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1981 Individual Speedway World Championship

Motorcycle speedway world championship season

Motorcycle speedway world championship season

The 1981 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 36th edition of the official Motorcycle speedway World Championship to determine the world champion rider.

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. 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

EventDateVenueWinner2nd3rd
South Island Final19 JanRuapuna Speedway, ChristchurchLarry RossTony BriggsIvan Mauger
North Island Final?Awapuni Speedway, GisborneWayne BrownColin FarquharsonMartin Weygang

Australian qualification

EventDateVenueWinner2nd3rd
Southern Zone Final16 JanSpeedway Park, AdelaidePhil CrumpJohn BoulgerMick McKeon
Northern Zone Final12 FebExhibition Ground, BrisbaneGary GuglielmiNeil CoddingtonBilly Sanders

British qualification

DateVenueWinner2nd3rdPreliminary RoundQuarter-Final
7 AprilWessex Stadium, WeymouthNeil MiddleditchSimon WiggKevin Smith
10 AprilEast of England Arena, PeterboroughLouis CarrKevin HawkinsNicky Allott
12 AprilRye House Stadium, HoddesdonKeith WhiteMelvyn TaylorBob Garrad
12 AprilBoston Sports Stadium, BostonSteve LomasDavid GagenEric Broadbelt
14 AprilCrayford & Bexleyheath Stadium, CrayfordBarry ThomasIan GledhillDave Morton
27 AprilBrough Park, NewcastleEric BroadbeltKevin HawkinsNeil Middleditch

Second round

Continental preliminary round

  • Riders progress to Continental quarter-finals
DateVenueWinner2nd3rd
25 AprilYUG Petišovci Stadium, LendavaAUT Herbert SzereczFRG Alois WiesböckPOL Mariusz Okoniewski
26 AprilFRG Breitenthal Stadium, KrumbachHUN Ferenc FarkašCSK Jan VernerNED Henny Kroeze
26 AprilBUL Shumen Motopista, ShumenPOL Henryk OlszakCSK Ladislav HradeckyPOL Andrzej Huszcza
26 AprilCSK Speedway Žarnovica, ŽarnovicaFRG Waldemar BacikFRG Andreas NiedemaierFRG Kurt Prastbo

Australian Final

  • 21 February 1981
  • AUS Exhibition Ground, Brisbane
  • First 8 to Australasian Final
Pos.width=200pxRiderwidth=50pxTotal
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New Zealand Final

  • 6 February 1981
  • NZL Meeanee Speedway, Napier
  • First 8 to Australasian Final
Pos.width=200pxRiderwidth=70pxHeat Scoreswidth=50pxTotal
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R1
R2

Swedish qualification

  • Top 8 in each heat to Swedish final
(3 May, Motala Arena, Motala)PosRiderPoints
1Tommy Nilsson14
2Tommy Johansson12
3Hans Danielsson12
4Lillebror Johansson11
5Bo Wirebrand10
6Börje Klingberg1
7Björn Andersson10
8Gert Carlsson7+3
9Åke Axelsson7+2
10Lars Hammarberg6
11Thomas Hydling5
12Alf Trofast5
13Conny Samuelsson4
14Sören Karlsson4
15Tommy Steen2
16Bengt Gustavsson1
17Ulf Blomqvist (res)0
(8 May, Grevby Motorstadion, Mariestad)PosRiderPoints
1Anders Michanek14
2Bernt Persson13
3Karl-Erik Claesson12
4Lennart Bengtsson12
5Åke Fridell11
6Pierre Brannefors9
7Lars Rosberg8+3
8Richard Hellsén8+2
9Uno Johansson8+1
10Bengt Jansson5
11Sören Brolin4
12Anders Eriksson (res)4
13Raymond Forsberg3
14Börje Ring3
15Jan Ericsson3
16Lars Ericsson1
17Per-Ove Gudmundsson1
18Håkan Andersson (res)1

British semi-finals

Pos.width=200pxRiderwidth=40pxPoints
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  • 14 May
  • ENG Owlerton Stadium, Sheffield
  • Top 8 to British final
Pos.width=200pxRiderwidth=40pxPoints
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|}

Third round

Continental quarter-finals

Top 32 to Continental semi-finals

DateVenueWinner2nd3rd
10 MayITA Santa Marina Stadium, LonigoNED Henny KroezeFRG Georg HackCSK Aleš Dryml Sr.
10 MayFRG Breitwangbahn, BopfingenFRG Egon MullerPOL Zenon PlechUSSR Valery Gordeev
10 MayHUN Borsod Volán Stadion, MiskolcPOL Roman JankowskiCSK Zdeněk KudrnaHUN Zoltan Adorjan
10 MayAUT Stadion Wiener NeustadtPOL Jerzy RembasPOL Andrzej HuszczaUSSR Mikhail Starostin

Australasian Final

  • 28 February 1981
  • AUS Liverpool City Raceway, Sydney
  • First 4 to Overseas final plus 1 reserve
Pos.width=200pxRiderwidth=70pxTotal
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American Final

  • 30 May 1981
  • USA Los Angeles Coliseum, Los Angeles
  • First 4 to Overseas final

British Final

  • 3 June 1981
  • ENG Brandon Stadium, Coventry
  • First 8 to Overseas final plus 1 reserve

Norwegian Final

  • 26 April 1981
  • NOR Elgane Speedway, Varhaug
  • First 2 to Nordic final
Pos.width=200pxRiderwidth=70pxTotal
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Danish Final

  • 10 May 1981
  • DEN Fjelsted Speedway Stadium, Harndrup
  • First 6 to Nordic final
Pos.width=200pxRiderwidth=70pxTotal
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R1

Finland Final

  • FIN Pippo Speedway, Lahti
  • 7 September 1980, top 2 (+1 seeded rider) to 1981 Nordic final
Pos.width=200pxRiderwidth=40pxTotal
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Swedish Final

  • 17 May 1981
  • SWE Gislaved Motorbana, Gislaved
  • First 4 to Nordic final, Jan Andersson seeded to Nordic final
Pos.width=200pxRiderwidth=70pxTotal
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Fourth round

Continental semi-finals

Pos.width=200pxRiderwidth=40pxPoints
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  • 14 June
  • POL Alfred Smoczyk Stadium, Leszno
  • Top 8 to Continental final
Pos.width=200pxRiderwidth=40pxPoints
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|}

Overseas Final

  • 12 July 1981
  • ENG White City Stadium, London
  • First 10 to Intercontinental final plus 1 reserve

Nordic Final

  • 2 June 1981
  • SWE Norrköping Motorstadion, Norrköping
  • First 6 to Intercontinental final plus 1 reserve
Pos.width=200pxRiderwidth=70pxHeat Scoreswidth=50pxTotal
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Fifth round

Continental Final

  • 25 July 1981
  • TCH Marketa Stadium, Prague
  • First 5 to World final plus 1 reserve
Pos.width=200pxRiderwidth=70pxHeat Scoreswidth=50pxTotal
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R1
R2

Intercontinental Final

  • 25 July 1981
  • DEN Vojens Speedway Center, Vojens
  • First 11 to World final plus 1 reserve

World Final

  • 5 September 1981
  • ENG Wembley Stadium, London.
  • Referee: (AUS) Sam Bass
  • Attendance: 92,500

References

References

  1. "World Championship 1936-1994".
  2. "WORLD FINALS 1936-1994".
  3. "HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK".
  4. "Speedway riders, history and results".
  5. "WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX".
  6. (7 September 1981). "Happy Penhall the ambassador".
  7. Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). ''A History of the World Speedway Championship''. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. {{ISBN. 0-7524-2402-5
Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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