1981 Individual Speedway World Championship
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1981
Individual Speedway World Championship
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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
Australian qualification
British qualification
Second round
Continental preliminary round
- Riders progress to Continental quarter-finals
Australian Final
New Zealand Final
Pos. |
Rider |
Heat Scores |
Total
|
1 |
Ivan Mauger |
3,3,3,3,3 |
15
|
2 |
Mitch Shirra |
3,3,3,3,2 |
14
|
3 |
Larry Ross |
3,3,2,2,3 |
13
|
4 |
Wayne Brown |
1,3,3,3,1 |
11
|
5 |
Mike Fullerton |
2,2,2,1,3 |
10
|
6 |
David Bargh |
3,2,1,2,2 |
10
|
7 |
Tony Briggs |
2,2,2,2,1 |
9
|
8 |
Greame Beardsley |
1,1,3,2,1 |
8
|
9 |
John Goodall |
0,1,1,3,3 |
8
|
10 |
Mark Dekok |
2,1,2,0,0 |
5
|
11 |
Gavin Rhodes |
2,1,1,1,0 |
5
|
12 |
Greg Joynt |
0,2,1,0,2 |
5
|
13 |
Max Brown |
1,0,0,0,2 |
3
|
14 |
Colin Farquharson |
0,0,0,1,1 |
2
|
15 |
Alan Crosbie |
0,0,0,1,0 |
1
|
16 |
Patrick Pawson |
1,0,0,0,- |
1
|
R1 |
Bruce Elvey |
0 |
0
|
R2 |
Kym Mauger |
ns |
0
|
Swedish qualification
- Top 8 in each heat to Swedish final
British semi-finals
Third round
Continental quarter-finals
Top 32 to Continental semi-finals
Australasian Final
American Final
m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance •
t - exclusion for touching the tapes •
x - other exclusion •
e - retired or mechanical failure •
f - fell •
ns - non-starter •
nc - non-classify
gate A - inside
|
gate B
|
gate C
|
gate D - outside
|
British Final
m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance •
t - exclusion for touching the tapes •
x - other exclusion •
e - retired or mechanical failure •
f - fell •
ns - non-starter •
nc - non-classify
gate A - inside
|
gate B
|
gate C
|
gate D - outside
|
Norwegian Final
Danish Final
Finland Final
Pos. |
Rider |
Total
|
1 |
Kai Niemi |
15
|
2 |
Ari Koponen |
14
|
3 |
Veijo Tuoriniemi |
12
|
4 |
Olli Tyrvainen |
10
|
5 |
Veli Pekka Kunelius |
10
|
6 |
Ilkka Teromaa |
9
|
7 |
Pekka Hautamaki |
8
|
8 |
Timo Kiansten |
7
|
9 |
Markku Parkkari |
7
|
10 |
Ossi Henriksson |
6
|
11 |
Veikko Haapamaki |
6
|
12 |
Hannu Larronmaa |
5
|
13 |
Pekka Turkia |
4
|
14 |
Markku Haapala |
3
|
15 |
Ari Heinonen |
1
|
16 |
Kari Yrjanainen (res) |
1
|
17 |
Jarmo Puttonen (res) |
1
|
18 |
Seppo Palomaki |
1
|
19 |
Heimo Kaikko (res) |
0
|
Swedish Final
Fourth round
Continental semi-finals
Overseas Final
m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance •
t - exclusion for touching the tapes •
x - other exclusion •
e - retired or mechanical failure •
f - fell •
ns - non-starter •
nc - non-classify
gate A - inside
|
gate B
|
gate C
|
gate D - outside
|
Nordic Final
Pos. |
Rider |
Heat Scores |
Total
|
1 |
Tommy Knudsen |
3,3,3,3,3 |
15
|
2 |
Hans Nielsen |
2,3,3,2,3 |
13
|
3 |
Ole Olsen |
2,3,2,3,2 |
12
|
4 |
Preben Eriksen |
3,2,2,2,3 |
12
|
5 |
Jan Andersson |
3,2,1,3,2 |
11
|
6 |
Erik Gundersen |
2,1,3,3,1 |
10+3
|
7 |
Bo Petersen |
3,3,0,2,2 |
10+ns
|
8 |
Kai Niemi |
1,1,1,2,3 |
8
|
9 |
Ari Koponen |
E,0,2,1,2 |
5
|
10 |
Tommy Nilsson |
1,1,2,1,0 |
5
|
11 |
Hans Danielsson |
1,2,0,1,1 |
5
|
12 |
Audun Ove Olsen |
1,1,1,1,0 |
4
|
13 |
Rolf Gramstad |
E,2,1,0,1 |
4
|
14 |
Bernt Persson |
0,F,3,0,- |
3
|
15 |
Anders Michanek |
2,0,-,-,- |
2
|
16 |
Pekka Hautamäki |
F,0,0,0,1 |
1
|
17 |
Finn Thomsen (Res) |
0,0 |
0
|
18 |
Bo Wirebrand (Res) |
0,0 |
0
|
Fifth round
Continental Final
Pos. |
Rider |
Heat Scores |
Total
|
1 |
Egon Müller |
3,3,3,3,X |
12+2+3
|
2 |
Aleš Dryml Sr. |
3,0,3,3,3 |
12+3+2
|
3 |
Edward Jancarz |
3,2,2,2,3 |
12+2+1
|
4 |
Jiří Štancl |
2,3,2,3,2 |
12+2+0
|
5 |
Zenon Plech |
2,3,3,3,1 |
12+E+E
|
6 |
Henryk Olszak |
2,1,2,1,3 |
9+3
|
7 |
Jan Verner |
0,2,3,2,2 |
9+2
|
8 |
Marek Kepa |
3,1,1,2,1 |
8
|
9 |
Roman Jankowski |
1,3,1,1,0 |
6
|
10 |
Zdeněk Kudrna |
1,1,0,1,3 |
6
|
11 |
Milan Špinka |
0,2,2,2,- |
6
|
12 |
Petr Kucera |
2,0,X,1,2 |
5
|
13 |
Waldemar Bacik |
0,1,1,0,1 |
3
|
14 |
Marek Towalski |
0,2,0,0,0 |
2
|
15 |
Georg Hack |
1,X,F,0,- |
1
|
16 |
Valery Gordeev |
1,0,0,0,0 |
1
|
R1 |
Petr Ondrašík |
0,2 |
2
|
R2 |
Antonín Kasper, Jr. |
1 |
1
|
Intercontinental Final
m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance •
t - exclusion for touching the tapes •
x - other exclusion •
e - retired or mechanical failure •
f - fell •
ns - non-starter •
nc - non-classify
gate A - inside
|
gate B
|
gate C
|
gate D - outside
|
World Final
- 5 September 1981
Wembley Stadium, London.
- Referee: (
) Sam Bass
- Attendance: 92,500
m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance •
t - exclusion for touching the tapes •
x - other exclusion •
e - retired or mechanical failure •
f - fell •
ns - non-starter •
nc - non-classify
gate A - inside
|
gate B
|
gate C
|
gate D - outside
|
References
- ^ "World Championship 1936-1994". Edinburgh Speedway. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
- ^ "WORLD FINALS 1936-1994" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
- ^ "HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK". Speedway.org. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
- ^ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
- ^ "WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX". British Speedway. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
- ^ Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-2402-5