1981 Individual Speedway World Championship

Motorcycle speedway world championship season February 2024 February 2024 1981 Individual Speedway World Championship 1980 1982 The 1981 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 36th edition of the official Motorcycle speedway World Championship to determine the world champion rider.http://edinburghspeedway.blogspot.com/2013/04/world-speedway-championships.html World Championship 1936-1994 Edinburgh Speedway 10 July 2021https://www.speedwayresearcher.org.uk/worldchamps1936to94.pdf WORLD FINALS 1936-1994 Speedway Researcher 10 July 2021http://www.speedway.org/history/ HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK Speedway.org 10 July 2021https://wwosbackup.proboards.com/board/89/world Speedway riders, history and results wwosbackup 10 July 2021https://www.speedwaygb.co.uk/worldfinalindex WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX British Speedway 10 July 2021 It was also the last of a record 26 times that London's world famous Wembley Stadium hosted the World Final. It also marked the final time that the stadium would be used for any speedway. In future years when the final was held in England, it would be held at the Odsal Stadium in Bradford until the advent of the Speedway Grand Prix series in 1995. The 1981 Final was held before a reported crowd of 92,500, just shy of the Wembley record of 95,000 set at the 1938 World Final. Bruce Penhall became the first American to win the World Championship since Jack Milne in 1937.https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002139/19810907/028/0028 Happy Penhall the ambassador Birmingham Mai 7 September 1981 British Newspaper Archive subscription 29 August 2024 As a past World Championship winner at Wembley, the 74-year-old Milne was a special guest at the event and saw Penhall end America's 44 year Individual World Championship drought. Though he remained undefeated until his last ride when he only needed to finish 3rd to win the Championship (he finished that race in second behind his rival Kenny Carter), Penhall was forced to work hard for his maiden World Championship. In both Heat 7 and Heat 14 he was second for over 3½ laps behind Ole Olsen and Tommy Knudsen respectively before passing both in the run to the line. Olsen would defeat Knudsen in a runoff for second and third places after both finished on 12 points. The triple World Champion gaining some revenge on his younger countryman after Knudsen had defeated Olsen in the first heat of the meeting. In Heat 6, Erik Gundersen set a new four lap record of 66.8 seconds for the track and as this was the final speedway meeting at Wembley it will forever be the track record. First round New Zealand qualification EventDateVenueWinner2nd3rdSouth Island Final 19 JanRuapuna Speedway, Christchurch Larry Ross Tony Briggs Ivan MaugerNorth Island Final ?Awapuni Speedway, Gisborne Wayne Brown Colin FarquharsonMartin Weygang Australian qualification EventDateVenueWinner2nd3rd Southern Zone Final16 JanSpeedway Park, Adelaide Phil Crump John Boulger Mick McKeon Northern Zone Final12 FebExhibition Ground, Brisbane Gary Guglielmi Neil Coddington Billy Sanders British qualification DateVenueWinner2nd3rd Preliminary Round 7 AprilWessex Stadium, Weymouth Neil Middleditch Simon Wigg Kevin Smith 10 AprilEast of England Arena, Peterborough Louis Carr Kevin Hawkins Nicky Allott 12 AprilRye House Stadium, Hoddesdon Keith White Melvyn Taylor Bob Garrad 12 AprilBoston Sports Stadium, Boston Steve Lomas David Gagen Eric Broadbelt 14 AprilCrayford & Bexleyheath Stadium, Crayford Barry Thomas Ian Gledhill Dave Morton Quarter-Final 27 AprilBrough Park, Newcastle Eric Broadbelt Kevin Hawkins Neil Middleditch Second round Continental preliminary round Riders progress to Continental quarter-finals DateVenueWinner2nd3rd 25 AprilYUG Petišovci Stadium, Lendava AUT Herbert Szerecz FRG Alois Wiesböck POL Mariusz Okoniewski 26 AprilFRG Breitenthal Stadium, Krumbach HUN Ferenc Farkaš CSK Jan Verner NED Henny Kroeze 26 AprilBUL Shumen Motopista, Shumen POL Henryk Olszak CSK Ladislav Hradecky POL Andrzej Huszcza 26 AprilCSK Speedway Žarnovica, Žarnovica FRG Waldemar Bacik FRG Andreas Niedemaier FRG Kurt Prastbo Australian Final 21 February 1981 AUS Exhibition Ground, Brisbane First 8 to Australasian Final Pos. Rider Total1 Billy Sanders 142 Phil Crump 123 John Titman 104 Danny Kennedy 105 Phil Herne 96 Gary Guglielmi 87 Steve Regeling 88 Mick McKeon 89 John Boulger 710 Robert Maxfield 711 Steve Koppe 712 Neil Coddington 713 Tim Nunan 614 Bob Chitchcock 315 Glenn McDonald 216 Lou Sansom 2 New Zealand Final 6 February 1981 NZL Meeanee Speedway, Napier First 8 to Australasian Final Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total1 Ivan Mauger 3,3,3,3,3152 Mitch Shirra 3,3,3,3,2143 Larry Ross 3,3,2,2,3134 Wayne Brown 1,3,3,3,1115 Mike Fullerton 2,2,2,1,3106 David Bargh 3,2,1,2,2107 Tony Briggs 2,2,2,2,198 Greame Beardsley 1,1,3,2,189 John Goodall 0,1,1,3,3810 Mark Dekok 2,1,2,0,0 511 Gavin Rhodes 2,1,1,1,0 512 Greg Joynt 0,2,1,0,2 513 Max Brown 1,0,0,0,2 314 Colin Farquharson 0,0,0,1,1 215 Alan Crosbie 0,0,0,1,0116 Patrick Pawson 1,0,0,0,-1R1 Bruce Elvey 00R2 Kym Mauger ns0 Swedish qualification Top 8 in each heat to Swedish final (3 May, Motala Arena, Motala)PosRider Points 1 Tommy Nilsson 142 Tommy Johansson 123 Hans Danielsson 124 Lillebror Johansson 115 Bo Wirebrand 106 Börje Klingberg 17 Björn Andersson 108 Gert Carlsson 7+39 Åke Axelsson 7+210 Lars Hammarberg 611 Thomas Hydling 512 Alf Trofast 513 Conny Samuelsson 414 Sören Karlsson 415 Tommy Steen 216 Bengt Gustavsson 117 Ulf Blomqvist (res) 0 (8 May, Grevby Motorstadion, Mariestad)PosRider Points 1 Anders Michanek 142 Bernt Persson 133 Karl-Erik Claesson 124 Lennart Bengtsson 125 Åke Fridell 116 Pierre Brannefors 97 Lars Rosberg8+38 Richard Hellsén 8+29 Uno Johansson 8+110 Bengt Jansson 511 Sören Brolin 412 Anders Eriksson (res) 413 Raymond Forsberg 314 Börje Ring 315 Jan Ericsson 316 Lars Ericsson 117 Per-Ove Gudmundsson 118 Håkan Andersson (res) 1 British semi-finals 13 May ENG Wimborne Road, Poole Top 8 to British final Pos. Rider Points1 Dave Jessup132 Steve Bastable133 Gordon Kennett124 John Davis115 Phil Collins116 Kevin Jolly97 Kevin Smith98 Malcolm Simmons99 Roger Johns810 Bob Garrad611 Paul Woods512 Dave Morton413 Neil Middleditch414 Nigel Flatman315 Andy Grahame216 Alan Molyneux014 May ENG Owlerton Stadium, Sheffield Top 8 to British final Pos. Rider Points1 Les Collins142 Chris Morton133 Kenny Carter134 Michael Lee115 Melvyn Taylor116 John Louis97 Ian Cartwright98 Eric Broadbelt89 Alan Grahame710 Kevin Hawkins611 Jim McMillan612 Joe Owen513 Peter Prinsloo314 Doug Wyer315 Reg Wilson216 Ian Gledhill0 Third round Continental quarter-finals Top 32 to Continental semi-finals DateVenueWinner2nd3rd 10 MayITA Santa Marina Stadium, Lonigo NED Henny Kroeze FRG Georg Hack CSK Aleš Dryml Sr. 10 MayFRG Breitwangbahn, Bopfingen FRG Egon Muller POL Zenon Plech USSR Valery Gordeev 10 MayHUN Borsod Volán Stadion, Miskolc POL Roman Jankowski CSK Zdeněk Kudrna HUN Zoltan Adorjan 10 MayAUT Stadion Wiener Neustadt POL Jerzy Rembas POL Andrzej Huszcza USSR Mikhail Starostin Australasian Final 28 February 1981 AUS Liverpool City Raceway, Sydney First 4 to Overseas final plus 1 reserve Pos. Rider Total1 NZL Ivan Mauger 152 AUS Danny Kennedy 11+33 NZL Larry Ross 11+2 4 AUS Phil Herne 11+15 AUS Billy Sanders 10+36 AUS Phil Crump 10+27 AUS Gary Guglielmi 98 NZL Mitch Shirra 89 AUS John Titman 710 AUS Mick McKeon 711 NZL Tony Briggs 612 NZL Wayne Brown 513 NZL David Bargh 214 AUS Steve Regeling 215 NZL Mike Fullerton 116 NZL Graeme Beardsley 117 AUS Robert Maxfield (res) 1 American Final 30 May 1981 USA Los Angeles Coliseum, Los Angeles First 4 to Overseas final x P1 1 USA Bruce Penhall 3 3 3 3 3 x P2 9 USA Dennis Sigalos 3 1 3 3 3 x 3 P3 3 USA Kelly Moran 2 3 2 3 3 x 2 4 5 USA Scott Autrey 2 0 3 2 3 x 3 5 16 USA Shawn Moran 3 3 2 1 1 x 2 6 13 USA Alan Christian 1 2 3 3 1 x 1 7 15 USA Denny Pyeatt 2 2 2 2 2 x 0 8 2 USA Mike Faria 0 3 1 2 2 x 9 8 USA Bobby Schwartz 3 2 1 0 1 x 10 11 USA Steve Gresham 2 1 1 1 2 x 11 6 USA David De Temple 1 2 0 1 2 x 12 4 USA Brad Oxley 1 1 2 0 0 x 13 14 USA Keith Chrisco 0 1 0 2 1 x 14 10 USA Steve Columbo 1 0 0 0 0 x 15 12 USA Jefrey Tomlin 0 0 0 0 0 x 16 7 USA Dubb Ferrell 0 x F - - - R1 R1 USA Bobby McLain y 1 w 0 R2 R2 USA Dan McConnell r 1 British Final 3 June 1981 ENG Brandon Stadium, Coventry First 8 to Overseas final plus 1 reserve x P1 3 ENG Steve Bastable 2 3 3 3 2 x 3 P2 2 ENG Kenny Carter 3 2 3 2 3 x 2 P3 5 ENG John Louis 3 3 2 2 3 x 1 4 4 ENG Les Collins 1 3 3 3 2 x 5 10 ENG Chris Morton 3 3 2 1 1 x 6 6 ENG Dave Jessup 2 1 1 2 3 x 7 16 ENG Michael Lee 3 1 3 0 1 x 8 15 ENG Ian Cartwright 2 0 1 1 3 x 9 13 ENG Malcolm Simmons 0 2 1 3 0 x 3 10 11 ENG Eric Broadbelt 0 2 2 1 1 x 2 11 9 ENG Phil Collins 2 0 2 0 2 x 1 12 7 ENG Melvyn Taylor 1 1 0 3 0 x 13 1 ENG John Davis 1 0 2 2 x - 14 12 ENG Gordon Kennett 1 2 0 1 1 x 15 14 ENG Kevin Smith 1 0 1 0 0 x 16 8 ENG Kevin Jolly 0 0 0 0 0 x R1 R1 ENG Keith White r 0 Norwegian Final 26 April 1981 NOR Elgane Speedway, Varhaug First 2 to Nordic final Pos. Rider Total1 Rolf Gramstad 152 Audun Ove Olsen 133 Jorn Haufvalstad 124 Trond Helge Skretting 115 Dag Haaland 106 Ingve Madland 97 Terje Tollefsen 78 Kurt Ueland 79 Geir Aasland 710 Roy Otto 611 Asgeir Bjerga 612 Dagfin Jorgensen 513 Sigvart Pedersen 514 Kjell Gimre 515 Rolf Havirstad 216 Oddmund Bye 0 Danish Final 10 May 1981 DEN Fjelsted Speedway Stadium, Harndrup First 6 to Nordic final Pos. Rider Total1 Ole Olsen 152 Bo Petersen 133 Erik Gundersen 12+34 Tommy Knudsen 12+25 Hans Nielsen 12+16 Jens Henry Nielsen 8+37 Finn Thomsen 8+28 Preben Eriksen 8+19 Finn Rune Jensen 710 Mikael Lohmann 711 Bent Rasmussen 512 Steen Mastrup 513 Hans Ove Christiansen 414 Bent Juul Larsen 315 Svend Lund 016 Klaus Lohman 0R1 Finn Lundahl 1 Finland Final FIN Pippo Speedway, Lahti 7 September 1980, top 2 (+1 seeded rider) to 1981 Nordic final Pos. Rider Total1 Kai Niemi 152 Ari Koponen 143 Veijo Tuoriniemi 124 Olli Tyrvainen 105 Veli Pekka Kunelius 106 Ilkka Teromaa 97 Pekka Hautamaki 88 Timo Kiansten 79 Markku Parkkari 710 Ossi Henriksson 611 Veikko Haapamaki 612 Hannu Larronmaa 513 Pekka Turkia 414 Markku Haapala 315 Ari Heinonen 116 Kari Yrjanainen (res) 117 Jarmo Puttonen (res) 118 Seppo Palomaki 119 Heimo Kaikko (res) 0 Swedish Final 17 May 1981 SWE Gislaved Motorbana, Gislaved First 4 to Nordic final, Jan Andersson seeded to Nordic final Pos. Rider Total1 Anders Michanek 122 Tommy Nilsson 11+33 Hans Danielsson 11+24 Bernt Persson 11+15 Bo Wirebrand 10+36 Börje Klingberg 10+27 Richard Hellsén 98 Björn Andersson 89 Lennart Bengtsson 710 Tommy Johansson 711 Pierre Brannefors 612 Åke Fridell 613 Gerd Carlsson 414 Lars Rosberg 415 Lillebror Johansson 316 Karl-Erik Claesson 1 Fourth round Continental semi-finals 13 June FRG Ellermühle Speedway Stadium, Landshut Top 8 to Continental final Pos. Rider Points1 POL Zenon Plech 122 FRG Georg Hack 123 TCH Milan Špinka 114 USSR Valerij Gordeev 115 TCH Jiří Štancl 116 TCH Aleš Dryml Sr. 97 FRG Egon Müller 98FRG Waldemar Bacik 8+39 TCH Jan Verner 8+210 TCH Jan Hadek 711 FRG George Gilgenreiner (res)512 FRG Josef Aigner 413 FRG Christoph Betzl 414 NED Henny Kroeze 415 USSR Anatolij Maximov 316 USSR Viktor Kuznetsov 117 USSR Piotr Pyszny 018 FRG Wolfgang Mayr 014 June POL Alfred Smoczyk Stadium, Leszno Top 8 to Continental final Pos. Rider Points1 POL Edward Jancarz 112 POL Jerzy Rembas 113 TCH Zdenek Kudrna 114 POL Roman Jankowski 105 POL Marek Kepa 106 TCH Petr Kucera 107 USSR Grigory Khlinovsky 108POL Marek Towalski 9+39 POL Henryk Olszak 9+210 FRG Alois Wiesböck 711 USSR Michail Starostin 612 POL Andrzej Huszcza 413 USSR Pavel Khlynovski 314 TCH Václav Verner 215 AUT Heinrich Schatzer 216 HUN Jozsef Sziraczki 1 Overseas Final 12 July 1981 ENG White City Stadium, London First 10 to Intercontinental final plus 1 reserve x P1 14 ENG Dave Jessup 3 3 3 3 1 x P2 7 ENG Chris Morton 2 1 3 2 3 x P3 9 USA Bruce Penhall 3 2 2 3 x 3 X 4 13 USA Kelly Moran 1 3 1 2 3 x 2 5 15 USA Dennis Sigalos 2 2 3 1 2 x 1 6 11 NZL Larry Ross 2 3 3 1 0 x 7 10 ENG John Louis 0 1 2 3 3 x 8 4 ENG Michael Lee 2 2 0 2 3 x 9 16 ENG Kenny Carter 0 3 1 2 2 x 10 5 NZL Ivan Mauger 3 1 1 1 2 x 11 1 ENG Les Collins 3 0 2 1 1 x 12 8 ENG Steve Bastable 1 1 1 3 0 x 13 6 ENG Ian Cartwright 0 2 0 0 2 x 14 2 USA Scott Autrey 1 0 2 0 1 x 15 12 AUS Danny Kennedy 1 0 0 0 1 x 16 3 AUS Phil Herne 0 0 0 0 x E Nordic Final 2 June 1981 SWE Norrköping Motorstadion, Norrköping First 6 to Intercontinental final plus 1 reserve Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total1 DEN Tommy Knudsen 3,3,3,3,3 152 DEN Hans Nielsen 2,3,3,2,3 133 DEN Ole Olsen 2,3,2,3,2 124 DEN Preben Eriksen 3,2,2,2,3 125 SWE Jan Andersson 3,2,1,3,2 116 DEN Erik Gundersen 2,1,3,3,1 10+37 DEN Bo Petersen 3,3,0,2,2 10+ns8 FIN Kai Niemi 1,1,1,2,3 89 FIN Ari Koponen E,0,2,1,2 510 SWE Tommy Nilsson 1,1,2,1,0 511 SWE Hans Danielsson 1,2,0,1,1 512 NOR Audun Ove Olsen 1,1,1,1,0 413 NOR Rolf Gramstad E,2,1,0,1 414 SWE Bernt Persson 0,F,3,0,- 315 SWE Anders Michanek 2,0,-,-,- 216 FIN Pekka Hautamäki F,0,0,0,1 117 DEN Finn Thomsen (Res) 0,0 018 SWE Bo Wirebrand (Res) 0,0 0 Fifth round Continental Final 25 July 1981 TCH Marketa Stadium, Prague First 5 to World final plus 1 reserve Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total1 FRG Egon Müller 3,3,3,3,X 12+2+32 TCH Aleš Dryml Sr. 3,0,3,3,3 12+3+23 POL Edward Jancarz 3,2,2,2,3 12+2+14 TCH Jiří Štancl 2,3,2,3,2 12+2+05 POL Zenon Plech 2,3,3,3,1 12+E+E6 POL Henryk Olszak 2,1,2,1,3 9+37 TCH Jan Verner 0,2,3,2,2 9+28 POL Marek Kepa 3,1,1,2,1 89 POL Roman Jankowski 1,3,1,1,0 610 TCH Zdeněk Kudrna 1,1,0,1,3 611 TCH Milan Špinka 0,2,2,2,- 612 TCH Petr Kucera 2,0,X,1,2 513 FRG Waldemar Bacik 0,1,1,0,1 314 POL Marek Towalski 0,2,0,0,0 215 FRG Georg Hack 1,X,F,0,- 116 USSR Valery Gordeev 1,0,0,0,0 1R1 CSK Petr Ondrašík 0,2 2R2 CSK Antonín Kasper, Jr. 1 1 Intercontinental Final 25 July 1981 DEN Vojens Speedway Center, Vojens First 11 to World final plus 1 reserve x P1 14 USA Bruce Penhall 3 3 3 3 3 x P2 10 DEN Erik Gundersen 3 2 3 1 3 x P3 4 DEN Hans Nielsen 3 2 2 2 2 x 3 4 8 ENG Kenny Carter 3 1 2 3 2 x 2 5 16 ENG Dave Jessup 1 3 3 0 3 x 6 15 DEN Tommy Knudsen 2 1 2 3 1 x 7 3 ENG Michael Lee 1 3 1 3 x F 8 5 SWE Jan Andersson 1 1 3 2 1 x 9 11 ENG Chris Morton 2 2 2 2 0 x 10 12 NZL Larry Ross 1 0 1 2 3 x 11 2 DEN Ole Olsen 2 1 0 1 2 x 12 13 DEN Preben Eriksen 0 2 1 2 x F 13 9 NZL Ivan Mauger 0 3 0 1 0 x 14 7 ENG John Louis 2 0 0 1 1 x 15 6 USA Dennis Sigalos 0 0 1 0 x F 16 1 USA Kelly Moran 0 0 0 x F E R1 R1 DEN Bo Petersen R2 R2 ENG Les Collins World Final 5 September 1981 ENG Wembley Stadium, London.Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. 0-7524-2402-5 Referee: (AUS) Sam Bass Attendance: 92,500 1 11 USA Bruce Penhall 3 3 3 3 2 14 2 3 DEN Ole Olsen 2 2 3 2 3 12+3 3 2 DEN Tommy Knudsen 3 2 2 2 3 12+2 4 10 DEN Erik Gundersen 2 3 0 3 3 11 5 5 ENG Kenny Carter 3 2 3 e 3 11 6 12 SWE Jan Andersson 1 2 1 3 2 9 7 7 FRG Egon Müller 1 1 3 2 2 9 8 16 ENG Dave Jessup 3 3 e e 1 7 9 15 DEN Hans Nielsen 2 0 0 2 2 6 10 9 ENG Michael Lee 0 3 2 0 f 5 11 8 ENG Chris Morton 2 1 1 1 0 5 12 1 POL Edward Jancarz 1 1 1 1 1 5 13 4 NZL Larry Ross 0 t 1 3 0 4 14 13 CSK Aleš Dryml Sr. 0 0 2 0 1 3 15 6 POL Zenon Plech f 0 2 1 0 3 16 14 CSK Jiří Štancl 1 1 0 0 1 3 Res 17 POL Henryk Olszak r 0 0 Res 18 DEN Preben Eriksen 0 References 1981 World Individual Category:1981 in British motorsport Individual Speedway World Championship Category:Speedway competitions in the United Kingdom