Intercontinental final

The Intercontinental final was a Motorcycle speedway final sanctioned by the FIM as the final qualifying round for the Speedway World Championship between 1975 and 2001.[1][2]

Intercontinental final
(World Championship qualifier)
SportMotorcycle speedway
Founded1975

After being introduced in 1975, it replaced the European final as the final qualifying round for Commonwealth, American and Nordic riders in 1976.[3]

The Intercontinental final was not run from 1991 to 1994 when it was replaced by the World Semi-finals. It returned to the World Championship calendar in 1995, though unlike from 1975 to 1991 riders would be vying for a place in the following years Speedway Grand Prix World Championship series and not for the current year World final.[4]

Peter Collins (1976), Ole Olsen (1978) and Bruce Penhall (1981) are the only riders who won the Intercontinental final to go on and win the World Championship in the same year. Collins (1977) and Erik Gundersen (1986) are the only reigning World Champions to win the Intercontinental final.

Editions

edit
Year Venue Winner Runner-up 3rd place
1975   Göteborg Ullevi   Ivan Mauger   Anders Michanek   Bernt Persson
1976   London Wembley Stadium   Peter Collins   Ivan Mauger   Phil Crump
1977   London White City Stadium   Peter Collins   Ole Olsen   Billy Sanders
1978   Fredericia Fredericia Stadion   Ole Olsen   Ivan Mauger   Scott Autrey
1979   London White City Stadium   Michael Lee   Peter Collins   Finn Thomsen
1980   London White City Stadium   Chris Morton   Bruce Penhall   Billy Sanders
1981   Vojens Vojens Speedway Center   Bruce Penhall   Erik Gundersen   Hans Nielsen
1982   Vetlanda Vetlanda Motorstadion   Les Collins   Kenny Carter   Dennis Sigalos
1983   London White City Stadium   Hans Nielsen   Michael Lee   Erik Gundersen
1984   Vojens Vojens Speedway Center   Shawn Moran   Simon Wigg   Lance King
1985   Vetlanda Vetlanda Motorstadion   Shawn Moran   Lance King   Hans Nielsen
1986   Bradford Odsal Stadium   Erik Gundersen   Hans Nielsen   Tommy Knudsen
1987   Vojens Vojens Speedway Center   Erik Gundersen   Jimmy Nilsen   Hans Nielsen
1988   Vetlanda Vetlanda Motorstadion   Jan O. Pedersen   Hans Nielsen   Erik Gundersen
1989   Bradford Odsal Stadium   Kelvin Tatum[5]   Erik Gundersen   Hans Nielsen
1990   Harndrup Fjelsted Speedway Stadium   Shawn Moran   Per Jonsson   Hans Nielsen
1991-94 not held because format changed to World Semi finals
1995   Varhaug Elgane Speedway   Brian Karger   Joe Screen   Leigh Adams
1996   Holsted Holsted Speedway Center   Jimmy Nilsen   Brian Andersen   Gerd Riss
1997   Västervik Ljungheden   Ryan Sullivan   Jason Crump   Craig Boyce
1998   Vojens Vojens Speedway Center   Brian Karger   Peter Karlsson   Sam Ermolenko
1999   Poole Wimborne Road   Todd Wiltshire   Gary Havelock   Kai Laukkanen
2000   Holsted Holsted Speedway Center   Niklas Klingberg   Rune Holta   Nicki Pedersen
2001   Västervik Ljungheden   Kai Laukkanen   Scott Nicholls   Andreas Jonsson

Winners by country

edit
Country Wins Winner(s)
  Denmark 7 Erik Gundersen (2), Brian Karger (2), Ole Olsen (1), Hans Nielsen (1), Jan O. Pedersen (1)
  England 6 Peter Collins (2), Michael Lee (1), Chris Morton (1), Les Collins (1), Kelvin Tatum (1)
  United States 4 Shawn Moran (3), Bruce Penhall (1)
  Sweden 2 Jimmy Nilsen (1), Niklas Klingberg (1)
  Australia 2 Ryan Sullivan (1), Todd Wiltshire (1)
  New Zealand 1 Ivan Mauger (1)
  Finland 2 Kai Laukkanen (1)

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK". Speedway.org. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  2. ^ Bott, Richard (1980). The Peter Collins Speedway Book No.4. Stanley Paul & Co Ltd. p. 101. ISBN 0-09-141751-1.
  3. ^ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 22. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  4. ^ "Intercontinental Final". Edinburgh Speedway. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  5. ^ Oakes, Peter (1990). Speedway Yearbook 1990. Front Page Books. pp. 7–9. ISBN 0-948882-15-8.