The 1990 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 45th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.
The final was held at the Odsal Stadium in Bradford, England. It was the 28th and last time the world final would be held in England under the traditional single meeting format.
Sweden's Per Jonsson won his only World Individual Championship to become the first Swedish World Champion since Anders Michanek in 1974 and became the first rider to win both the Under-21 and Senior World Championships, having previously won the 1985 Under-21 World Championship. Jonsson defeated Shawn Moran from the United States in a run-off after both finished the meeting on 13 points. Moran was later disqualified by the FIM for failing a drug test taken at the Overseas Final. After Moran's disqualification, the FIM did not adjust the rankings, leaving the second-place position vacant in official records for the 1990 World Final. Australian youngster Todd Wiltshire, believed by many judges to be one who would be making up the numbers in his first World Final, finished third with 12 points after winning his first two rides.
After having won each World Final since 1984, including five 1-2 finishes and taking all podium places in 1988, the 1990 World Final saw no Danish riders finishing on the podium for the first time since 1983. Defending champion Hans Nielsen, the only Danish rider in the field after Jan O. Pedersen was sidelined due to injury, finished fourth with 11 points.1990 Individual Speedway World Championship
First round British qualifiers
Top 32 to British-Semi finals
Second round New Zealand qualification First 16 to New Zealand final DateChampionshipVenueWinner2nd3rd JanSouth Island FinalRuapuna Speedway, Christchurch Mark Thorpe+ Larry Ross David Bargh ??North Island FinalMeeanee Speedway, Napier Craig Wilkie Gary Allan ?? +Thorpe awarded title after Ross refused to ride in the race-off
Australian qualification Top 16 to Australian final DateChampionshipVenueWinner2nd3rd ??Northern Territory Northline Speedway, Darwin Glen Baxter ?? ?? ??Victorian Myrtleford Speedway, Myrtleford Leigh Adams Phil Crump ?? ??New South WalesNewcastle Motordrome, Tomago Todd Wiltshire Craig Boyce Stephen Davies ??South Australian North Arm Speedway, Gillman Scott Norman Shane Parker ?? ??Queensland Townsville Speedway, Townsville Troy Butler ?? ?? ?? Western Australian Claremont Speedway, Perth Glenn Doyle Glyn Taylor David Cheshire
British semi-finals
Top 16 to British final
Third round Continental preliminary round Riders progress to Continental quarter-finals DateVenueWinner2nd3rd 5 May Arena Częstochowa, Częstochowa Jacek Woźniak Tommy Dunker Jacek Rempała 6 May Anton Treffer Stadion, Neustadt Alois Bachhuber Lubomir Jedek Jan Schinagl 6 May Rivne Speedway Stadium, Rivne Igor Marko Piotr Świst Laszlo Bodi 6 May Ilirija Sports Park, Ljubljana Valentino Furlanetto Vladimir Kalina Maciej Jaworek
Swedish qualification Top 8 in each heat to Swedish final
(29 April, Målilla Motorstadion, Målilla)PosRider Points 1 Per Jonsson 132 Henrik Gustafsson 133 Dennis Löfqvist 124 Claes Ivarsson 125 Erik Stenlund 96 Tony Rickardsson 97 Mikael Teurnberg 88 Stefan Dannö 89 Kenneth Nyström 910 Jörgen Johansson 711 Christer Jonsson 612 Mikael Löfqvist 513 Tomas Karlsson 414 John Jensen 315 Jan Bergqvist 316 Pierre Carlsson 1
(29 April, Gamla Galgberget, Visby)PosRider Points 1 Jimmy Nilsen 142 Tony Olsson 133 Niklas Karlsson 114 Mikael Ritterwall 115 Conny Ivarsson 106 Peter Nahlin 107 Kenneth Lindby 108 Christer Rohlén 99 Patrik Karlsson 810 Jimmy Engman 711 Tommy Nilsson 412 Tony Samuelsson 413 Raymond Smedh 414 Kent Rickardsson 215 Kari Virta 216 Joakim Messing 0
British final
Top 10 to Commonwealth final
New Zealand final Ruapuna Speedway, Christchurch 3 February, top 2 to Commonwealth final Pos. Rider Pts1 Larry Ross 14+3 2 Mark Thorpe 14+2 3 Craig Wilkie 14+1 4 James Martin 115 Justin Monk 106 Michael Long 9 7 Stephen Rose 8 8 Darrin Wilson 8 9 Mark Jamieson 810 Max Brown 5 11 Philip Barakat 412 Kenny Webley 313 Alan Mason 2 14 Rhys Hamburger 3 15 Greg Fisher 2 16 Gary Marsh017 Trevor Chapman018 John Tuffley0
Australian final Brisbane Exhibition Ground 13 January, top 3 (+1 other seeded) to Commonwealth final Pos. Rider Pts1 Glenn Doyle 14+32 Leigh Adams 14+23 Stephen Davies 134 Phil Crump 125 Shane Bowes 106 Mick Poole 9 7 Jamie Fagg 8 8 Glen Baxter 7 9 Steve Regeling 610 Steve Langdon 5 11 Shane Parker 512 Sean Willmott 413 Scott Norman 414 Troy Butler 4 15 Chris Watson 2 16 Glyn Taylor 117 Darren Winkler (res) 1
Fourth round Continental quarter-finals Top 32 to Continental semi-finals DateVenueWinner2nd3rd 3 June Municipal Stadium, Rzeszów Ryszard Dołomisiewicz Jozsef Petrikovics Jan Krzystyniak 3 June Speedway Natschbach Loipersbach Antal Kocso Zdenek Tesar Heinrich Schatzer 3 June Borsod Volán Stadion, Miskolc Zoltan Hajdu Piotr Świst Rif Saitgareev 4 June Abensberger Stadion, Abensberg Zoltan Adorjan Sandor Tihanyi Klaus Lausch
Danish Final
Top 6 to the Nordic final
Norway Final Frogner Speedway, Oslo 15 Sep 1989, top 1 (+1 seeded) to Nordic final 1990 Pos. Rider Points1 Arnt Førland 12+32 Lars Gunnestad 12+23 Robert Langeland 12+14 Ingvar Skogland 12+05 Per Jörgensen 116 Arne Svensen 97 Jan Arid Slatta 98 Atle Knutsen 79 Einar Kyllingstad610 Tor Einar Hielm 611 Odd Pettersen 512 Stag Bergersen 413 Jorn Arve Ardal 414 Jorn Vidar Aasen 415 Kjell Oyvind Sola 316 Gjermund Aas 217 Rolf Netland (res) 1 Finland Final Kaanaa Speedway, Tampere 27 Aug 1989, top 2 to Nordic final 1990 Pos. Rider Total1 Juha Moksunen 142 Olli Tyrvainen 13+33 Kai Niemi 13+24 Vesa Ylinen 11+35 Janne Moksunen 11+26 Ari Koponen 107 Jari Kortelainen 88 Seppo Keskinen 79 Tomi Havu 710 Aarre Soivuori 711 Roy Malminheimo 712 Petri Kokko 513 Pekka Eerikainen 214 Jarmo Makinen 215 Petri Nurmesniemi (res) 116 Mika Pellinen (res) 117 Janne Koivula (res) 118 Esa Reijo 019 Nicklas Finne 0
Swedish Final R1 (15 May, Vetlanda Motorstadion, Vetlanda) R2 (16 May, Norrköping Motorstadion, Norrköping) R3 (17 May, Avesta Motorstadion, Avesta) Top 6 to Nordic Final Pos. Rider Scores Total1 Per Jonsson 12+13+1338 2 Jimmy Nilsen 12+12+10343 Dennis Löfqvist 9+12+13344 Conny Ivarsson 3+9+1133 5 Henka Gustafsson 9+11+13336 Peter Nahlin 14+8+1032 7 Niklas Karlsson 8+9+8258 Tony Rickardsson 6+5+10219 Peter Karlsson 8+6+62010 Erik Stenlund 4+6+71711 Claes Ivarsson 9+6+ns1512 Mikael Teurnberg 4+4+71513 Mikael Ritterwall 6+6+214 1414 Tony Olsson 5+5+ns1015 Kenneth Lindby 1+4+3816 Stefan Dannö 0+2+4617 Christer Rohlén (res) ns+1+01
Commonwealth Final Top 12 plus 1 reserve to the Overseas final
North American Final 2 June 1990 Veterans Memorial Stadium, Long Beach Top 4 to the Overseas final plus 1 reserve Pos. Rider Total1 Shawn Moran 18+3 2 Billy Hamill 18+2 3 Rick Miller 18+1 4 Greg Hancock 18+0 5 Ronnie Correy 16+3 6 Kelly Moran 16+2 7 Bobby Schwartz 14 8 Mike Faria 12 9 Robert Pfetzing 12 10 Lance King 11 11 Steve Lucero 8 12 Jim Sisemore 8 13 Josh Larsen 7 14 Brad Oxley 5 15 Tony Bienert 5 16 Charles Ermolenko 3 17 Eddie Castro 3 18 Shawn McConnell (res) 3 19 Sam Ermolenko 2 20 Don Odom (res) 2 21 John Kehoe 1 22 Fred Legault 0
Fifth round Continental semi-finals 23 June Polonia Bydgoszcz Stadium, Bydgoszcz Top 8 to Continental final Pos. Rider Points1 Antonín Kasper Jr. 142 Jan Krzystyniak 133 Tomasz Gollob 12+34 Zdeněk Tesař 12+25 Antal Kocso 96 József Petrikovics 87 Wojciech Zaluski 7+38 Heinrich Schatzer 7+29 Igor Marko 7+110 Lubomir Jedek 611 Róbert Nagy 612 Laszlo Bodi 613 Ryszard Dolomisiewicz 514 Vladimir Trofimov 515 Walter Nebel 216 Viktor Gajdym 124 June Speedway Žarnovica, Žarnovica Top 8 to Continental final Pos. Rider Points1 Zoltán Adorján 152 Klaus Lausch 11+33 Armando Castagna 11+24 Gerd Riss 11+15 Sandor Tihanyi 106 Roman Matoušek 97 Bohumil Brhel 98 Vladimir Kalina 99 Petr Vandírek 810 Andre Pollehn 711 Rif Saitgareev 712 Zoltan Hajdu 613 Pavel Karnas 314 Sandor Ujhelyi 215 Robert Funk 116 Zsolt Böszermenyi 1
Overseas Final Top 9 to the Intercontinental final
Nordic Final 9 June 1990 Motorstadium, Linköping Top 7 to the Intercontinental Final plus 1 reserve Pos. Rider Total1 Jan O. Pedersen 14 2 Per Jonsson 12 3 Henrik Gustafsson 11+3 4 Conny Ivarsson 11+2 5 Jimmy Nilsen 11+1 6 Hans Nielsen 11+0 7 Dennis Löfqvist 9+3 8 Brian Karger 9+2 9 Kai Niemi 6 10 Bo Petersen 6 11 Peter Nahlin 5 12 Einar Kyllingstad 5 13 Jens Henry Nielsen 3 14 Olli Tyrväinen 2 15 Arnt Førland 2 16 Jan Pedersen 2 17 Vesa Ylinen (res) 1
Sixth round Intercontinental Final Top 11 plus 1 reserve to World final
Continental Final 12 August 1990 Motodrom Halbemond, Norden Top 5 to the World final plus 1 reserve Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total1 Gerd Riss (3,2,2,3,3) 13 2 Zoltán Adorján (2,3,1,3,3) 12+3 3 Armando Castagna (3,3,x,3,3) 12+2 4 Roman Matoušek (3,1,3,2,2) 11 5 Zdeněk Tesař (3,0,2,3,2) 10+3 6 Antonín Kasper Jr. (1,3,3,2,1) 10+2 7 Sándor Tihanyi (0,3,2,2,2) 9 8 Wojciech Załuski (2,1,F,1,3) 7 9 Antal Kocso (2,2,2,0,1) 7 10 Klaus Lausch (2,1,3,R,ns) 6 11 Bohumil Brhel (1,2,EF,2,0) 5 12 Vladimir Kalina (1,1,1,0,2) 5 13 József Petrikovics (0,2,1,1,1) 5 14 Tomasz Gollob (0,0,3,1,0) 4 15 Heinrich Schatzer (1,0,0,1,1) 3 16 Jan Krzystyniak (0,0,1,0,0) 1
World final 1 September 1990 Odsal Stadium, BradfordBamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing.
Classification
Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total Per Jonsson (3,3,2,2,3) 13+3 2 Shawn Morana(1,3,3,3,3) 13+2 Todd Wiltshire (3,3,2,1,3) 12 4 Hans Nielsen (3,1,3,2,2) 11 5 Jimmy Nilsen (2,1,2,3,2) 10 6 Henrik Gustafsson* (3,2,3,0,1) 9 7 Kelvin Tatum (2,3,0,3,1) 9 8 Armando Castagna (F,2,1,3,2) 8 9 Rick Miller (2,2,3,1,x) 8 10 Richard Knight (1,2,1,2,1) 7 11 Martin Dugard (2,0,1,0,3) 6 12 Roman Matoušek (1,R,0,2,2) 5 13 Zdeněk Tesař (0,0,2,0,R) 2 14 Ronnie Correy (1,0,x,1,0) 2 15 Zoltán Adorján (1,R,0,1,0) 2 16 Antonín Kasper Jr.* (0,1,1,0,0) 2 Res Sándor Tihanyi did not ride - Res Dennis Löfqvist did not ride - * Henrik Gustafsson and Antonín Kasper Jr. replaced injured qualifiers Jan O. Pedersen and Gerd Riss
Notes: a. Shawn Moran scored 13 points and lost the run-off to Per Jonsson. However, Moran had failed a random drug and alcohol test taken three months earlier at the Overseas Final, and was subsequently disqualified from second place. The FIM did not upgrade the standings and the official records show no second place rider.
References