1976 Individual Speedway World Championship

The 1976 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 31st edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.[1][2][3][4][5]

England's Peter Collins became the first British World Speedway Champion since Peter Craven had won in 1962. Fellow Englishman Malcolm Simmons finished second with Australia's Phil Crump finishing third. 1976 was the first time since 1952 that no rider from either New Zealand or Sweden finished on the podium in the World Final.[6]

Qualifying results.[7][8]

First round edit

British Preliminary round edit

  • Riders progress to British qualifying round
Date Venue Winner 2nd 3rd
3 April Shielfield Park, Berwick Taffy Owen Tom Owen Graham Jones
10 April Kingsmead Stadium, Canterbury Reg Luckhurst Ted Hubbard Graham Banks
11 April Mildenhall Stadium, Mildenhall Kevin Jolly Andy Cusworth Laurie Etheridge
13 April Wessex Stadium, Weymouth Tony Featherstone Bob Coles Barney Kennett

British qualifying round edit

  • Riders progress to British quarter finals
Date Venue Winner 2nd 3rd
22 April Owlerton Stadium, Sheffield Trevor Geer Alan Grahame Paul Tyrer
23 April Monmore Green, Wolverhampton Alan Molyneux Brian Havelock Bob Coles
24 April Abbey Stadium, Swindon Dave Perks Steve Bastable Tom Owen
24 April Dudley Wood Stadium, Dudley Bobby McNeil Mick Hines Mick Bell

Second round edit

Swedish qualification edit

  • Top 5 in each heat to Swedish final

New Zealand qualification edit

  • Top 16 to New Zealand final
Date Venue Winner 2nd 3rd
South Island Final
6 December, '75 Oreti Park Speedway, Invercargill Larry Ross Graeme Stapleton Denis Sincock
North Island Final
10 January Showgrounds, Palmerston North Colin Farquharson Colin Tucker Roy Trigg

Australian qualification edit

Date Venue Winner 2nd 3rd
New South Wales Round
22 November '75 Liverpool Speedway, Green Valley Billy Sanders Phil Herne Mitch Shirra
28 November '75 Jerilderie Park Speedway, Tomago Phil Herne Terry Southerland Mitch Shirra
29 November '75 Sydney Showground, Sydney Mitch Shirra Phil Herne Billy Sanders
Queensland Qualification
6 December '75 Brisbane Exhibition Ground, Brisbane Mike Farrell Ron Henderson Darryl McLean
Southern Territory Qualification
9 January Rowley Park Speedway, Adelaide John Boulger Ray Snider Robin Amundson
Victoria Qualification
17 January Northern Park Raceway, Melbourne Danny Kennedy Rob Jones John Dewhurst
Northern District
23 January Rowley Park Speedway, Adelaide Phil Crump John Boulger Kym Amundson
31 January Sydney Showground, Sydney Billy Sanders Mike Farrell John Langfield
7 February Brisbane Exhibition Ground, Brisbane Mike Farrell John Titman Garry Middleton

British quarter-finals edit

  • Top 32 to British semi-finals
Date Venue Winner 2nd 3rd
3 May Birchfield Ladbroke Stadium, Birmingham Peter Collins Chris Pusey Alan Molyneux
5 May Wimborne Road, Poole Dave Jessup Dave Morton Arthur Price
8 May Hyde Road, Manchester Alan Grahame John Davis Michael Lee
8 May King's Lynn Stadium, King's Lynn Malcolm Simmons Chris Morton Doug Wyer

Continental Preliminary round edit

  • Riders progress to Continental quarter-finals
Date Venue Winner 2nd 3rd
25 April   La Favorita, Sarego   Hans Wassermann   Evzen Erban   Karel Vobornik
25 April   Stadion Wiener Neustadt   Georg Gilgenreiner   Alois Wiesböck   Hubert Fischbaher

Third round edit

American qualifying edit

New Zealand Final edit

Pos. Rider Total
1 Ivan Mauger 14+3
2 Barry Briggs 14+2
3 Larry Ross 11+3
4 Roy Trigg 11+2
5 Graeme Stapleton 10
6 Paul Fewings 10
7 Colin Tucker 10
8 Colin Farquharson 7
9 Dennis Sincock 6
10 Robin Adlington 6
11 Merv Salt 5
12 Paul Church 4
13 Kevin Burt 3
14 Paul Wells 3
15 Graeme Stewart 3
16 Bruce Mitchell 2
17 Mike Fullerton 1

Australian Final edit

Pos. Rider Total
1 Phil Crump 15
2 John Langfield 13
3 Phil Herne 12
4 John Boulger 12
5 Mitch Shirra 10
6 John Titman 9
7 Ticky Day 9
8 Billy Sanders 8
9 Mick McKeon 8
10 Mike Farrell 6
11 Robin Amundson 5
12 Robert Maxfield 4
13 Ron Henderson 3
14 Rod Chessell 3
15 Ray Snider 2
16 Dene Davies 1
17 Paul Scanlon 0

Swedish Final edit

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   (9) Bernt Persson 14 3 3 2 3 3 14 1
2   (14) Anders Michanek 11 X 3 3 3 2 11 2
3   (2) Sören Karlsson 11 3 2 3 2 1 11 3
4   (3) Bengt Jansson 11 2 3 1 3 2 11 4
5   (10) Jan Simensen 10 2 0 3 2 3 10 5
6   (16) Tommy Nilsson 10 3 1 3 1 2 10 6
7   (13) Sören Sjösten 10 2 1 1 3 3 10 7
8   (4) Christer Sjösten 8 F 3 2 0 3 8 8
9   (5) Cal-Erik Claesson 8 3 2 2 0 1 8 9
10   (6) Lars-Like Andersson 6 2 1 2 1 0 6 10
11   (1) Eddie Davidsson 6 1 0 1 2 2 6 11
12   (15) Richard Hellsen 5 0 1 1 2 1 5 12
13   (8) Sven Nilsson 2 0 2 0 0 0 2 13
14   (7) Per-Olof Dovhjort 1 1 - 0 - 0 1 14
15   (11) Bo Wirebrand 1 1 - 0 - - 1 15
16   (12) Kenneth Selmolsson 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 16
  (17) Bengt Larsson 1 0 1 1
  (18) Gunnar Malmqvist 3 2 1 0 3
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

m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fell • ns - non-starter • nc - non-classify

gate A - inside gate B gate C gate D - outside

Danish Final edit

Pos. Rider Total
1 Finn Thomsen 15
2 Kurt Bøgh 12+3
3 Jan Henningsen 12+2
4 Leif Rasmusen 12+1
5 Finn Rune Jensen 11
6 Gunnar Svendsen 10
7 Bent Nørregaard-Jensen 10
8 Mike Lohmann 8
9 Kristian Præstbro 8
10 Jens Erik Krause Kjaer 4
11 Knud Ellegaard 4
12 Ernst Bøgh 4
13 Erling Rasmussen 3
14 Godtfred Andreasen 3
15 Jorgen Walther Johansen 2
16 Kaj Kristensen 2

Finland Final edit

Pos. Rider Total
1 Ilkka Teromaa 15
2 Kai Niemi 13
3 Olli Turkia 12
4 Kari Vuoristo 11
5 Rauli Mäkinen 11
6 Teuvo Sirenius 8
7 Pekka Paljakka 7
8 Esko Mylläri 7
9 Esa Mattila 7
10 Ismo Kivelä (res) 7
11 Pentti Mattila 6
12 Veli Pekka Teromaa 5
13 Matti Vayrynen 4
14 Seppo Palomäki 3
15 Kari Lindevall 2
16 Heikki Ahonen 0
17 Esa Jamsalainen (res) 0

Norwegian Final edit

Pos. Rider Total
1 Reidar Eide 15
2 Dag Lovaas 14
3 Edgard Stangeland 13
4 Audun Ove Olsen 11
5 Øyvind S. Berg 11
6 Jan Terje Gravningen 10
7 Kjell Gimre 9
8 Helge Langli 9
9 Tormod Langli 6
10 Tom Godal 5
11 Ingve Madland 4
12 Stein Pedersen 4
13 Askild Malmin 3
14 Jorn Flatha 2
15 Sigvard Pedersen 2
16 Per Hetland 1

British semi-finals edit

Pos. Rider Points
1 Malcolm Simmons 14
2 Bob Kilby 13
3 John Louis 13
4 Dave Jessup 12
5 John Davis 11
6 Reg Wilson 9
7 Chris Morton 9
8 George Hunter 8
9 Gordon Kennett 7
10 Tom Owen 6
11 Arthur Price 5
12 Richard Greer 5
13 Tony Davey 4
14 Alan Molyneux 3
15 Paul Tyrer 1
16 Kevin Holden 0
Pos. Rider Points
1 Peter Collins 15
2 Jim McMillan 14
3 Doug Wyer 12
4 Mike Lanham 11
5 Dave Morton 10
6 Ray Wilson 10
7 Terry Betts 9
8 Chris Pusey 9
9 Michael Lee 8
10 Steve Weatherley 7
11 Frank Auffret 5
12 Arthur Browning 4
13 Dave Perks 3
14 Carl Glover 2
15 Geoff Pusey 1
16 Steve Lomas 0

Continental quarter-finals edit

  • Top 32 to Continental semi-finals
Date Venue Winner 2nd 3rd
15 May   Trade Union Stadium, Ostrava   Mikhail Starostin   Vladimir Gordeev   Viktor Trofimov
15 May   Mladost Stadium, Prelog   Giuseppe Marzotto   Viktor Kuznetsov   Angel Eftimov
16 May   Rottalstadion, Pocking   Egon Müller   Christoph Betzl   Valery Gordeev
16 May   Hajdú Volán Stadion, Debrecen   Vaclav Hejl   Paolo Noro   Václav Verner

Fourth round edit

Continental semi-finals edit

Pos. Rider Points
1   Egon Müller 15
2   Valerij Gordeev 11
3   Christoph Betzl 11
4   Jiří Štancl 11
5   Hans Wassermann 11
6   Jan Klokocka 10
7   Grigory Khlinovsky 9
8   Vladimir Smirnov 9
9   Josef Minarik 8
10   Viktor Selivanov 6
11   Václav Verner 6
12   Vaclav Hejl 5
13   Petr Ondrašík 5
14   Evzen Erban 1
15   Franz Lang 1
16   Paulo Noro 1
17   Peter Lempenauer (res) 0
Pos. Rider Points
1   Viktor Kuznetsov 13
2   Giuseppe Marzotto 13
3   Vladimir Gordeev 11
4   Viktor Trofimov 11
5   Nikolaj Kornev 10
6   Michail Starostin 10
7   Jan Hadek 9
8   Georgij Ivanov 9
9   Sergej Djuchev 8
10   Hubert Fischbacher 6
11   Josef Angermüller 4
12   Emil Sova 4
13   Vladimir Paznikov 4
14   Petr Kucera 3
15   Jan Verner 3
16   Angel Eftimov 1

Australasian Final edit

Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total
1   John Boulger 3,3,2,3,3 14
2   Billy Sanders 2,3,3,3,2 13
3   Phil Crump 3,3,3,X,3 12
4   Ivan Mauger 3,2,X,3,3 11+3
5   Phil Herne 3,2,1,2,3 11+2
6   Mitch Shirra 2,3,2,3,1 11+1
7   Barry Briggs X,1,3,2,2 8
8   John Titman X,2,2,2,2 8
9   Ricky Day 1,1,3,0,1 6
10   Colin Tucker 2,2,1,0,0 5
11   Colin Farqhuarson 1,E,1,2,1 5
12   John Langfield X,1,2,1,0 4
13   Larry Ross 2,1,0,1,E 4
14   Graeme Stapleton 0,0,E,1,2 3
15   Roy Trigg 1,0,0,0,1 2
16   Paul Fewlings 0,0,1,0,0 1
R1   Dennis Sincock 1
R2   Robin Adlington 1

American Final edit

Pos. Rider Total
1 Scott Autrey ?+3
2 William Mike Curoco ?+2
3 Steve Gresham ?+1

British Final edit

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
    (9) Malcolm Simmons 15 3 3 3 3 3 15 1
    (3) Chris Morton 13 2 3 2 3 3 13 2
    (6) Doug Wyer 13 3 3 3 2 2 13 3
4   (12) Peter Collins 12 2 3 3 3 1 12 4
5   (5) John Louis 11 2 2 2 2 3 11 5
6   (7) Dave Jessup 10 1 2 3 2 2 10 6
7   (2) Jim McMillan 8 3 1 1 3 0 8 7
8   (15) Terry Betts 7 3 1 0 0 3 7 8
9   (13) Ray Wilson 5 2 1 0 2 0 5 9
10   (11) Bob Kilby 5 1 0 2 1 1 5 10
11   (16) John Davis 5 0 2 1 1 1 5 11
12   (10) Dave Morton 4 0 2 2 0 0 4 12
13   (14) George Hunter 4 1 0 0 1 2 4 13
14   (1) Mike Lanham 3 1 0 0 0 2 3 14
15   (4) Reg Wilson 3 0 1 1 1 0 3 15
16   (8) Chris Pusey 2 0 0 1 0 1 2 16
R1   (R1) John Harrhy 0 0 R1
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

m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fell • ns - non-starter • nc - non-classify

gate A - inside gate B gate C gate D - outside

Nordic Final edit

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 21
    (4) Ole Olsen 14 3 3 3 3 2 14 1
    (14) Anders Michanek 13 3 3 3 3 1 13 2
    (10) Bengt Jansson 12 3 2 1 3 3 12 3
4   (12) Dag Lovaas 11 2 2 3 1 3 11 4
5   (7) Bernt Persson 10 3 0 2 2 3 10 5
6   (5) Sören Sjösten 10 2 1 2 2 3 10 6
7   (6) Sören Karlsson 8 1 0 3 2 2 8 7 3
8   (13) Edgar Stangeland 8 2 3 0 2 1 8 8 2
9   (2) Ila Teromaa 8 2 1 0 3 2 8 9 1
10   (3) Finn Thomsen 6 0 3 2 1 0 6 10
11   (1) Reidar Eide 6 1 2 2 0 1 6 11
12   (15) Tommy Nilsson 5 0 2 1 0 2 5 12
13   (11) Markku Helminen 4 1 1 1 1 0 4 13
14   (9) Karl Erik Claesson 2 0 0 0 1 1 2 14
15   (8) Jan Simensen 1 0 1 - 0 0 1 15
16   (16) Christer Sjösten 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 16
R1   (R1) Lars-Åke Andersson 1 1 1 R1
R2   (R2) Thomas Pettersson 0 0 R2
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 21

m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fell • ns - non-starter • nc - non-classify

gate A - inside gate B gate C gate D - outside

Fifth round edit

Intercontinental Final edit

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) Peter Collins 12+3 0 3 3 3 3 12 1
2   (9) Ivan Mauger 12+2 1 3 2 3 3 12 2
3   (1) Phil Crump 11+3 3 1 2 2 3 11 3
4   (7) Malcolm Simmons 11+2 3 0 3 3 2 11 4
5   (8) Chris Morton 10 2 2 3 1 2 10 5
6   (5) Doug Wyer 10 1 2 3 2 2 10 6
7   (10) Scott Autrey 9 2 2 1 3 1 9 7
8   (6) John Louis 8+3 0 3 0 2 3 8 8
9   (16) Anders Michanek 8+2 3 3 1 0 1 8 9
10   (12) John Boulger 7 3 1 2 1 T 7 10
11   (3) Billy Sanders 7 2 2 1 1 1 7 11
12   (13) Ole Olsen 6 X E 2 2 2 6 12
13   (15) Bengt Jansson 4 2 1 1 X 0 4 13
14   (4) Bernt Persson 3 1 0 0 1 1 3 14
15   (2) Dag Lovaas 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 15
16   (14) Sören Sjösten 1 1 0 E - - 1 16
  (17) Trevor Geer 0 0 0 0
  (18) Barry Thomas 0 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

m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fell • ns - non-starter • nc - non-classify

gate A - inside gate B gate C gate D - outside

Continental Final edit

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
    (6) Egon Müller 9 3 3 3 9 1
    (4) Jiří Štancl 8 3 3 2 8 2
    (9) Valery Gordeev 7 1 3 3 7 3
4   (7) Vladimir Gordeev 7 1 3 3 7 4
5   (11) Grigory Khlinovsky 6 2 2 2 6 5
6   (14) Georgy Ivanov 6 3 1 2 6 6
7   (12) Jan Hadek 6 3 1 2 6 7
8   (15) Viktor Kuznetsov 4 0 1 3 4 8
9   (13) Nikolay Kornev 4 2 2 0 4 9
10   (5) Vladimir Smirnov 4 2 1 1 4 10
11   (16) Viktor Trofimov 4 1 2 1 4 11
12   (10) Giuseppe Marzotto 3 0 2 1 3 12
13   (2) Hans Wassermann 2 2 0 0 2 13
14   (8) Christoph Betzl 1 0 0 1 1 14
15   (3) Jan Klokocka 1 1 0 0 1 15
16   (1) Mikhail Starostin 0 0 0 0 0 16
R1   (R1) Sergey Dyuzhev 0 0 R1
R2   (R2) Josef Minarik 0 0 R2
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

m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fell • ns - non-starter • nc - non-classify

gate A - inside gate B gate C gate D - outside

World Final edit

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
    (11) Peter Collins 14 3 3 3 3 2 14 1
    (15) Malcolm Simmons 13 2 2 3 3 3 13 2
    (13) Phil Crump 12 3 3 2 1 3 12 3
4   (5) Ivan Mauger 11 3 E 2 3 3 11 4
5   (9) Zenon Plech 11 1 2 3 2 3 11 5
6   (7) John Louis 9 2 1 1 3 2 9 6
7   (10) Doug Wyer 8 0 3 3 1 1 8 7
8   (1) Egon Müller 8 3 1 2 2 F 8 8
9   (2) Scott Autrey 7 2 2 1 2 0 7 9
10   (12) Jiří Štancl 6 2 2 0 1 1 6 10
11   (16) Chris Morton 6 1 1 1 2 1 6 11
12   (6) Edward Jancarz 5 1 1 0 1 2 5 12
13   (4) Marek Cieślak 4 0 3 0 E 1 4 13
14   (3) Jerzy Rembas 3 1 0 2 0 0 3 14
15   (8) Valery Gordeev 1 0 0 1 0 X 1 15
16   (14) Vladimir Gordeev 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16
R1   (R1) Anders Michanek 2 2 2 R1
R2   (R2) Grigory Khlinovsky 0 0 R2
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

m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fell • ns - non-starter • nc - non-classify

gate A - inside gate B gate C gate D - outside

References edit

  1. ^ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 20–21. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  2. ^ "World Championship 1936-1994". Edinburgh Speedway. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  3. ^ "WORLD FINALS 1936-1994" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  4. ^ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  5. ^ "WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX". British Speedway. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  6. ^ 1976 Individual Speedway World Championship
  7. ^ "1976 World Championship". Metal Speedway. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  8. ^ "1976 World Championship". Speedway.org. Retrieved 20 January 2024.