1981 Speedway World Pairs Championship

The 1981 Speedway World Pairs Championship was the twelfth FIM Speedway World Pairs Championship.[1] The final took place in Chorzów, Poland. The championship was won by United States first time (23 points). American pair beat New Zealand (22 points) and Poland (21 points).[2][3][4]

The win by American's Bruce Penhall and Bobby Schwartz was the first time an American team or riders had won a World Championship in speedway since Jack Milne had won the 1937 World Final at the Wembley Stadium in London, England. Later in 1981 Penhall would go on to win the Individual World Final at Wembley.

Preliminary round edit

Pos. Team Rider Points
    Norway21+3 Rolf Gramstad 17
Ingvar Hauverstad 4
    Yugoslavia21+2 Stefan Kekec 15
Vlado Kocuvan 6
    Austria20 Adi Funk 9
Herbert Szerecz 11
4   Netherlands19 Henny Kroeze 6
Frits Koppe 13
5   Hungary18 Zoltán Adorján 16
Isztvan Sziracky 2
6   Bulgaria13 Angel Jeftimov 8
Nikolaj Manev 5
7    Switzerland11 M.Gerard 8
F.Ender 3

Semifinal 1 edit

Placing Pair / Rider Name Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
1   West Germany 23 +3 6 13 23
(7) Egon Müller 13 0 3 3 2 2 3 3
(8) Georg Gilgenreiner 10 2 1 2 0 3 2
2   England 23 +2 9 18 23
(13) Chris Morton 12 2 3 2 3 0 2
(14) Dave Jessup 11 3 1 3 1 3 0 2
3   New Zealand 23 +1 10 14 23
(3) Ivan Mauger 15 3 3 1 2 3 3 1
(4) Larry Ross 8 2 2 0 1 2 1
4   Sweden 20 5 14 20
(5) Jan Andersson 10 3 0 3 2 2 0
(6) Richard Hellsén 10 1 1 1 3 1 3
5   Finland 17 5 9 17
(9) Kai Niemi 10 3 2 1 E 3 1
(10) Ari Koponen 7 E 0 0 3 2 2
6   Norway 11 5 9 11
(11) Rolf Gramstad 8 2 2 2 E 1 1
(12) Audun Ove Olsen 3 1 0 1 1 0 0
7   Nederlands 9 2 7 9
(1) Henny Kroeze 7 1 E 2 3 E 1
(2) Frits Koppe 2 E 1 0 0 1 E
Placing Pair / Rider Name Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

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

Semifinal 2 edit

Placing Pair / Rider Name Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
1   Denmark 29 10 20 29
(9) Ole Olsen 17 3 3 2 3 3 3
(10) Hans Nielsen 12 2 2 3 2 2 1
2   USA 22 +3 8 14 22
(3) Bruce Penhall 13 3 1 3 1 2 3 3
(4) Bobby Schwartz 9 2 2 2 0 1 2
3   Czechoslovakia 22 +2 8 15 22
(5) Aleš Dryml Sr. 15 3 3 3 2 2 2 2
(6) Jan Verner 7 2 0 1 1 3 0
4   Australia 22 +1 6 14 22
(11) Billy Sanders 11 0 3 3 0 3 2 1
(12) John Titman 11 1 2 2 3 0 3
5   Italy 14 2 8 14
(7) Giuseppe Marzotto 7 0 0 1 2 3 1
(8) Mauro Ferraccioli 7 1 1 0 3 2 0
6   Austria 9 4 7 9
(1) Adi Funk 8 1 3 2 0 1 1
(2) Walter Grübmüller 1 0 0 0 1 0 0
7   Yugoslavia 8 4 6 8
(13) Stefan Kekec 7 2 1 1 1 1 1
(14) Vlado Kocuvan 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Placing Pair / Rider Name Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

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 Pair / Rider Name Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
1   United States 23 8 16 23
(1) Bruce Penhall 14 3 E 3 3 3 2
(2) Bobby Schwartz 9 2 3 0 2 1 1
2   New Zealand 22 5 12 22
(3) Ivan Mauger 12 0 1 3 2 3 3
(4) Larry Ross 10 1 3 2 0 2 2
3   Poland 21 9 15 21
(7) Zenon Plech 15 3 3 1 3 3 2
(8) Edward Jancarz 6 1 2 0 2 0 1
4   Czechoslovakia 18 4 11 18
(5) Aleš Dryml Sr. 12 2 0 2 3 3 2
(6) Jan Verner 6 0 2 1 1 2 0
5   Denmark 17 10 13 17
(11) Ole Olsen 10 3 3 1 2 1 0
(12) Hans Nielsen 7 2 2 0 0 0 3
6   England 17 2 11 17
(9) Dave Jessup 7 E 0 3 3 0 1
(10) Chris Morton 10 1 1 2 1 2 3
7   West Germany 3 3 3 3
(13) Egon Müller 2 2 X - - - -
(14) Georg Gilgenreiner 1 1 F - - - -
Placing Pair / Rider Name Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 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

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "World Pairs Championship 1968-1993". Edinburgh Speedway. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Zapomniane turnieje: Mistrzostwa Świata Par(część 2)" (in Polish). SportoweFakty.pl. 16 July 2009. Archived from the original on 3 October 2009. Retrieved 16 July 2009.
  3. ^ Świat Żużla, No 3 (59) 2004, page 44, ISSN 1429-3285
  4. ^ Matthews/Morrison, Peter/Ian (1987). The Guinness Encyclopaedia of Sports Records and Results. Guinness Superlatives. p. 290. ISBN 0-85112-492-5.