1973 Individual Speedway World Championship

Motorcycle speedway world championship season January 2024 January 2024 1973 Individual Speedway World Championship 1972 1974 The 1973 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 28th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.Oakes Peter 1981 Speedway Yearbook 1981 20–21 Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd 0-86215-017-5http://edinburghspeedway.blogspot.com/2013/04/world-speedway-championships.html World Championship 1936-1994 Edinburgh Speedway 9 July 2021https://www.speedwayresearcher.org.uk/worldchamps1936to94.pdf WORLD FINALS 1936-1994 Speedway Researcher 9 July 2021http://www.speedway.org/history/ HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK Speedway.org 9 July 2021https://wwosbackup.proboards.com/board/89/world Speedway riders, history and results wwosbackup 9 July 2021https://www.speedwaygb.co.uk/worldfinalindex WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX British Speedway 9 July 2021 The 1973 World Final was won by Polish rider Jerzy Szczakiel following a run-off in with defending champion Ivan Mauger after both riders had finished on 13 points. On the second lap of the run-off, Mauger fell in turn 3 after trying a risky passing move leaving Szczakiel to win easily. Another Polish rider, Zenon Plech finished third. Rank outsider Szczakiel, who had finished last with no points scored in his only other World Final appearance in Sweden in 1971, rode the meeting of his life and was only beaten in his final two rides before defeating Mauger in the run-off.Unknown Pole wins crown from Mauger Newcastle Evening Chronicle 3 September 1973 6 April 2024 https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000726/19730903/190/0023 British Newspaper Archive subscription The final, held at the Silesian Stadium in Chorzów, Poland, is believed to have been held in front of the largest crowd in world speedway history, estimated to be around 130,000, though some reports put the size of the crowd as anywhere from 90,000 to 120,000.Katowice 1973 The previous record for a final was 95,000 during the 1938 Individual Speedway World Championship at Wembley. Format changes The format of the Championship changed for the 1973 event. This time the Polish riders were allowed five places in the World Final to be held in Poland. All other nations had to go through the European Final route to provide the remaining 11 riders for the World Final.https://dlprezes.pl.tl/World-Speedway-Championship-_-1973.htm 1973 World Championship Metal Speedway 20 January 2024http://www.speedway.org/history/73.htm#1973 1973 World Championship Speedway.org 20 January 2024 First round British/Commonwealth preliminaries Riders progress to British/Commonwealth qualifiers DateVenueWinner2nd3rd 29 AprilArlington Stadium, Eastbourne Gordon Kennett Paul Gachet Bobby McNeil 29 AprilBoston Sports Stadium, Boston Graeme Stapleton John Dews Russ Osborne 2 MayOdsal Stadium, Bradford Neil Street Billy Sanders Rick France 7 MayEarle Street, Crewe Mitch Graham Arthur Price Les Owen 7 MayBirchfield Ladbroke Stadium, Birmingham Jim Ryman Bob Paulson Ted Howgego Second round Norwegian qualifying 10 September 1972 NOR Gamle Stadion, Sandefjord Top 12 to Nordic qualification 1973 Pos. Rider Points1 Ulf Lövaas 142 Dag Lövaas 123 Odd Fossengen 114 Helge Langli 115 Svein Kaasa 96 Oyvind S. Berg 97 Edgar Stangeland 98 Reidar Eide 99 Tormod Langli 810 Hans Erik Fuglerud 711 Johnny Larsen 712 Per Hetland 513 Svein Lökken 314 Kjell Gimre 315 Jan Jacobsen 216 Öyvind Rökeberg 0 Finnish qualifying (top 10) FIN (3 rounds) First (+1 seeded riders) to Nordic qualification 1973 R1 (? '72, Kärpänen Speedway, Lahti) R2 (26 Aug '72, Kärpänen Speedway, Lahti) R3 (? '72, Eteläpuisto, Tampere) Pos. Rider Points Total (best 2)1 Matti Olin 8+8+0162 Hannu Känkänen 4+6+8143 Kalevi Lahtinen 6+0+6124 Heikki Ahonen 1+3+475 Kari Vuoristo 3+2+056 Pekka Paljakka 0+4+047 Matti Touru 0+0+338 Tapio Leppasalko 2+1+039 Jouko Naskali 0+0+2210 Timo Naskali 0+0+11 Swedish qualifying Top 8 in each heat to Nordic qualification (1 May, Gamla Galgberget, Visby)PosRider Points 1 Lars Jansson 142 Bernt Persson 123 Christer Löfqvist 104 Jan Simensen 95 Sven Nilsson 96 Kenneth Selmosson 97 Bo Wirebrand 98 Karl-Erik Claesson 99 Conny Samuelsson 810 Håkan Karlsson 711 Sören Karlsson 612 Bengt Olsson 613 Anders Lövgren 414 Peter Smith 315 Lars Larsson 316 Leif Mellberg2 (1 May, Målilla (Motorbana), Målilla)PosRider Points 1 Sören Sjösten 142 Bengt Jansson 133 Anders Michanek 114 Stefan Johansson 115 Tommy Johansson 106 Leif Johansson 107 Bengt Larsson 78 Stefan Salmonsson 79 Anders Jansson 610 Sigvard Johansson 611 Roy Dantanus 512 Lars-Inge Hultberg 513 Tomas Johansson 514 Therje Henriksson 415 Steve Johansson 416 Åke Andersson 217 Bertil Andersson 0 (5 May, Motorbanen Hagalund, Lindesberg)PosRider Points 1 Hasse Holmqvist 142 Tommy Jansson 123 Tomas Pettersson 104 Stephan Johansson 105 Leif Enecrona 96 Tommy Nilsson 97 Göte Nordin 98 Christer Sjösten 89 Rolf Johansson 710 Åke Dovhed 611 Käll Haage 612 Lennart Johansson 513 Willy Karlsson 414 Per-Åke Gerhardsson 415 Börje Klingberg 316 Hans Johansson 3 Continental qualifying Rider progress to Continental quarter-finals DateVenueWinner2nd3rd 29 AprilYUG Mladost Stadum, Prelog CSK Zdenek Majstr CSK Evzen Erban AUT Jozef Haider 6 MayFRG Motodrom Halbemond, Norden CSK Jan Hadek CSK Jiri Dominik NED Henny Kroeze British/Commonwealth qualifiers Top riders progress to British/Commonwealth semi-finals DateVenueWinner2nd3rd 12 MayKing's Lynn Stadium, King's Lynn John Louis Terry Betts Malcolm Simmons 14 May Reading Stadium, Reading Martin Ashby Mick Bell Geoff Curtis 16 MayWimborne Road, Poole Pete Smith Ray Wilson Terry Betts 17 MayOwlerton Stadium, Sheffield Jim McMillan Arnie Haley Doug Wyer 18 MayMonmore Green, Wolverhampton George Hunter Ray Wilson Gary Peterson 18 MayHackney Wick Stadium, London Terry Betts Bob Valentine Barry Thomas 19 MayThe Shay, Halifax John Boulger Eric Boocock Bill Andrew 19 MayDudley Wood Stadium, Dudley John Louis Bruce Cribb Colin Gooddy 19 MayAbbey Stadium, Swindon Jim McMillan Doug Wyer Tony Davey 19 MayHyde Road, Manchester Ivan Mauger Chris Pusey Eric Broadbelt 21 MayCounty Ground Stadium, Exeter Ivan Mauger Martin Ashby Bob Coles 22 MayLeicester Stadium, Leicester John Boulger Ray Wilson Bob Kilby 23 MaySomerton Park, Newport Eric Boocock Roy Trigg Gary Peterson 24 MayWimbledon Stadium, London Peter Collins Norman Hunter Ian Turner 24 MayOxford Stadium, Oxford Bob Kilby Malcolm Ballard Eric Boocock 25 MayCliftonhill, Coatbridge Mick Bell John Boulger Chris Julian 26 MayBrandon Stadium, Coventry Nigel Boocock Ray Wilson Bob Kilby 29 MayFoxhall Stadium, Ipswich Ivan Mauger Tony Davey Mick Bell Third round Continental quarter-finals Top 32 to Continental semi-finals DateVenueWinner2nd3rd 10 MayCSK Svítkov Stadium, Pardubice USSR Vladimir Zapleshny CSK Jiří Štancl CSK Miloslav Verner 20 MayHUN Borsod Volán Stadion, Miskolc USSR Grigory Khlinovsky USSR Viktor Trofimov USSR Aleksandr Pavlov 20 MayFRG Breitenthal Stadium, Krumbach CSK Milan Špinka USSR Vladimir Paznikov CSK Jan Holub I 20 MayYUG Matija Gubec Stadium, Krško USSR Anatoly Kuzmin USSR Vladimir Gordeev CSK Petr Ondrašík British/Commonwealth semi-finals 5 June ENG Leicester Stadium, Leicester Top 8 to British/Commonwealth final Pos. Rider Points1 NZL Ivan Mauger 142 ENG John Louis 133 ENG Chris Pusey 124 SCO Jim Mcmillan105 ENG Rick France96 ENG Peter Collins97 AUS Bob Valentine88ENG Tony Davey89 AUS Garry Middleton810 ENG Alan Wilkinson711 ENG Doug Wyer 712 ENG Arnie Haley613 AUS Bob Humphreys614 ENG Eric Broadbelt215 ENG Bob Kilby116 ENG Nigel Boocock 07 June ENG Wimbledon Stadium, London Top 8 to British final Pos. Rider Points1 AUS John Boulger 142 ENG Martin Ashby133 ENG Eric Boocock104 ENG Malcolm Simmons105 ENG Ray Wilson106 ENG Terry Betts107 ENG Mick Bell98ENG Pete Smith99 ENG Roy Trigg710 ENG Gary Peterson511 ENG Barry Thomas 512 ENG Malcolm Ballard513 ENG Geoff Maloney414 SCO George Hunter315 NZL Bruce Cribb316 NZL Bill Andrew1 Nordic qualification Top 5 from each meeting to Nordic final (17 May, SWE Gubbängens IP, Stockholm)PosRider Points 1 SWE Bengt Jansson 152 SWE Anders Michanek143 SWE Göte Nordin134 NOR Dag Lövaas125 SWE Lars Jansson116 SWE Karl-Erik Claesson97 SWE Kenneth Selmosson88 SWE Sören Sjösten89 DEN Arne Andreasen710 DEN Erik Tillgaard611 SWE Sven Nilsson412 NOR Hans Fuglerud413 NOR Svein Lökken414 DEN Jörn Mogensen315 SWE Rolf Johansson (res)116 FIN Heikki Ahonen117 NOR Öystein Mellerud0 (27 May, NOR Grenland Arena, Skien)PosRider Points 1 SWE Bernt Persson 152 SWE Tommy Jansson 133 NOR Odd Fossengen 124 NOR Öyvind Berg 125 SWE Tommy Johansson 116 SWE Leif Enecrona 117 SWE Tomas Pettersson 8 8 DEN Krause Kjaer 89 SWE Bengt Larsson 710 NOR Ulf Lövaas 711 NOR Helge Langli 512 DEN Preben Bollerup 413 SWE Stefan Johansson 314 SWE Stefan Salmonsson 3 (27 May, DEN Selskov Stadium, Hillerod)PosRider Points 1 DEN Ole Olsen 152 SWE Christer Löfqvist 143 SWE Jan Simensen 134 SWE Hasse Holmqvist 115 SWE Christer Sjösten 116 NOR Edgar Stangeland 117 SWE Bo Wirebrand 78 NOR Jan Terje Gravningen 79 SWE Stephan Johansson 7 10 DEN Kurt Bögh 611 SWE Tommy Nilsson 612 DEN Bent Nörregaard-Jensen 413 SWE Leif Johansson 3 14 NOR Tormod Langli 2 15 NOR Per Herland 116 FIN Matti Olin 1 Fourth round Continental semi-finals 2 June FRG Rodenbach Motodrom, Rodenbach Top 8 to Continental final Pos. Rider Points1 USSR Grigory Khlinovsky 132 USSR Valerij Gordeev 133 TCH Václav Verner 124 TCH Milan Špinka 125 USSR Vladimir Paznikov 126 USSR Viktor Trofimov 77 USSR Alexander Pavlov 78FRG Josef Angermüller 79 USSR Oleg Dziadyk 710 TCH Jan Klokocka 711 FRG Manfred Poschenreider 612 TCH Jan Holub I 613 USSR Georgij Ivanov 414 TCH Miroslav Rosulek 315 USSR Vladimir Tchistiakov (res)116 USSR Yury Dubinin 017 USSR Petr Safarik 018 FRG Otto Barth (res)02 June TCH Slaný Speedway Stadium, Slaný Top 8 to Continental final Pos. Rider Points1 USSR Vladimir Gordeev 152 TCH Jiří Štancl 133 USSR Anatolij Kuzmin 124 USSR Vladimir Zaplechny 115 TCH Zdeněk Majstr 116 TCH Karel Vobornik 107 TCH Miroslav Verner 108TCH Petr Ondrašík 89 TCH Petr Kucera 610 USSR Nikolai Aksjonov 511 USSR Gregorij Markatanov 412 NED Henny Kroeze 413 USSR Nikolaj Kornev 414 GDR Gerhard Uhlenbrock 315 AUT Josef Bössner 216 HUN Pal Pereny 1 British/Commonwealth Final 21 June 1973 ENG Owlerton Stadium, Sheffield First 8 to British-Nordic Final x P1 15 ENG Ray Wilson 3 3 3 3 3 x P2 10 AUS Bob Valentine 3 3 2 2 2 x 3 P3 13 ENG Peter Collins 2 3 3 2 2 x 2 4 3 AUS John Boulger 2 1 3 3 3 x 1 5 2 NZL Ivan Mauger 3 1 3 3 x T 6 7 ENG Eric Boocock 2 2 0 3 2 x 7 8 ENG Tony Davey 3 2 2 1 1 x 8 16 ENG Rick France 1 2 2 1 3 x 9 6 ENG John Louis 0 3 3 1 x F 10 4 ENG Martin Ashby 1 3 1 1 0 x 11 5 AUS Garry Middleton 1 0 1 0 3 x 12 14 ENG Peter Smith 0 2 1 1 1 x 13 9 ENG Terry Betts 1 2 1 x F F 14 11 ENG Mick Bell 2 0 0 0 2 x 15 1 ENG Malcolm Simmons 0 1 1 0 0 x 16 12 SCO Jim McMillan 0 0 0 2 0 x R1 R1 ENG Chris Pusey Nordic Final 6 June 1973 SWE Norrköping Motorstadion, Norrköping First 8 to British-Nordic Final x P1 6 DEN Ole Olsen 3 3 3 3 3 x P2 5 SWE Bengt Jansson 2 3 3 3 3 x P3 7 SWE Anders Michanek 1 3 3 3 3 x 4 8 SWE Bernt Persson 0 3 3 3 3 x 5 3 SWE Tommy Jansson 3 1 2 2 2 x 6 4 SWE Jan Simensen 1 2 2 2 2 x 7 13 NOR Reidar Eide 3 2 1 2 1 x 8 11 SWE Göte Nordin 3 2 1 1 1 x 3 9 1 SWE Christer Löfqvist 2 1 2 1 2 x F 10 9 SWE Lars Jansson 2 0 1 0 2 x 11 12 SWE Christer Sjösten 2 2 0 x F E 12 10 NOR Øyvind S. Berg 1 1 0 1 1 x 13 2 NOR Dag Lovaas 2 1 0 0 x F 14 15 SWE Hasse Holmqvist 2 0 0 1 0 x 15 16 SWE Tommy Johansson 1 x E E - - 16 14 NOR Odd Fossengen 0 0 0 0 0 x R1 R1 SWE Leif Enecrona r 0 y 1 Fifth round British/Commonwealth/Nordic Final 1 August 1973 ENG Brandon Stadium, Coventry First 8 to European Final x P1 13 SWE Anders Michanek 3 3 2 3 3 x P2 8 DEN Ole Olsen 3 3 2 3 x T P3 4 NZL Ivan Mauger 1 2 3 3 2 x 4 2 SWE Tommy Jansson 2 3 2 1 2 x 5 7 AUS John Boulger 2 3 1 3 1 x 6 11 ENG Peter Collins 3 2 3 0 1 x 7 16 ENG Ray Wilson 1 2 3 3 x E 8 15 SWE Bernt Persson 2 3 2 2 x E 9 1 AUS Bob Valentine 3 2 0 2 1 x 10 6 NOR Reidar Eide 1 2 1 1 0 x 11 14 SWE Göte Nordin 1 1 2 1 0 x 12 10 SWE Bengt Jansson 2 1 x F F E 13 9 SWE Jan Simensen 1 0 1 0 0 x 14 12 ENG Tony Davey 0 0 0 0 1 x 15 3 ENG Eric Boocock 0 x T - - - DQ 5 ENG John Louis 3 1 1 2 3 x R1 R1 AUS Garry Middleton w T b 0 r 2 Continental Final 23 June 1973 USSR Leningrad Speedway Stadium, Leningrad First 8 to European Final plus 1 reserve x P1 15 USSR Valery Gordeev 3 3 2 2 3 x P2 4 USSR Grigory Khlinovsky 2 3 3 1 3 x P3 16 USSR Vladimir Zapleshny 2 2 2 3 3 x 4 6 USSR Vladimir Gordeev 3 3 1/2 3 2 x 5 1 USSR Viktor Trofimov 3 3 1/2 3 2 x 6 12 USSR Aleksandr Pavlov 3 0 3 2 3 x 7 8 USSR Anatoly Kuzmin 2 1 3 3 1 x 8 11 USSR Vladimir Paznikov 1 2 3 2 2 x 9 9 CSK Jiri Stancl 2 2 2 0 2 x 10 3 CSK Petr Ondrašík 1 1 0 2 1 x 11 14 CSK Milan Špinka 1 2 1 1 x X 12 13 CSK Václav Verner 0 1 2 1 0 x 13 5 CSK Miloslav Verner 1 0 1 1 0 x 14 7 FRG Josef Angermüller 0 0 1 1 1 x 15 10 CSK Karol Vobornik 0 1 0 0 0 x 16 2 CSK Petr Kučera 0 0 0 0 0 x Sixth round Polish qualifiers The top five finishers in the Golden Helmet, during the 1973 Polish speedway season gained nominations for the World final. European Final 19 August 1973 FRG Abensberger Stadion, Abensberg First 11 to World Final plus 1 reserve x P1 7 SWE Anders Michanek 3 3 3 3 3 x P2 5 NZL Ivan Mauger 2 3 3 3 3 x P3 13 USSR Vladimir Paznikov 3 2 1 3 3 x 4 4 SWE Bernt Persson 0 3 2 3 2 x 5 9 USSR Vladimir Zapleshny 3 0 2 2 2 x 6 16 ENG Peter Collins 2 2 3 2 x E 7 14 USSR Valery Gordeev 3 3 1 1 x F 8 11 DEN Ole Olsen 2 2 2 2 x - 9 1 USSR Grigory Khlinovsky 1 1 0 2 3 x 10 3 AUS John Boulger 3 1 1 1 1 x 11 2 ENG Ray Wilson 2 2 1 1 x F 12 6 SWE Bengt Jansson 1 1 1 1 2 x 13 15 USSR Aleksandr Pavlov 1 0 2 0 1 x 14 8 CSK Jiri Stancl 0 0 0 0 2 x 15 12 USSR Viktor Trofimov 0 1 1 0 0 x 16 10 USSR Anatoly Kuzmin 1 0 0 0 0 x R1 R1 DDR Otto Barth w 0 World Final Final Controversy The Final was surrounded by controversy, with decisions made by Georg Traunspurger, the referee assigned to the meeting by the FIM, seeming to favour the Polish riders. One of his decisions was to have 2nd reserve Andrzej Wyglenda of Poland race in Heat 16 in front of 1st reserve Tommy Jansson of Sweden (after Bernt Persson of Sweden was unable to ride), making it four Polish riders in the race. In the race, second placed Edward Jancarz, who led for the first three laps, seemed to let Zenon Plech take the lead in the final turn, allowing Plech, who had more points at that stage of the meeting, to collect another three points for the win. His most controversial decision was to exclude Soviet rider Grigory Khlinovsky from heat 19. Khlinovsky had attempted to pass on the inside of Zenon Plech for the lead going into the back straight of the last lap. As he was passed by the Russian, Plech lost control of his bike and fell. Despite protests from riders and the Soviet officials Khlinovsky was excluded and England's Peter Collins, who was in 3rd place at the time of the crash, was awarded the heat win, Plech, who didn't actually finish the race, was awarded 2nd. The result of the two points he gained for second place allowed Plech to finish a clear third in the championship. Had Khlinovsky been the winner of the heat, he would have ended on 13 points, which would have put him in the run-off for the title with Szczakiel and Mauger.YouTube British television commentator Dave Lanning called the ruling "The craziest piece of speedway regulations in the history of World Championship racing", before adding that "It seems to me that the authorities here in Katowice are making up the rules to suit themselves to get their boys a world title." Final result 2 September 1973 POL Silesian Stadium, ChorzówBamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. 0-7524-2402-5 Referee: FRG Georg Traunspurger x P1 16 POL Jerzy Szczakiel 3 3 3 2 2 x 3 P2 8 NZL Ivan Mauger 3 1 3 3 3 x F P3 6 POL Zenon Plech 2 3 2 3 2 x 4 7 DEN Ole Olsen 1 2 3 2 3 x 5 3 USSR Grigory Khlinovsky 2 3 2 3 x X 6 2 USSR Vladimir Paznikov 3 1 2 1 1 x 7 4 POL Paweł Waloszek 1 2 1 1 3 x 8 12 USSR Valery Gordeev 2 0 1 3 1 x 9 11 POL Jan Mucha 1 1 1 2 2 x 10 1 SWE Anders Michanek 0 3 1 2 x X 11 9 POL Edward Jancarz 3 1 0 2 0 x 12 13 ENG Peter Collins 1 0 2 0 3 x 13 14 AUS John Boulger 2 2 1 0 1 x 14 5 ENG Ray Wilson 2 3 0 x F F 15 10 USSR Vladimir Zapleshny 0 0 0 1 1 x 16 15 SWE Bernt Persson 0 x F R - - R1 R1 POL Andrzej Wyglenda y 0 x R2 R2 SWE Tommy Jansson w 0 x References World Individual World Category:1973 controversies Category:Speedway competitions in Poland 1973