1981 Individual Speedway World Championship

1981 Individual Speedway World Championship
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The 1981 Individual Speedway World Championship.

1981 was the last of a record 26 times that London's famous Wembley Stadium hosted the World Final (and the final time the stadium would be used for Motorcycle speedway). In future years when the final was held in England, it would be held at the Odsal Stadium in Bradford until the advent of the Speedway Grand Prix series in 1995. The 1981 Final was held before a reported crowd of 92,500 - just shy of the Wembley record of 95,000 set at the 1938 World Final.

Bruce Penhall became the first American to win the World Championship since Jack Milne in 1937. As a past World Championship winner at Wembley, the 74 year old Milne was a special guest at the event and saw Penhall end America's 44 year Individual World Championship drought. Though he remained undefeated until his last ride when he only needed to finish 3rd to win the Championship (he finished that race in second behind his rival Kenny Carter), Penhall was forced to work hard for his maiden World Championship. In both Heat 7 and Heat 14 he was second for over 3½ laps behind Ole Olsen and Tommy Knudsen respectively before passing both in the run to the line. Olsen would defeat Knudsen in a runoff for second and third places after both finished on 12 points. The triple World Champion gaining some revenge on his younger countryman after Knudsen had defeated Olsen in the first heat of the meeting.

In Heat 6, Denmark's future triple World Champion Erik Gundersen set the 4 lap record of 66.8 seconds for the 345 metres (377 yards) long track when he defeated eventual 3rd placed rider Tommy Knudsen (Denmark), Jiří Štancl (Czechoslovakia) and Zenon Plech (Poland). As this was the final speedway meeting at Wembley it will forever be the track record.

Overseas Series

New Zealand Qualification

• First 8 from New Zealand final to Australasian final plus 1 reserve

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
South Island Final
??	Ruapuna Speedway	Larry Ross	??	??
North Island Final
??	Awapuni Speedway	Wayne Brown	David Bargh	Mitch Shirra
New Zealand Final
??	Meeanee Speedway	Ivan Mauger	Mitch Shirra	Larry Ross

Australian Qualification

• First 8 from Australian final to Australasian final plus 1 reserve

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Southern Zone final
January 16	Speedway Park	Phil Crump	John Boulger	Mick McKeon
Northern Zone Final
January 24	Liverpool City Raceway	Billy Sanders	Phil Herne	John Titman
Australian Final
February 14	Brisbane Exhibition Ground	Billy Sanders	Phil Crump	John Titman

Australasian Final

• February 28, 1981
• Sydney, Liverpool City Raceway
• First 4 to Overseas final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Ivan Mauger	15
2	Danny Kennedy	11+3
3	Larry Ross	11+2
4	Phil Herne	11+1
5	Billy Sanders	10+3
6	Phil Crump	10+2
7	Gary Guglielmi	9
8	Mitch Shirra	8
9	John Titman	7
10	Mick McKeon	7
11	Tony Briggs	6
12	Wayne Brown	5
13	David Bargh	2
14	Steve Regeling	2
15	Mike Fullerton	1
16	Graeme Beardsley	1
17	Robert Maxfield (RES)	1

American Final

• May 30, 1981
• Los Angeles, Costa Mesa Speedway
• First 4 to Overseas final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Bruce Penhall	15
2	Dennis Sigalos	13+3
3	Kelly Moran	13+2
4	Scott Autrey	10+3
5	Shawn Moran	10+2
6	Alan Christian	10+1
7	Denny Pyeatt	10+0
8	Mike Faria	8
9	Bobby Schwartz	7
10	Steve Gresham	7
11	David DeTemple	6
12	Brad Oxley	4
13	Keith Chrisco	4
14	Steve Columbo	1
15	Bobby McLain (Res)	1
16	Dan McConnell (Res)	1
17	Jeffrey Tomlin	0
18	Dubb Ferrell (Res)	0

Nordic Final

• June 2, 1981
• Norrköping, Vargarna Speedway
• First 6 to Intercontinental final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Tommy Knudsen	15
2	Hans Nielsen	13
3	Ole Olsen	12
4	Preben Eriksen	12
5	Jan Andersson	11
6	Erik Gundersen	10+3
7	Bo Petersen	10+2
8	Kai Niemi	8
9	Ari Koponen	5
10	Tommy Nilsson	5
11	Hans Danielsson	5
12	Audun Ove Olsen	4
13	Rolf Gramstad	4
14	Bernt Persson	3
15	Anders Michanek	2
16	Pekka Hautamäki	1
17	Finn Thomsen (Res)	0
18	Bo Wirebrand (Res)	0

British Final

• June 3, 1981
• Coventry, Brandon Stadium
• First 8 to Overseas final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Steve Bastable	13+3
2	Kenny Carter	13+2
3	John Louis	13+1
4	Les Collins	12
5	Chris Morton	10
6	Dave Jessup	9
7	Michael Lee	8
8	Ian Cartwright	7
9	Malcolm Simmons	6+3
10	Eric Broadbelt	6+2
11	Phil Collins	6+1
12	Melvyn Taylor	5
13	John Davis	5
14	Gordon Kennett	5
15	Kevin Smith	2
16	Kevin Jolly	0

Overseas Final

• July 12, 1981
• London, White City Stadium
• First 10 to Intercontinental final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Dave Jessup	13
2	Chris Morton	11
3	Bruce Penhall	10+3
4	Kelly Moran	10+2
5	Dennis Sigalos	10+1
6	Larry Ross	9
7	John Davis	9
8	Michael Lee	9
9	Kenny Carter	8
10	Ivan Mauger	8
11	Les Collins	7
12	Steve Bastable	6
13	Ian Cartwright	4
14	Scott Autrey	4
15	Danny Kennedy	2
16	Phil Herne	0

Intercontinental Final

• July 25, 1981
• Vojens, Vojens Speedway Center
• First 11 to World final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Bruce Penhall	15
2	Erik Gundersen	12
3	Hans Nielsen	11+3
4	Kenny Carter	11+2
5	Dave Jessup	10
6	Tommy Knudsen	9
7	Michael Lee	8
8	Jan Andersson	8
9	Chris Morton	8
10	Larry Ross	7
11	Ole Olsen	6
12	Preben Eriksen	5
13	Ivan Mauger	4
14	John Louis	4
15	Dennis Sigalos	1
16	Kelly Moran	0

Continental Final

• July 25, 1981
• Prague, Marketa Stadium
• First 5 to World final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Egon Müller	12+3
2	Aleš Dryml, Sr.	12+2
3	Edward Jancarz	12+1
4	Jiří Štancl	12+0
5	Zenon Plech	12+0
6	Henryk Olszak	9+3
7	Jan Verner	9+2
8	Marek Kepa	8
9	Roman Jankowski	6
10	Zdenek Kudrna	6
11	Milan Spinka	6
12	Petr Kucera	5
13	Waldemar Bacik	3
14	Marek Towalski	2
15	Georg Hack	1
16	Valerij Gordeev	1

World final

• September 5, 1981
• London, Wembley Stadium^[1]
• Referee: () Sam Bass
• Attendance: 92,500

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Bruce Penhall	(3,3,3,3,2)	14
2	Ole Olsen	(2,2,3,2,3)	12+3
3	Tommy Knudsen	(3,2,2,2,3)	12+2
4	Erik Gundersen	(2,3,0,3,3)	11
5	Kenny Carter	(3,2,3,R,3)	11
6	Jan Andersson	(1,2,1,3,2)	9
7	Egon Müller	(1,1,3,2,2)	9
8	Dave Jessup	(3,3,0,R,1)	7
9	Hans Nielsen	(2,0,0,2,2)	6
10	Michael Lee	(0,3,2,0,F)	5
11	Chris Morton	(2,1,1,1,0)	5
12	Edward Jancarz	(1,1,1,1,1)	5
13	Larry Ross	(0,Tx,1,3,0)	4
14	Aleš Dryml, Sr.	(0,0,2,0,1)	3
15	Zenon Plech	(F,0,2,1,0)	3
16	Jiří Štancl	(1,1,0,0,1)	3
R1	Henryk Olszak	(-,0,-,-,-)	-
R2	Preben Eriksen	did not ride	-

Heat Results

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
1	(11) Bruce Penhall	14			3				3		3					3						2	14	1
2	(3) Ole Olsen	12+3	2						2				3				2				3		12	2
3	(2) Tommy Knudsen	12+2	3					2				2				2				3			12	3
4	(10) Erik Gundersen	11			2			3						0			3		3				11	4
5	(5) Kenny Carter	10		3			2					3					e					3	11	5
6	(12) Jan Andersson	9			1					2		1			3						2		9	6
7	(7) Egon Müller	9		1					1					3	2					2			9	7
8	(16) Dave Jessup	7				3				3	e						e			1			7	8
9	(15) Hans Nielsen	6				2			0			0						2	2				6	9
10	(9) Michael Lee	5			0		3						2					0		f			5	10
11	(8) Chris Morton	5		2						1			1			1			0				5	11
12	(1) Edward Jancarz	5	1				1				1				1				1				5	12
13	(4) Larry Ross	4	0							t				1				3				0	4	13
14	(13) Aleš Dryml, Sr.	3				0	0							2		0					1		3	14
15	(6) Zenon Plech	3		f				0			2							1			0		3	15
16	(14) Jiří Štancl	0				1		1					0		0							1	3	16
Res	(17) Henryk Olszak	0								0													0	Res
Res	(18) Preben Eriksen	0																					0	Res
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

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

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