Finland national speedway team

The Finnish national speedway team are one of the teams that compete in international team motorcycle speedway.

Finland
AssociationFinnish Motorcycling Federation
Suomen Moottoriliitto r.y.
FIM codeSML
Nation colourWhite and Blue
SWC Wins0

History

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The Finnish speedway team comepeted in the inaugural Speedway World Team Cup in 1960, finishing fourth in the Scandinavian round at Odense, Denmark. The team consisted of Kalevi Lahtinen, Antti Pajari, Timo Laine, Valle Seliverstov and Aulis Lethonen.[1][2][3]

From 1960 to 1985, the team failed to progress from their qualifying group for the World Cup, due to the fact that they were drawn together in qualifying with two of the world's strongest speedway nations, Denmark and Sweden. The system changed in 1986 but it was not until the 1990 Speedway World Team Cup that the team progressed from qualifying to round two.[4] The team reached the final of the Speedway World Pairs Championship six times, in 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1987 and 1989.[5]

The team reached the World Cup race-off (the round before the final) in 2002 and 2003 but experienced a inert period for nearly two decades. However, an improvement ensued when Finland reached the final of the 2022 Speedway of Nations[6] and they won their first medal when they won the bronze at the 2023 European Pairs Speedway Championship.[7]

Major tournament finals

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Speedway of Nations

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Year Venue Standings (Pts) Riders Pts
2022  
Vojens
Vojens Speedway Center
1.   Australia (30+6+7)
2.   Great Britain (32+2)
3.   Sweden (30+3)
4.   Denmark (28)
5.   Czech Republic (27)
6.   Poland (26)
7.   Finland (16)
Timo Lahti 14
Jesse Mustonen 2
Timi Salonen 0

World Pairs Championship

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Year Venue Standings (Pts) Riders Pts
1977  
Manchester
Hyde Road
1.   England (28)
2.   Sweden (18)
3.   West Germany (18)
4.   Czechoslovakia (17)
5.   New Zealand (17)
6.   Finland (14)
7.   Australia (12)
Ila Teromaa 7
Kai Niemi 7
1979  
Vojens
Vojens Speedway Center
1.   Denmark (25)
2.   England (24)
3.   Poland (20)
4.   Australia (19)
5.   United States (14)
6.   New Zealand (12)
7.   Finland (7)
Kai Niemi 7
Ila Teromaa 0
1980  
Krsko
Matija Gubec Stadium
1.   England (29)
2.   Poland (22)
3.   Denmark (21)
4.   Sweden (18)
5.   New Zealand (16)
6.   Finland (14)
7.   Yugoslavia (6)
Ila Teromaa 8
Kai Niemi 6
1982  
Sydney
Liverpool Speedway
1.   United States (30)
2.   England (22)
3.   Denmark (21)
4.   Australia (16)
5.   Finland (16)
6.   New Zealand (13)
7.   Czechoslovakia (8)
Kai Niemi 12
Ari Koponen 4
1987  
Pardubice
Svítkov Stadion
1.   Denmark (52)
2.   England (44)
3.   United States (36)
4.   New Zealand (36)
5.   Czechoslovakia (30)
6.   Finland (19)
7.   Australia (21)
8.   Italy (19)
9.   Poland (14)
Olli Tyrväinen 11
Kai Niemi 8
1989  
Leszno
Alfred Smoczyk Stadium
1.   Denmark (48)
2.   Sweden (44)
3.   England (37)
4.   West Germany (36)
5.   Finland (31)
6.   Hungary (22)
7.   Czechoslovakia (25)
8.   Italy (15)
9.   Poland (11)
Kai Niemi 18
Olli Tyrväinen 13

International caps (as of 2022)

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Since the advent of the Speedway Grand Prix era, international caps earned by riders is largely restricted to international competitions, whereas previously test matches between two teams were a regular occurrence. This means that the number of caps earned by a rider has decreased in the modern era.[8]

Rider Caps
Aarnio, Tero 7
Hautamäki, Pekka 7
Helminen, Markku 3
Katajisto, Kalle 3
Kokko, Petri 3
Koponen, Ari 17
Lahti, Timo 3
Laukkanen, Kai 15
Mäkinen, Jari 1
Makinen, Rauli 2
Niemi, Kai 22
Nieminen, Kauko 18
Olin, Matti 7
Pajari, Antti 14
Pellinen, Mika 4
Reima, Tomi 13
Teromaa, Ila 8
Teromaa, Pepe 3
Tuoriniemi, Veijo 3
Tyrväinen, Olli 19
Ylinen, Vesa 14

References

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  1. ^ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 134. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  2. ^ Bott, Richard (1980). The Peter Collins Speedway Book No.4. Stanley Paul & Co Ltd. p. 99. ISBN 0-09-141751-1.
  3. ^ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 27–28. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  4. ^ "FIM SPEEDWAY WORLD CUP/ SPEEDWAY OF NATIONS" (PDF). Motor Sport Top 20. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  5. ^ Matthews/Morrison, Peter/Ian (1987). The Guinness Encyclopaedia of Sports Records and Results. Guinness Superlatives. p. 290. ISBN 0-85112-492-5.
  6. ^ "Speedway of Nations Preview". Speedway Star. 23 July 2022. p. 22.
  7. ^ "European Pairs Speedway Championship: Team Poland grabs the title at home". FIM Europe. 2 October 2023. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  8. ^ "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 7 October 2023.

See also

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