Smederna is a motorcycle speedway club based in Eskilstuna, Sweden.[1] The club competes in the highest speedway league in Sweden called the Elitserien and race its home matches at Smedstadion outside Eskilstuna. Smederna has won six Swedish Speedway Team Championships.[2][3][4]
| Smederna | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Club information | |||||
| Track address | Smedstadion Tommy Janssons väg Eskilstuna | ||||
| Country | Sweden | ||||
| Founded | 1951 | ||||
| Team manager | Jerker Eriksson | ||||
| League | Elitserien | ||||
| Website | Official website | ||||
| Club facts | |||||
| Colours | Red, Black and White | ||||
| Nickname | The Blacksmiths | ||||
| Track size | 335 metres | ||||
| Track record time | 56.8 | ||||
| Track record date | 2022 | ||||
| Track record holder | Dan Bewley | ||||
| Major team honours | |||||
| |||||
Venues edit
Snälltorpet edit
The team raced at Snälltorpet from the 1953 season until the 2001 season, when the land was sold by Eskilstuna Municipality.[5] The track was also used for 1976 Swedish final, the 1976 Speedway World Pairs Championship and the intercontinental final of the 1979 Speedway World Team Cup.
Smedstadion edit
Since 2002, the team have raced at the Smedstadion.
History edit
In 1948 the speedway team Griparna (English: the Griffins) started to race in the Swedish leagues. The team was co-run by motorcycle sport clubs SMK Södermanland, Nyköpings MS and Eskilstuna MK and was based in Nyköping, however some of their home matches took place in Eskilstuna. 1951 the team changed name to Smederna (English: the Blacksmiths) and started to race all home matches in Eskilstuna. Until 1953 the home track had been Tunavallens B-plan which was not an actual speedway arena. But that year Smederna moved to the new speedway arena Snälltorpet. But Smederna would only race at Snälltorpet for a few years before closing the team down in 1955.
After eight years SMK Södermanland decided to take up speedway again and in 1963 Smederna started in the third and lowest division in Swedish speedway. In 1967, the club advanced to the second division and in 1971 to the first and highest division. In the seventies Smederna would have its first and biggest time of glory with a couple of team championship medals. In 1973 Smederna managed to win the club’s first championship and in the following three years the team was participating in the medal fight with a silver medal in 1975 as highest result. In the spring of 1976 Smederna and the whole town of Eskilstuna was hit by a big tragedy when local superstar Tommy Jansson crashed to death in a world championships qualification at Gubbängens IP, Stockholm. It was a big blow for the speedway sport in the city and there was a big decrease in the attendance figures. In spite of the tragedy Smederna continued to be one of Sweden’s best speedway clubs for a couple of years with the gold medal in 1977 as best result.
In the eighties the interest for speedway decreased in Eskilstuna as well as in Sweden. Smederna had some internal problems in the beginning of the decade ending up with the club splitting up in two separate clubs, Smederna and Tuna Rebels. Smederna struggled to keep its place in the highest division (since 1982 called Elitserien) and was relegated to the second division in 1985 to 1986, 1988 to 1989 and 1992. In 1993 Smederna had once again advanced to Elitserien and this time the team finished on second place which was the best result in ten years. Smederna now managed to maintain their place in the upper tier for 17 consecutive seasons. In 2002 the club moved to a new home track, Smedstadion, outside of Eskilstuna and in the first season Smederna had problems to make advantage of the new track but already in the following season Smederna won all but one of their home matches. The loss came in the Swedish team championship final against Kaparna. Smederna had to once again settle for a silver medal.
In the recent years Smederna has struggled with financial problems which forced the club to downsize the squad and release a few top riders like Nicki Pedersen, Billy Hamill and Scott Nicholls. In the fall of 2008 Smederna decided to sell the team name to Swedish company Ikaros. As it turned out, this sponsorship deal was not enough to save the club. In July 2009 the club went bankrupt and immediately withdrew from the Elitserien league. The following year the team made a restart in the league system by entering the third tier known as Division 1, still under the name of Ikaros Smederna, and won the league quite easy. For the next two years the club raced in the Allsvenskan league and in the season of 2013 Ikaros Smederna made a return to the Swedish top tier, only four years after the bankruptcy.
The club returned to significant success when they won the league title three years running from 2017 to 2019 and again in 2022.[6]
Season summary edit
Honours edit
Swedish team championships edit
Previous teams edit
Former top riders edit
| Nation | Name | Years | Honours while riding for Smederna |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Olle Segerström | 1951–1954 | |
|
|
Bernt Persson | 1964, 1966–1968, 1977–1983 | Swedish Champion 1977 |
|
|
Tommy Jansson | 1969–1976 | Swedish Champion 1974 |
|
|
Göte Nordin | 1972–1973 | |
|
|
Bengt Jansson | 1973–1978 | |
|
Olli Tyrväinen | 1985–1997 | |
|
|
Peter Nahlin | 1986–1996, 2001–2004 | World Junior Champion 1988 |
|
Billy Hamill | 1991, 1993–2006 | World Champion 1996 |
|
Mark Loram | 1999–2000 | World Champion 2000 |
|
|
Scott Nicholls | 1998–2006 | |
|
Nicki Pedersen | 2002–2005 | World Champion 2003 |
|
Krzysztof Kasprzak | 2003–2009 | World Junior Champion 2005 |
|
|
Wiesław Jaguś | 2006–2009 |
References edit
- ^ "Speedway Around The Globe - Sweden". Speedway Star page 38-39. 23 July 2022.
- ^ "Eskilstuna Smederna". Elit Speedway. Retrieved 2 February 2023.
- ^ "HISTORICAL RESULTS 1948-2015". Speedway History. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
- ^ "Swedish Bauhaus Elite League". Speedway Fan Site. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
- ^ "Vår historia". Smederna Speedway. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
- ^ "Swedish league champions". WWOS backup. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
- ^ "ASPGREN & JEPSEN JENSEN JOIN LAMBERT IN SEALING SMEDERNA EXTENSIONS". FIM. Retrieved 2 February 2023.