The 1991 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 46th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.
Diminutive Danish rider Jan O. Pedersen won his first and only World Championship with a 15-point maximum from his five rides, the last time a rider would have a perfect score in the Final. Local favourite Tony Rickardsson finished second with 12 points, with triple champion Hans Nielsen of Denmark finishing third on 11 points after defeating fellow Dane Tommy Knudsen in a run-off. Defending champion Per Jonsson finished in ninth place with 7 points.
First round British qualifiers
Top 32 to British-Semi finals
Second round Australian qualification
DateChampionshipVenueWinner2nd3rd17 Nov '90Northern TerritoryTennant Creek Speedway Wayne Bridgeford Glen Baxter Trevor O'Brien1 Dec '90Queensland Mac's Speedway, Mackay Troy Butler Darren Winkler Alan Rivett 23 Dec '90VictorianOlympic Park, Mildura Leigh Adams Jason Lyons Phil Crump 26 Dec '90New South WalesNewcastle Motordrome, Tomago Craig Boyce Todd Wiltshire Stephen Davies 28 Dec '90Western AustralianClaremont Speedway, Perth Glenn Doyle David Cheshire Michael Carter 29 Dec '90South AustralianRiverview Speedway, Murray Bridge Shane Parker Damon Richardson Brett Tomkins 19 Jan 1991Last ChanceArunga Park Speedway, Alice Springs Shane Bowes Scott Norman Mark Lemon
New Zealand qualification DateChampionshipVenueWinner2nd3rd ??South Island FinalRuapuna Speedway, Christchurch Mark Lyndon ?? ?? ??North Island FinalGisborne Speedway, Gisborne David Bargh ?? ??
British semi-finals
Top 16 to British final
Third round Continental preliminary round Riders progress to Continental quarter-finals DateVenueWinner2nd3rd 4 May Olympic Stadium, Wrocław Jan Holub II Václav Verner Oleg Kurguskin 5 May Stadion Wiener Neustadt Dariusz Śledź Zdeněk Schneiderwind Andreas Bössner 5 May Anton Treffer Stadion, Neustadt Karl Maier Mikhail Starostin Robert Barth 5 May Ilirija Sports Park, Ljubljana Gregor Pintaro Fabrizzio Vesprini Markus Jans
Swedish qualification Top 8 in each heat to Swedish final
(3 May, Nässjö Motorstadion, Nässjö)PosRider Points 1 Mikael Blixt 132 Conny Ivarsson 113 Jimmy Nilsen 114 Erik Stenlund 105 Mikael Karlsson 106 Tony Olsson 97 Mikael Ritterwall 98 Mikael Löfqvist 89 Niklas Karlsson 710 Olli Tyrväinen 611 Magnus Oscarsson 612 Patrik Karlsson 613 Christer Rohlén 514 Kenneth Nyström 415 Mikael Olsson 416 Joakim Karlsson 1
(4 May, Tallhult Motorstadion, Hagfors)PosRider Points 1 Per Jonsson 132 Mikael Teurnberg 133 Tony Rickardsson 134 Henrik Gustafsson 115 Peter Karlsson 116 Claes Ivarsson 97 Peter Nahlin 88 Stefan Dannö 7+39 Dennis Löfqvist 7+210 Kenneth Lindby 7+111 Jörgen Johansson 612 Göran Flood 513 Robert Johansson 414 Anders Kling 115 Jimmy Engman 116 Lillebror Johansson 0
Australian Final
First 3 (+ *Leigh Adams seeded) to Commonwealth Final
New Zealand Final 14 February 1991 Awapuni Speedway, Gisborne First 2 to Commonwealth final Pos. Rider Total1 David Bargh 152 Chris Martin 143 Mark Thorpe 124 John Tuffley 115 Justin Monk 106 Michael Long 107 Greg Fisher 88 John Roberts 79 Nathan Murray 510 Ricky Bennett 511 Jacqui Mauger 512 Dean Sullivan 513 Nick Young 414 Michael Hollow 315 Gary Marsh 316 Steve Etches 0
British Final
Top 10 to Commonwealth final plus 1 reserve
Fourth round Danish Final 19 May 1991 Fladbro Speedway, Randers First 6 to Nordic final plus 1 reserve Pos. Rider Total1 Jan O. Pedersen 152 Tommy Knudsen 143 Hans Nielsen 12+34 John Jörgensen 12+25 Gert Handberg 106 Bo Petersen 97 Jan Jacobsen 88 Brian Karger 69 Jan Staechmann 610 Jens-Henry Nielsen 611 Allan Johansen 612 Tom P. Knudsen 513 Per Sorensen 414 Jan Pedersen 315 Lars Munkedal 316 Lars-Henrik Jörgensen 1
Finnish qualifying
Vesa Ylinen & Juha Moksunen seeded to Nordic final
Norwegian Final Elgane Speedway, Varhaug 19 Aug 1990, top 1 (+1 seeded) to Nordic final 1991 Pos. Rider Points1 Lars Gunnestad 152 Kjell Øyvind Sola133 Willy Tjessem124 Robert Langeland 115 Atle Knutsen 116 Odd Pettersen 117 Jorn Arve Arda 98 Gjermund Aas 99 Bjorn Ivar Fauske 510 Marten Tunheim 511 Ingvar Hvamstad 412 Rolf Netland 413 Arnt Førland 314 Nils Mellomstrand 115 Anders Bjorkqvist116 Per Erga 0
Swedish Final 3 rounds, top 5 to Nordic final plus 1 reserve R1 (14 May, Kumla Motorstadion, Kumla) R2 (15 May, Ljungheden, Västervik) R3 (2 June, Gubbängens IP, Stockholm) Pos. Rider Scores Total1 Henrik Gustafsson 15+14+11 402 Per Jonsson 11+11+14 373 Tony Rickardsson 12+12+9 334 Jimmy Nilsen 13+12+8 335 Mikael Blixt 8+9+12 296 Erik Stenlund 11+6+10 277 Conny Ivarsson 3+11+12 268 Peter Karlsson 8+8+7 239 Stefan Dannö 10+5+4 1910 Claes Ivarsson 4+3+11 1811 Tony Olsson 2+7+6 1512 Mikael Karlsson 5+5+5 1513 Mikael Teurnberg 7+1+5 1314 Peter Nahlin 3+9+1 1315 Mikael Löfqvist 5+4+1 1016 Mikael Ritterwall 3+3+2 8
Continental quarter-finals Top 32 to Continental semi-finals DateVenueWinner2nd3rd 1 June Rybnik Municipal Stadium, Rybnik Eugeniusz Skupień Róbert Nagy Ryszard Dołomisiewicz 2 June Günter Harder Stadion, Neubrandenburg Zoltán Adorján Václav Milík Sr. Antal Kocso 2 June Borsod Volán Stadion, Miskolc Zoltan Hajdu Tomasz Gollob Armando Castagna 2 June Pfaffenhofen Speedway, Pfaffenhofen Bohumil Brhel Mikhail Starostin Jarosław Olszewski
American Final 2 March 1991 Veterans Memorial Stadium, Long Beach First 5 to Overseas final plus 1 reserve Pos. Rider Total1 Rick Miller 152 Sam Ermolenko 143 Ronnie Correy 134 Kelly Moran 115 Billy Hamill 10+36 Bobby Ott 10+27 Gary Hicks 98 Bobby Schwartz 79 Mike Faria 710 Greg Hancock 611 Lance King 512 Louis Kossuth 413 Steve Lucero 314 Brad Oxley 3 15 Andy Northrup 216 Josh Larsen (Res) 117 John Kehoe 0
Commonwealth Final 2 June 1991 Norfolk Arena, King's Lynn First 11 to Overseas final plus 1 reserve Pos. Rider Total1 Jeremy Doncaster 142 Leigh Adams 10+33 Joe Screen 10+24 Paul Thorp 10+15 Kelvin Tatum 96 Glenn Doyle 97 Neil Collins 88 Gary Havelock 89 Todd Wiltshire* 710 Andy Smith 711 Mitch Shirra 712 Chris Louis 613 Sean Wilson 514 Gary Allan 415 Martin Dugard 416 Craig Boyce 1 * Todd Wiltshire replaced Glyn Taylor
Fifth round Continental semi-finals 22 June Ellermühle Speedway Stadium, Landshut Top 7 to World semi-final Pos. Rider Points1 Armando Castagna 152 Roman Matoušek 143 Gerd Riss 11+34 Mikhail Starostin 11+25 Wojciech Zaluski 106 Vladimir Kalina 97 Petr Vandírek 8+38 Klaus Lausch 8+29 Zoltan Hajdu 8+110 Pavel Karnas 711 Robert Barth 612 Bohumil Brhel 413 Tomasz Gollob 314 Robert Csillik 315 Csaba Hell 216 Jaroslaw Olszewski 123 June Santa Marina Stadium, Lonigo Top 7 to World semi-final Pos. Rider Points1 Ryszard Dolomisiewicz 122 Zoltán Adorján 11+33 Róbert Nagy 11+24 Rif Saitgareev 11+15 Václav Milík Sr. 11+06 Zdeněk Schneiderwind 107 József Petrikovics 108 Antonín Kasper Jr. 99 Antal Kocso 810 Piotr Swist 811 Oleg Kurguskin 512 Franz Leitner 313 Zoltan Kovacs 314 Lubomir Jedek 315 Eugeniusz Skupien 216 Tommy Dunker 117 Miroslaw Kowalik (res)1
Nordic Final 23 June 1991 Nordjylland Speedway Center, Brovst First 9 to World Semi-final plus 1 reserve Pos. Rider Total1 Hans Nielsen 132 Jan O. Pedersen 123 Jimmy Nilsen 114 Henrik Gustafsson 105 Per Jonsson 96 Lars Gunnestad 97 Gert Handberg 88 Tommy Knudsen 89 Mikael Blixt 810 Tony Rickardsson 7+311 Einar Kyllingstad 7+212 Vesa Ylinen 7+113 Bo Petersen 414 John Jörgensen 415 Juha Moksunen 116 Tor Einar Hielm 1
Overseas Final 23 June 1991 Odsal Stadium, Bradford First 9 to World Semi-final plus 1 reserve
Pos. Rider Total1 Kelvin Tatum 132 Sam Ermolenko 12+33 Billy Hamill 12+24 Andy Smith 115 Paul Thorp 106 Ronnie Correy 97 Jeremy Doncaster 78 Mitch Shirra 79 Kelly Moran 710 Todd Wiltshire 6+311 Glenn Doyle 6+212 Joe Screen 513 Rick Miller 414 Gary Havelock 415 Leigh Adams 416 Neil Collins 3
Sixth round World Semi-Finals 11 August 1991 Rivne Speedway Stadium, Rivne First 8 to World final plus 1 reserve Pos. Rider Points1 Billy Hamill 122 Jimmy Nilsen 113 Per Jonsson 10+34 Paul Thorp 10+25 Roman Matoušek 96 Armando Castagna 97 Jeremy Doncaster 98 Mitch Shirra 99 Mikael Blixt 8+310 Henrik Gustafsson 8+211 Vladimír Kalina 712 Lars Gunnestad 613 Zoltán Adorján 414 Petr Vandírek 415 Antonín Kasper, Jr. (Res) 216 Róbert Nagy 117 Rif Saitgareev 118 August 1991 Abensberger Stadion, Abensberg First 8 to World final plus 1 reserve Pos. Rider Points1 Hans Nielsen 152 Jan O. Pedersen 143 Tommy Knudsen 124 Sam Ermolenko 115 Tony Rickardsson* 106 Ronnie Correy 87 Kelvin Tatum 88 Gerd Riss 89 Gert Handberg 7+310 József Petrikovics 7+211 Kelly Moran 612 Wojciech Załuski 513 Václav Milík, Sr. 314 Zdeněk Schneiderwind 315 Klaus Lausch 216 Mikhail Starostin 1 * First reserve Tony Rickardsson replaced injured qualifier Andy Smith
World final 31 August 1991 Ullevi, GothenburgBamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing.
Classification
Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total1 Jan O. Pedersen (3,3,3,3,3) 152 Tony Rickardsson (2,3,3,2,2) 123 Hans Nielsen (2,3,1,3,2) 11+34 Tommy Knudsen (3,1,1,3,3) 11+25 Jimmy Nilsen (0,2,2,3,3) 106 Paul Thorp (3,2,2,2,1) 107 Sam Ermolenko (2,3,2,0,2) 98 Kelvin Tatum (1,2,3,2,0) 89 Per Jonsson (1,2,0,1,3) 710 Ronnie Correy (3,0,0,1,2) 611 Armando Castagna (1,1,3,1,0) 612 Billy Hamill (2,X,2,1,1) 613 Mitch Shirra (0,0,1,2,1) 414 Roman Matoušek (0,1,1,0,0) 215 Jeremy Doncaster (1,1,0,0,0) 216 Gerd Riss (0,0,0,0,1) 1R1 Mikael Blixt (-,0,-,-,-)0R2 Gert Handberg (-,-,-,-,-)-
References
External links