The Hungary national speedway team are one of the teams that compete in international team motorcycle speedway.
History The Hungarian speedway team first competed in the Speedway World Team Cup during the 1966 Speedway World Team Cup, finishing second in the Continental semi final round. Throughout the history of World Team Cup, the team were ever present from 1966 to 2000. However, they were one of the weaker nations and failed to reach a final for the first thirty years of the competition.
The team experienced a better record in the World Pairs Championship, reaching finals in 1972, 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1993. The team's greatest success came in the 1990 final, when they won a shock bronze medal.
It was not until 1996 that they appeared in their first World Team Cup final and then the following years in 1997 and 1998, repeated the achievement. Since 2001, Hungary have struggled and have in the majority of cases failed to qualify for the World Cup or the Speedway of Nations introduced in 2018. They have however won two medals at the European Pairs Speedway Championship, a bronze in 2006 and a silver in 2011.
Major world finals World Team Championships YearVenueStandings (Pts)RidersPts1996DiedenbergenSpeedway Arena Diedenbergen 1. Poland (27)2. Russia (22)3. Denmark (21)4. Germany (20)5. Sweden (14)6. Great Britain (12)7. Hungary (9)Sándor Tihanyi 3Zoltán Adorján 3Norbert Magosi 31997PilaStadion Żużlowy Centrum 1. Denmark (27)2. Poland (25)3. Sweden (21)4. Germany (17)5. Czech Republic (16)6. Russia (10)7. Hungary (9) Sándor Tihanyi 6 Zoltán Adorján 3 Laszlo Bodi 01998VojensVojens Speedway Center 1. United States (28)2. Sweden (24)3. Denmark (23)4. Poland (17)5. Germany (14)6. Czech Republic (14)7. Hungary (6) Zoltán Adorján 5 Sándor Tihanyi 1
World Pairs Championships YearVenueStandings (Pts)RidersPts1972BoråsRyavallen1. England (24)2. New Zealand (24) 3. Sweden B (22)4. Sweden A (22)5. Poland (15)6. Czechoslovakia (12)7. Hungary (6) Ferenc Radacsi 6 Pal Perenyi 01988BradfordOdsal Stadium1. Denmark (45)2. England (41) 3. United States (39)4. New Zealand (32) 5. Sweden (26)6. Hungary (25)7. Italy (21)8. West Germany (21)9. Poland (17) Antal Kocso 15 Zoltán Adorján 101989LesznoAlfred Smoczyk Stadium1. Denmark (48)2. Sweden (44) 3. England (37)4. West Germany (36) 5. Finland (31)6. Hungary (22)7. Czechoslovakia (25)8. Italy (15)9. Poland (11) Antal Kocso 14 Zoltán Adorján 81990LandshutEllermühle Stadium1. Denmark (43)2. Australia (41) 3. Hungary (33)4. Sweden (33)5. New Zealand (32)6. United States (28)7. Czechoslovakia (21)8. England (20) 9. West Germany (15) Zoltán Adorján 21 Sándor Tihanyi 121993VojensVojens Speedway Center1. Sweden (26)2. United States (28)3. Denmark (21)4. Great Britain (17)5. Poland (15)6. Australia (13)7. Hungary (10) Zoltán Adorján6 Antal Kocso3 József Petrikovics 1
International caps (as of 2022) Since the advent of the Speedway Grand Prix era, international caps earned by riders is largely restricted to international competitions, whereas previously test matches between two teams were a regular occurrence. This means that the number of caps earned by a rider has decreased in the modern era.
RiderCapsAdorján, Zoltán51Bodi, Laszlo Ferjan, Matej2Hell, Csaba4Kocso, Antal18Magosi, Norbert12Nagy, Róbert13Perenyi, Pal Petrikovics, József Radacsi, Ferenc Stefáni, Atilla8Szatmári, László Szegvári, Gábor Tabaka, József5Tihanyi, Sándor Vida, Szabolcs
References
Świat Żużla, No 1 (75) /2008, pages 24-25, .
See also Hungarian Individual Speedway Championship Hungarian Team Speedway Championship