Per Jonsson

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Per Jonsson
Personal information
Nationality  Sweden
Date of birth (1966-03-21) March 21, 1966
Place of birth    Stockholm, Sweden
Current club information
Career status Retired
Career history
Getingarna (SWE)
Reading Racers
Bysarna (SWE)
Stockholm U (SWE)
Apator Toruń (POL)
Rospiggarna (SWE)		 1982–1987, 1991–1993
1984–1988, 1990, 1992-1994
1988
1989–1990
1991–1994
1994
Individual honours
World Champion
European Under 21 Champion
British League Riders Champion
Swedish Champion		 1990
1985
1993
1986, 1987, 1988, 1993
Team honours
World Pairs Champion
British League Champions
British League KO Cup Winners
Premiership Winners
BSPA Cup Winners
British League Fours Champions		 1993
1990, 1992
1990
1991, 1993
1992
1993

Per Jonsson (born 21 March 1966 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a former speedway rider who won the Speedway World Championship in 1990, and finished runner-up in 1992.[1]

In 1985, his second season with the Reading Racers, the team won six major trophies. In 1993, he won the World Pairs Championship with Tony Rickardsson and reserve Henrik Gustafsson, and also won the British League Riders' Championship. His career was cut short when a crash during a league meeting in Poland in 1994 left him using a wheelchair for the rest of his life. In recognition of his contribution to the city of Toruń, in April 2010 one of the streets was named after him.

Per Jonsson became the first rider in history to win both the World and World Under-21 Championships. He won the Under-21 title in 1985 at Abensberg, West Germany when the title was still known as the European Speedway Under 21 Championship*. He then added to this with his 1990 World Championship win at the Odsal Stadium in Bradford, England.

Per Jonsson's first appearance in a World Final was in 1987 at Amsterdam's Olympic Stadium. The final was held over two days and the 22 year old finished 5th on both days and was classed as 5th overall. He qualified for the 1988 World Final at Vojens in Denmark and equaled his 1987 result by finishing in 5th place. He missed the 1989 season, preferring to enjoy the joys of fatherhood but came back to international speedway with a bang in 1990. He qualified for his third World Final by finishing 2nd in both the Scandinavian and Intercontinental Finals and then went one better in Bradford becoming Sweden's first Speedway World Champion since Anders Michanek in 1974.

Following this, Jonsson captained the Swedish team on a short tour of Australia in January 1991. Sweden, who's lineup was Jonsson, Henrik Gustafsson, Jimmy Nilsen, Tony Rickardsson, Conny Ivarsson, Erik Stenlund and Peter Nahlin defeated the Aussies (who fielded 14 riders over the series) 3-2 in the five match series with Jonsson topping the averages for both teams with 16.4 per test.[2]

Jonsson failed to place in the 1991 World Final at home in Göteborg, Sweden finishing in just 9th place while fellow Swede's Tony Rickardsson and Jimmy Nilsen finished in 2nd and 5th respectively. His 1992 World Final got off to a bad start in Wrocław, Poland when he failed to score in his first ride. He then came back to win three of his last four rides to finish in a clear 2nd place behind England's Gary Havelock

* The European Under 21 Championship was renamed the World Under 21 Championship in 1988. All winners of the European title before 1988 are generally classed as World Under-21 Champions

World final appearances

External links

References

  1. ↑ Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-2402-5
  2. ↑ http://www.internationalspeedway.co.uk/ausvswe.htm
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