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The comeback that sealed a motorsport legend

Barry Sheene had already survived an enormous accident at the 1975 Daytona 200, returning to win the '76 and '77 500cc world titles. But his race at the '83 British Grand Prix a year after another huge crash cemented his determined legacy

"It was like an aircraft had crashed." This is what Grand Prix motorcycle racing journalist Nick Harris thought upon arriving at the devastating scene of the accident that almost claimed the life of Barry Sheene at Silverstone in 1982.

It was the Wednesday before the British Grand Prix, and Sheene was a rider with a point to prove. The 1982 season had been going strongly for him up to that point, with four second-place finishes and two thirds putting him firmly in title contention alongside Yamaha stablemate Kenny Roberts and eventual champion Franco Uncini, who rode the works Suzuki.

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