Anders Michanek (born 30 May 1943) is a Swedish Speedway rider. In 1974 he won the Speedway World Championship in his Swedish homeland with a maximum score of 15 points.Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. He earned 101 caps for the Sweden national speedway team.
Career Michanek was born on 30 May 1943 in Stockholm, Sweden. He had a successful career riding in the British League. He initially signed for the Long Eaton Archers in 1967 before going on to ride for various clubs including Leicester Lions, Newcastle Diamonds, Reading Racers, Ipswich Witches and Cradley Heathens.
Michaenk won the Speedway World Team Cup with Sweden in 1970.
During the 1971 Swedish final, Michanek refused to participate in a re-run for the title and was disqualified. Michanek and Göte Nordin both finished on 14 points and in the race off Michanek beat Nordin after the latter pulled out of the race, claiming that he saw a red light to stop the race. The match referee ordered a re-run but Michanek refused to take part claiming there was no red light. The incident resulted in violence between rival supporters and was headline news in Sweden. Michanek contemplated retirement from the sport but continued to ride. Spurred on by the incident he went on to win the Swedish title the following year and then won four more during his career.
In 1973, Michanek won the 1973 Speedway World Pairs Championship partnering Tommy Jansson in Borås.
Michanek won the World Final in 1974 at the Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, and won the Swedish Individual Championship several times."Swedish Champion", Speedway Star, 9 September 1978, p. 8 He also successfully defended his world pairs crown in 1974 at the Hyde Road Speedway in Manchester with Sören Sjösten. He won for a third time in succession in 1975 in Wrocław, Poland, with Tommy Jansson again.
When Michanek finished second behind Denmark's Ole Olsen in the 1975 World Final at London's Wembley Stadium, it was reported that he was relieved to have relinquished his world title as he had not enjoyed the pressure of being the World Champion. Reports also told that he only started to enjoy the 1975 Final after finishing third in his opening heat behind Olsen and Russian rider Viktor Trofimov knowing that from that point he was not likely to repeat his 1974 win. This was reflected when he came out and won his final four races to finish 2 points behind the undefeated Olsen in second place.
In 1977, Michanek won the Long Track World Championship in Aalborg, Denmark."World Long Track", Speedway Star, 9 September 1978, p. 8
World final appearances Individual World Championship 1967 – London, Wembley Stadium – 6th – 9pts 1968 – Gothenburg, Ullevi – 7th – 9pts 1970 – Wrocław, Olympic Stadium – 9th – 7pts 1971 – Gothenburg, Ullevi – 5th – 11pts 1972 – London, Wembley Stadium – 7th – 8pts 1973 – Chorzów, Silesian Stadium – 10th – 6pts 1974 – Gothenburg, Ullevi – Winner – 15pts 1975 – London, Wembley Stadium – 2nd – 13pts 1976 – Chorzów, Silesian Stadium – Reserve – 2pts 1977 – Gothenburg, Ullevi – 8th – 8pts 1978 – London, Wembley Stadium – 10th – 7pts
World Pairs Championship 1971 – Rybnik, Rybnik Municipal Stadium (with Bernt Persson) – 3rd – 22pts (13) 1972 – Ryavallen Borås (with Bengt Jansson) – 4th – 22pts (15+2) 1973 – Ryavallen, Borås (with Tommy Jansson) – Winner – 24pts (15) 1974 – Manchester, Hyde Road (with Sören Sjösten) – Winner – 28pts (14) 1975 – Wrocław, Olympic Stadium (with Tommy Jansson) – Winner – 24pts (17) 1977 – Manchester, Hyde Road (with Bernt Persson) – 2nd – 18pts (16)
World Team Cup 1968 – London, Wembley Stadium (with Ove Fundin / Bengt Jansson / Olle Nygren / Torbjörn Harrysson) – 2nd – 30pts (7) 1969 – Rybnik, Rybnik Municipal Stadium (with Bengt Jansson / Sören Sjösten / Ove Fundin / Torbjörn Harrysson) – 4th – 12pts (7) 1970 – London, Wembley Stadium (with Ove Fundin / Bengt Jansson / Sören Sjösten) – Winner – 42pts (10) 1971 – Wrocław, Olympic Stadium (with Bernt Persson] / Sören Sjösten/ Bengt Jansson / Leif Enecrona) – 4th – 18pts (9) 1972 – Olching, Olching Speedwaybahn (with Tommy Jansson / Christer Lofqvist / Jan Simensen / Göte Nordin) – 4th – 18pts (4) 1973 – London, Wembley Stadium (with Bernt Persson / Bengt Jansson / Tommy Jansson) – 2nd – 31pts (11) 1974 – Chorzów, Silesian Stadium (with Sören Sjösten / Tommy Jansson / Christer Lofqvist) – 2nd – 31pts (9) 1975 – Norden, Motodrom Halbemond (with Tommy Jansson / Bernt Persson / Sören Sjösten / Sören Karlsson) – 3rd – 17pts (8) 1976 – London, White City Stadium (with Bernt Persson / Lars-Åke Andersson / Bengt Jansson / Christer Löfqvist) – 3rd – 26pts (11) 1977 – Wrocław, Olympic Stadium (with Bengt Jansson / Tommy Nilsson / Bernt Persson / Sören Karlsson) – 4th – 11pts (5)
Long Track World Championship 1977 – Aalborg – Winner 1979 – Mariánské Lázně – 2nd 1981 – Gornja Radgona – 3rd
References