1979 Individual Speedway World Championship

The 1979 Individual Speedway World Championship.

In his 14th straight World Final appearance (dating back to 1966), New Zealand's Ivan Mauger won his 6th Speedway World Championship, breaking the previous record of 5 wins held by himself and legendary Swede Ove Fundin. Mauger scored 14 points to defeat local favourite Zenon Plech (13) and young English tearaway Michael Lee (11), with Lee the only rider to defeat Mauger on the day. Lee also had to defeat Kelly Moran (USA), Billy Sanders (Australia) and defending champion Ole Olsen in a runoff for third after all four riders finished on 11 points.

This would prove to be the last appearance for Ivan Mauger as a rider in a World Final.

Overseas Series

American Final

• December 29, 1978
• Santa Ana, Santa Ana Speedway
• First 2 to Intercontinental final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Bobby Schwartz	12+3
2	Mike Bast	12+2
3	Kelly Moran	12+1
4	Steve Gresham	12+0
5	Mike Faria	10
6	Steve McConnell	9
7	Bruce Penhall	7
8	Bill Cordy	7
9	John Cook	6
10	Rich McMurray	6
11	Gary Hutchinson	6
12	Dave Robinson	5
13	Duane Yarrow	5
14	Dave Faria	4
15	Denny Pyeatt	3
16	Mark Blom	2

Australasian Final

• February 23, 1979
• Adelaide, Rowley Park Speedway
• Referee: Sam Bass
• First 6 to Commonwealth final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Billy Sanders	13
2	Steve Koppe	12
3	John Titman	11+3
4	Phil Crump	11+2
5	Ivan Mauger	11+1
6	Larry Ross	10+3
7	Mitch Shirra	10+2
8	Gary Guglielmi	8
9	John Goodall	8
10	Danny Kennedy	6
11	John Boulger	6
12	Glyn Taylor	6
13	Tony Briggs (Res)	4
14	Graeme Stapleton	2
15	David Bargh (Res)	2
16	Roger Wright	0

Nordic Final

• June 5, 1979
• Norrköping, Vargarna Speedway
• First 5 to Intercontinental final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Jan Andersson	13+3
2	Hans Nielsen	13+2
3	Finn Thomsen	12+1
4	Ole Olsen	12+0
5	Kai Niemi	9+3
6	Ila Teromaa	9+2
7	Bo Petersen	8
8	Bernt Persson	8
9	Anders Michanek	7
10	Michael Lohman	6
11	Reidar Eide	6
12	Rolf Gramstad	5
13	Åke Fridell	4
14	Richard Hellsén	3
15	Olli Turkia	2
16	Audun Ove Olsen	2
17	Lars-Åke Andersson (Res)	1
18	Sören Karlsson (Res)	0

British Final

• June 20, 1979
• Coventry, Brandon Stadium
• First 10 to Commonwealth Final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Peter Collins	15
2	Michael Lee	14
3	Dave Jessup	12
4	John Davis	11
5	Doug Wyer	10
6	Malcolm Simmons	10
7	Roger Johns	8
8	Gordon Kennett	8
9	Alan Molyneux	7
10	John Louis	6+3
11	Chris Morton	6+2
12	Reg Wilson	6+1
13	Jim McMillan	4
14	Alan Grahame	3
15	Mike Lanham	1
16	Ian Turner	0

Commonwealth Final

• July 1, 1979
• London, White City Stadium
• First 9 to Intercontinental final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Michael Lee	14+3
2	Billy Sanders	14+2
3	Dave Jessup	12
4	Larry Ross	11
5	Ivan Mauger	11
6	Peter Collins	10
7	John Titman	9
8	Gordon Kennett	8
9	John Davis	7
10	Malcolm Simmons	6
11	Doug Wyer	5
12	John Louis	4
13	Roger Johns	2
14	Phil Crump	2
15	Steve Koppe	2
16	Alan Molyneux	1
17	Mitch Shirra (Res)	1
18	Chris Morton (Res)	1

Continental Final

• July 8, 1979
• Pocking, Rottalstadion
• First 4 to World final plus 1 reserve
• Polish riders Zenon Plech, Edward Jancarz and Robert Slabon seeded to World Final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Christoph Betzl	14
2	Michaił Starostin	13
3	Zdeněk Kudrna	12+3
4	Alois Wiesböck	12+2
5	Petr Ondrašík	11
6	Valerij Gordeev	10
7	Vaclav Verner	9
8	Jiří Štancl	7
9	Viktor Kuznetsov	7
10	Anatolij Maximov	6
11	Karl Maier	6
12	Georg Hack	4
13	Jan Hadek	4
14	László Mészáros	4
15	Janos Szöke (Res)	1
16	Jan Verner	0
17	Aleš Dryml, Sr.	0

Intercontinental Final

• August 8, 1979
• London, White City Stadium
• First 9 to World final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Michael Lee	14+3
2	Peter Collins	14+2
3	Finn Thomsen	10+3
4	Dave Jessup	10+2
5	Ivan Mauger	10+1
6	Ole Olsen	9
7	Kelly Moran*	8
8	Billy Sanders	8
9	John Titman	8
10	Larry Ross	7
11	Kai Niemi	6
12	Gordon Kennett	5
13	John Davis	4
14	Bobby Schwartz	2
15	Hans Nielsen	2
16	Malcolm Simmons (Res)	2
17	Jan Andersson	1

Kelly Moran replaced Mike Bast

World final

• September 2, 1979
• Chorzów, Silesian Stadium^[1]

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
	(15) Ivan Mauger	14				3			3			2						3	3				14	1
	(7) Zenon Plech	13		3					1					3	3					3			13	2
	(5) Michael Lee	11+3		2			3					3					0					3	11	3
4	(3) Kelly Moran	11+2	1						2				3				2				3		11	4
5	(4) Billy Sanders	11+1	3							3				1				2				2	11	5
6	(10) Ole Olsen	11+0			3			3						2			1		2				11	6
7	(11) Zdenek Kudrna	8			2				0		3					3						0	8	7
8	(16) Dave Jessup	8				E				1	2						3			2			8	8
9	(12) Edward Jancarz	7			1					2		1			2						1		7	9
10	(13) Finn Thomsen	6				2	E							0		2					2		6	10
11	(1) Peter Collins	6	2				2				1				1				E				6	11
12	(14) John Titman	5				1		2					2		0							1	6	12
13	(2) Michail Starostin	3	0					1				0				1				1			3	13
14	(6) Christoph Betzl	2		1				0			0							1			0		2	14
15	(8) Robert Slabon	2		0						0			1			0			1				2	15
16	(9) Alois Wiesböck	1			0		1						0					0		0			1	16
	(17) Petr Ondrašík	0																					0
	(18) Larry Ross	0																					0
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

References

Individual Speedway World Championship and Speedway Grand Prix seasons Speedway World Championship 1936 1937 1938 1939 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 Speedway Grand Prix (SGP) 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 See also Medalists Medal Classification Grands Prix SGP riders Super Prix SGP Statistics