1981 Individual Speedway World Championship

The 1981 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 36th edition of the official Motorcycle speedway World Championship to determine the world champion rider.[1][2][3][4][5]

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 edit

New Zealand qualification edit

Event Date Venue Winner 2nd 3rd
South Island Final 19 Jan Ruapuna Speedway, Christchurch Larry Ross Tony Briggs Ivan Mauger
North Island Final ? Awapuni Speedway, Gisborne Wayne Brown Colin Farquharson Martin Weygang

Australian qualification edit

Event Date Venue Winner 2nd 3rd
Southern Zone Final 16 Jan Speedway Park, Adelaide Phil Crump John Boulger Mick McKeon
Northern Zone Final 12 Feb Exhibition Ground, Brisbane Gary Guglielmi Neil Coddington Billy Sanders

British qualification edit

Date Venue Winner 2nd 3rd
Preliminary Round
7 April Wessex Stadium, Weymouth Neil Middleditch Simon Wigg Kevin Smith
10 April East of England Arena, Peterborough Louis Carr Kevin Hawkins Nicky Allott
12 April Rye House Stadium, Hoddesdon Keith White Melvyn Taylor Bob Garrad
12 April Boston Sports Stadium, Boston Steve Lomas David Gagen Eric Broadbelt
14 April Crayford & Bexleyheath Stadium, Crayford Barry Thomas Ian Gledhill Dave Morton
Quarter-Final
27 April Brough Park, Newcastle Eric Broadbelt Kevin Hawkins Neil Middleditch

Second round edit

Continental preliminary round edit

  • Riders progress to Continental quarter-finals
Date Venue Winner 2nd 3rd
25 April   Petišovci Stadium, Lendava   Herbert Szerecz   Alois Wiesböck   Mariusz Okoniewski
26 April   Breitenthal Stadium, Krumbach   Ferenc Farkaš   Jan Verner   Henny Kroeze
26 April   Shumen Motopista, Shumen   Henryk Olszak   Ladislav Hradecky   Andrzej Huszcza
26 April   Speedway Žarnovica, Žarnovica   Waldemar Bacik   Andreas Niedemaier   Kurt Prastbo

Australian Final edit

Pos. Rider Total
1 Billy Sanders 14
2 Phil Crump 12
3 John Titman 10
4 Danny Kennedy 10
5 Phil Herne 9
6 Gary Guglielmi 8
7 Steve Regeling 8
8 Mick McKeon 8
9 John Boulger 7
10 Robert Maxfield 7
11 Steve Koppe 7
12 Neil Coddington 7
13 Tim Nunan 6
14 Bob Chitchcock 3
15 Glenn McDonald 2
16 Lou Sansom 2

New Zealand Final edit

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 edit

  • Top 8 in each heat to Swedish final

British semi-finals edit

Pos. Rider Points
1 Dave Jessup 13
2 Steve Bastable 13
3 Gordon Kennett 12
4 John Davis 11
5 Phil Collins 11
6 Kevin Jolly 9
7 Kevin Smith 9
8 Malcolm Simmons 9
9 Roger Johns 8
10 Bob Garrad 6
11 Paul Woods 5
12 Dave Morton 4
13 Neil Middleditch 4
14 Nigel Flatman 3
15 Andy Grahame 2
16 Alan Molyneux 0
Pos. Rider Points
1 Les Collins 14
2 Chris Morton 13
3 Kenny Carter 13
4 Michael Lee 11
5 Melvyn Taylor 11
6 John Louis 9
7 Ian Cartwright 9
8 Eric Broadbelt 8
9 Alan Grahame 7
10 Kevin Hawkins 6
11 Jim McMillan 6
12 Joe Owen 5
13 Peter Prinsloo 3
14 Doug Wyer 3
15 Reg Wilson 2
16 Ian Gledhill 0

Third round edit

Continental quarter-finals edit

Top 32 to Continental semi-finals

Date Venue Winner 2nd 3rd
10 May   Santa Marina Stadium, Lonigo   Henny Kroeze   Georg Hack   Aleš Dryml Sr.
10 May   Breitwangbahn, Bopfingen   Egon Muller   Zenon Plech   Valery Gordeev
10 May   Borsod Volán Stadion, Miskolc   Roman Jankowski   Zdeněk Kudrna   Zoltan Adorjan
10 May   Stadion Wiener Neustadt   Jerzy Rembas   Andrzej Huszcza   Mikhail Starostin

Australasian Final edit

Pos. Rider Total
1   Ivan Mauger 15
2   Danny Kennedy 11+3
3   Larry Ross 11+2
4   Phil Herne 11+1
5   Billy Sanders 10+3
6   Phil Crump 10+2
7   Gary Guglielmi 9
8   Mitch Shirra 8
9   John Titman 7
10   Mick McKeon 7
11   Tony Briggs 6
12   Wayne Brown 5
13   David Bargh 2
14   Steve Regeling 2
15   Mike Fullerton 1
16   Graeme Beardsley 1
17   Robert Maxfield (res) 1

American Final edit

Placing Rider Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts Pos 21
    (1) Bruce Penhall 15 3 3 3 3 3 15 1
    (9) Dennis Sigalos 13 3 1 3 3 3 13 2 3
    (3) Kelly Moran 13 2 3 2 3 3 13 3 2
4   (5) Scott Autrey 10 2 0 3 2 3 10 4 3
5   (16) Shawn Moran 10 3 3 2 1 1 10 5 2
6   (13) Alan Christian 10 1 2 3 3 1 10 6 1
7   (15) Denny Pyeatt 10 2 2 2 2 2 10 7 0
8   (2) Mike Faria 8 0 3 1 2 2 8 8
9   (8) Bobby Schwartz 7 3 2 1 0 1 7 9
10   (11) Steve Gresham 7 2 1 1 1 2 7 10
11   (6) David De Temple 6 1 2 0 1 2 6 11
12   (4) Brad Oxley 4 1 1 2 0 0 4 12
13   (14) Keith Chrisco 4 0 1 0 2 1 4 13
14   (10) Steve Columbo 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 14
15   (12) Jefrey Tomlin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 15
16   (7) Dubb Ferrell 0 0 F - - - 0 16
R1   (R1) Bobby McLain 1 1 0 1 R1
R2   (R2) Dan McConnell 1 1 1 R2
Placing Rider Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts Pos 21

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 edit

Placing Rider Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts Pos 21
    (3) Steve Bastable 13 2 3 3 3 2 13 1 3
    (2) Kenny Carter 13 3 2 3 2 3 13 2 2
    (5) John Louis 13 3 3 2 2 3 13 3 1
4   (4) Les Collins 12 1 3 3 3 2 12 4
5   (10) Chris Morton 10 3 3 2 1 1 10 5
6   (6) Dave Jessup 9 2 1 1 2 3 9 6
7   (16) Michael Lee 8 3 1 3 0 1 8 7
8   (15) Ian Cartwright 7 2 0 1 1 3 7 8
9   (13) Malcolm Simmons 6 0 2 1 3 0 6 9 3
10   (11) Eric Broadbelt 6 0 2 2 1 1 6 10 2
11   (9) Phil Collins 6 2 0 2 0 2 6 11 1
12   (7) Melvyn Taylor 5 1 1 0 3 0 5 12
13   (1) John Davis 5 - 1 0 2 2 5 13
14   (12) Gordon Kennett 5 1 2 0 1 1 5 14
15   (14) Kevin Smith 2 1 0 1 0 0 2 15
16   (8) Kevin Jolly 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16
R1   (R1) Keith White 0 0 0 R1
Placing Rider Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts Pos 21

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 edit

Pos. Rider Total
1 Rolf Gramstad 15
2 Audun Ove Olsen 13
3 Jorn Haufvalstad 12
4 Trond Helge Skretting 11
5 Dag Haaland 10
6 Ingve Madland 9
7 Terje Tollefsen 7
8 Kurt Ueland 7
9 Geir Aasland 7
10 Roy Otto 6
11 Asgeir Bjerga 6
12 Dagfin Jorgensen 5
13 Sigvart Pedersen 5
14 Kjell Gimre 5
15 Rolf Havirstad 2
16 Oddmund Bye 0

Danish Final edit

Pos. Rider Total
1 Ole Olsen 15
2 Bo Petersen 13
3 Erik Gundersen 12+3
4 Tommy Knudsen 12+2
5 Hans Nielsen 12+1
6 Jens Henry Nielsen 8+3
7 Finn Thomsen 8+2
8 Preben Eriksen 8+1
9 Finn Rune Jensen 7
10 Mikael Lohmann 7
11 Bent Rasmussen 5
12 Steen Mastrup 5
13 Hans Ove Christiansen 4
14 Bent Juul Larsen 3
15 Svend Lund 0
16 Klaus Lohman 0
R1 Finn Lundahl 1

Finland Final edit

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 edit

Pos. Rider Total
1 Anders Michanek 12
2 Tommy Nilsson 11+3
3 Hans Danielsson 11+2
4 Bernt Persson 11+1
5 Bo Wirebrand 10+3
6 Börje Klingberg 10+2
7 Richard Hellsén 9
8 Björn Andersson 8
9 Lennart Bengtsson 7
10 Tommy Johansson 7
11 Pierre Brannefors 6
12 Åke Fridell 6
13 Gerd Carlsson 4
14 Lars Rosberg 4
15 Lillebror Johansson 3
16 Karl-Erik Claesson 1

Fourth round edit

Continental semi-finals edit

Pos. Rider Points
1   Zenon Plech 12
2   Georg Hack 12
3   Milan Špinka 11
4   Valerij Gordeev 11
5   Jiří Štancl 11
6   Aleš Dryml Sr. 9
7   Egon Müller 9
8   Waldemar Bacik 8+3
9   Jan Verner 8+2
10   Jan Hadek 7
11   George Gilgenreiner (res) 5
12   Josef Aigner 4
13   Christoph Betzl 4
14   Henny Kroeze 4
15   Anatolij Maximov 3
16   Viktor Kuznetsov 1
17   Piotr Pyszny 0
18   Wolfgang Mayr 0
Pos. Rider Points
1   Edward Jancarz 11
2   Jerzy Rembas 11
3   Zdenek Kudrna 11
4   Roman Jankowski 10
5   Marek Kepa 10
6   Petr Kucera 10
7   Grigory Khlinovsky 10
8   Marek Towalski 9+3
9   Henryk Olszak 9+2
10   Alois Wiesböck 7
11   Michail Starostin 6
12   Andrzej Huszcza 4
13   Pavel Khlynovski 3
14   Václav Verner 2
15   Heinrich Schatzer 2
16   Jozsef Sziraczki 1

Overseas Final edit

Placing Rider Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts Pos 21
    (14) Dave Jessup 13 3 3 3 3 1 13 1
    (7) Chris Morton 11 2 1 3 2 3 11 2
    (9) Bruce Penhall 10 3 2 2 3 X 10 3 3
4   (13) Kelly Moran 10 1 3 1 2 3 10 4 2
5   (15) Dennis Sigalos 10 2 2 3 1 2 10 5 1
6   (11) Larry Ross 9 2 3 3 1 0 9 6
7   (10) John Louis 9 0 1 2 3 3 9 7
8   (4) Michael Lee 9 2 2 0 2 3 9 8
9   (16) Kenny Carter 8 0 3 1 2 2 8 9
10   (5) Ivan Mauger 8 3 1 1 1 2 8 10
11   (1) Les Collins 7 3 0 2 1 1 7 11
12   (8) Steve Bastable 6 1 1 1 3 0 6 12
13   (6) Ian Cartwright 4 0 2 0 0 2 4 13
14   (2) Scott Autrey 4 1 0 2 0 1 4 14
15   (12) Danny Kennedy 2 1 0 0 0 1 2 15
16   (3) Phil Herne 0 0 0 0 0 E 0 16
Placing Rider Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts Pos 21

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 edit

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 edit

Continental Final edit

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 edit

Placing Rider Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts Pos 21
    (14) Bruce Penhall 15 3 3 3 3 3 15 1
    (10) Erik Gundersen 12 3 2 3 1 3 12 2
    (4) Hans Nielsen 11 3 2 2 2 2 11 3 3
4   (8) Kenny Carter 11 3 1 2 3 2 11 4 2
5   (16) Dave Jessup 10 1 3 3 0 3 10 5
6   (15) Tommy Knudsen 9 2 1 2 3 1 9 6
7   (3) Michael Lee 8 1 3 1 3 F 8 7
8   (5) Jan Andersson 8 1 1 3 2 1 8 8
9   (11) Chris Morton 8 2 2 2 2 0 8 9
10   (12) Larry Ross 7 1 0 1 2 3 7 10
11   (2) Ole Olsen 6 2 1 0 1 2 6 11
12   (13) Preben Eriksen 5 0 2 1 F 2 5 12
13   (9) Ivan Mauger 4 0 3 0 1 0 4 13
14   (7) John Louis 4 2 0 0 1 1 4 14
15   (6) Dennis Sigalos 1 0 0 1 0 F 1 15
16   (1) Kelly Moran 0 F 0 0 E 0 0 16
R1   (R1) Bo Petersen 0 0 R1
R2   (R2) Les Collins 0 0 R2
Placing Rider Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts Pos 21

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 edit

Placing Rider Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts Pos
1   (11) Bruce Penhall 14 3 3 3 3 2 14 1
2   (3) Ole Olsen 12+3 2 2 3 2 3 12 2
3   (2) Tommy Knudsen 12+2 3 2 2 2 3 12 3
4   (10) Erik Gundersen 11 2 3 0 3 3 11 4
5   (5) Kenny Carter 11 3 2 3 e 3 11 5
6   (12) Jan Andersson 9 1 2 1 3 2 9 6
7   (7) Egon Müller 9 1 1 3 2 2 9 7
8   (16) Dave Jessup 7 3 3 e e 1 7 8
9   (15) Hans Nielsen 6 2 0 0 2 2 6 9
10   (9) Michael Lee 5 0 3 2 0 f 5 10
11   (8) Chris Morton 5 2 1 1 1 0 5 11
12   (1) Edward Jancarz 5 1 1 1 1 1 5 12
13   (4) Larry Ross 4 0 t 1 3 0 4 13
14   (13) Aleš Dryml Sr. 3 0 0 2 0 1 3 14
15   (6) Zenon Plech 3 f 0 2 1 0 3 15
16   (14) Jiří Štancl 3 1 1 0 0 1 3 16
Res   (17) Henryk Olszak 0 0 0 Res
Res   (18) Preben Eriksen 0 0 Res
Placing Rider Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts Pos

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 edit

  1. ^ "World Championship 1936-1994". Edinburgh Speedway. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  2. ^ "WORLD FINALS 1936-1994" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  3. ^ "HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK". Speedway.org. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  4. ^ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  5. ^ "WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX". British Speedway. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  6. ^ Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-2402-5