kawasaki

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with t ...

racing team riding Kawasaki KR250 and KR350s alongside Mick Grant and Barry Ditchburn. In the 250 and 350 classes, Ballington swept away the competition on his Kawasakis in 1978 and 1979, capturing consecutive double

world championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

. In 1980, he campaigned Kawasaki's new KR500 but developing a new bike proved to be difficult in the premier class. After three years in the 500cc class, he couldn't repeat the success he enjoyed in the smaller classes and retired from competition. Ballington now lives with his family in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, Australia. In 2018, MotoGP announced he would be inducted into the MotoGP Legends Hall of Fame.

Motorcycle Grand Prix results

( key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in ''italics'' indicate fastest lap)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ballington, Kork Zimbabwean people of British descent White Rhodesian people Zimbabwean emigrants to South Africa Zimbabwean emigrants to Australia South African emigrants to Australia Sportspeople from Harare Sportspeople from Pietermaritzburg South African motorcycle racers 250cc World Championship riders 350cc World Championship riders 500cc World Championship riders 1951 births Living people