1971 Individual Speedway World Championship

The 1971 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 26th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.

Ole Olsen became the first Danish winner of the Championship. His 15-point maximum denied Ivan Mauger from winning a fourth consecutive title. Mauger won the silver medal run-off against Bengt Jansson.

Format changes The format of the Championship changed again for the 1971 event. This time the Swedish riders were allowed six places in the World Final to be held in Sweden. All other nations had to go through the European Final route to provide the remaining 10 riders for the World Final.

First round Qualification results.

British/Commonwealth qualifying Top 32 to British/Commonwealth semi-finals DateVenueWinner2nd3rd 17 AprilThe Shay, Halifax Dave Younghusband Ronnie Moore Bill Andrew 17 AprilAbbey Stadium, Swindon Barry Briggs Martin Ashby George Hunter 19 AprilReading Stadium, Reading Ivan Mauger Jim Airey Howard Cole 19 AprilCounty Ground Stadium, Exeter Eric Boocock Bob Kilby Dave Younghusband 20 AprilWest Ham Stadium, London Reg Luckhurst Nigel Boocock Greg Kentwell 20 AprilLeicester Stadium, Leicester Ray Wilson Tommy Roper John Boulger 21 AprilWimborne Road, Poole Barry Briggs Tony Lomas Martin Ashby 22 AprilWimbledon Stadium, London Garry Middleton John Boulger Ronnie Moore 22 AprilOwlerton Stadium, Sheffield Eric Boocock Brian Leonard Jim Airey 22 AprilOxford Stadium, Oxford Martin Ashby Colin Gooddy Charlie Monk 23 AprilMonmore Green, Wolverhampton Terry Betts Bob Andrews Ivan Mauger 23 AprilHampden Park, Glasgow Howard Cole Eric Broadbelt Norman Hunter 24 AprilHyde Road, Manchester Ivan Mauger George Hunter Sándor Lévai 24 AprilBrandon Stadium, Coventry Tony Lomas Alan Cowland Col Cottrell 24 AprilKing's Lynn Stadium, King's Lynn Malcolm Simmons Ray Wilson Terry Betts 26 AprilDudley Wood Stadium, Dudley Roy Trigg Garry Middleton Peter Jarman 28 AprilBrandon Stadium, Coventry Tony Lomas Bruce Cribb Ken McKinlay 30 AprilHackney Wick Stadium, London Barry Thomas Garry Middleton Bob Kilby 30 AprilSomerton Park, Newport Sándor Lévai Nigel Boocock Bill Andrew

Second round Norwegian qualifying 20 September 1970 Geiteryggen Speedwaybane, Skien Top 1 (+6 seeded) to Nordic final 1971 Pos. Rider Points1 Reidar Eide152 Ulf Lovaas123 Svein Kaasa114 Einar Egedius115 Odd Fossengen 106 Jan Terje Gravningen107 Jon Odegaard 108 Jorn Flatha 99 Dag Lovaas610 Dagfinn Dahl611 Johnny Larsen512 Kjell Todnem513 Nils O. Haraldsen314 Thorbjorn Nygaard315 Ragnar Olaisen 216 Leif O. Jorgensen2 Finnish qualifying (top 8) (2 rounds) 11 Aug & 25 Aug 1970 Kärpänen Speedway, Lahti & Eteläpuisto, Tampere Top 2 to Nordic final 1971 Pos. Rider Points Total1 Kalevi Lahtinen 8+8162 Matti Olin 6+6123 Jouko Naskali 2+354 Erkki Hannula 4+045 Pekka Kulmala 0+446 Reima Lohkovuori 3+147 Timo Sinkkonen 0+228 Olavi Turunen 1+01

Continental qualifying Top 32 to Continental semi-finals DateVenueWinner2nd3rd 8 May Stadio Moretti, Udine Aleksandr Pavlov Jerzy Szczakiel Viktor Trofimov 9 May Markéta Stadium, Prague Hans Jürgen Fritz Jiří Štancl Peter Liebing 9 May Borsod Volán Stadion, Miskolc Jan Holub I Vladimir Smirnov Henryk Glucklich 9 May Abensberger Stadion, Abensberg Jan Mucha Andrzej Wyglenda Antoni Woryna

British/Commonwealth semi-finals 18 May West Ham Stadium, London Top 8 to British/Commonwealth final Pos. Rider Points1 Ronnie Moore 152 John Boulger 133 Barry Briggs 124 Bob Kilby105 Arnie Haley96 Martin Ashby97 Geoff Curtis88 Garry Middleton79 Tommy Roper710 Bruce Cribb611 Roy Trigg 512 Ken McKinlay313 George Hunter214 Colin Gooddy215 Ian Turner116 Stan Stevens (res) 017 Alan Sage (res) 020 May Owlerton Stadium, Sheffield Top 8 to British/Commonwealth final Pos. Rider Points1 Ivan Mauger 142 Ray Wilson 143 Nigel Boocock 134 Eric Boocock135 Howard Cole106 Bert Harkins97 Tony Lomas98 Dave Younghusband89 Bob Andrews810 Malcom Simmons711 Terry Betts 412 Norman Storer413 Sándor Lévai314 Alan Cowland215 Charlie Monk116 Tony Clarke

Third round British/Commonwealth Final 16 June 1971 Brandon Stadium, Coventry First 12 to British-Nordic Final

Nordic Final 6 June 1971 Selskov Stadium, Hillerød First 4 to British/Commonwealth-Nordic Final

Continental semi-finals 5 June Güstrow Speedway Stadium, Güstrow Top 8 to Continental final Pos. Rider Points1 Hans Jürgen Fritz 142 Henryk Glücklich 113 Jan Holub I 114 Piotr Bruzda 10.55 Stanislaw Kasa 106 Dieter Tetzlaff 107 Horst Krüger 98 Jiří Štancl 89 Vladimir Smirnov 7.510 Viktor Kalmykov 611 Janos Szöke 612 Peter Liebing 613 Clemens Bever 614 Zbigniew Podlecki 315 Zbynek Novotny 216 Ferenc Radacsi 06 June Stadion żużlowy, Gorzów Wielkopolski Top 8 to Continental final Pos. Rider Points1 Gennadij Kurilenko 112 Jerzy Szczakiel 113 Vladimir Gordeev 114 Grigorij Khlynovski 115 Anatolij Kuzmin 106 Viktor Trofimov 107 Jan Mucha 108 Paweł Waloszek 9+39 Alexander Pavlov 9+210 Andrzej Wyglenda711 Pavel Mares 612 Miroslav Verner 513 Antoni Woryna 414 Václav Verner 315 Jerzy Trzeszkowski 316 Milan Špinka 0

Fourth round Swedish qualifying Top 4 in each heat to Swedish final

(1 May, Gamla Speedway Track, Visby)PosRider Points 1 Bengt Jansson 152 Leif Enecrona 143 Bo Wirebrand 124 Tommy Jansson 115 Börje Ohlsson 116 Therje Henriksson 107 Kenneth Selmosson 78 Bengt Olsson 79 Bengt Svensson 510 Lars-Åke Andersson 511 Tommy Johansson 512 Bertil Andersson 413 Åke Andersson 314 Casimir Nilsson 215 Egon Stengarn 116 Roger Gullbrandsgård 0

(1 May, Gislaved Motorbana, Gislaved)PosRider Points 1 Göte Nordin 152 Bernt Persson 133 Hasse Holmqvist 114 Rolf Johansson 105 Käll Haage 96 Claes Löfstrand 97 Christer Sjösten88 Leif Johansson 79 Bo Magnusson 710 Karl-Erik Claesson 711 Göran Jansso 612 Torbjörn Karlsson 513 Nils Eriksson 514 Börje Meli 515 Torbjörn Runesson 216 Hans Engzell 1

(2 May, Gamla Motorstadion, Målilla)PosRider Points 1 Sören Sjösten 152 Anders Michanek 113 Runo Wedin 114 Sven-Inge Svensson 105 Christer Löfqvist 106 Jan Simensen 107 Hans Johansson 108 Sune Stark 99 Inge Gustavsson 810 Tommy Bergqvist 811 Ingemar Thillander 612 Anders Jansson 513 Lennart Johansson 314 Ove Helander 215 Anders Lövgre 116 Börje Klingberg 1

(3 May, Malmö Stadion, Malmö)PosRider Points 1 Per-Olof Söderman 142 Olle Nygren 133 Bo Josefsson 134 Lars Jansson 135 Bengt Larsson 116 Willy Karlsson 107 Berndt Johansson 98 Sigvard Johansson 89 Håkan Karlsson 710 Jan-Inge Karlsson 511 Tommy Wedén 512 Harald Andersson 413 Lars Jennefors 314 Roland Karlsson 215 Arne Hansson (res) 216 Ragnar Holm117 Sven-Olov Lindh 0

British/Commonwealth/Nordic Final 30 July 1971 Hampden Park, Glasgow First 8 to European Final

Continental Final 26 June 1971 Slaný Speedway Stadium, Slaný First 8 to European Final plus 1 reserve

Fifth round Swedish Finals Three races held on R1, 1 June at Snälltorpet, Eskilstuna R2, 2 June at Norrköping Motorstadion, Norrköping R3, 3 June in Gubbängens IP, Stockholm Top 6 to World Final & 1 reserve Pos. RiderR1 R2R3Total1 Anders Michanek141512412 Bengt Jansson111114363 Bernt Persson11149344 Leif Enecrona12811315 Tommy Jansson 101010306 Sören Sjösten8714297 Göte Nordin31213288 Hasse Holmqvist8108269 Lars Jansson 97723Pos. RiderR1 R2R3Total10 Olle Nygren8561911 Bo Wirebrand4471512 Runo Wedin4741513 Bo Josefsson5421114 Sven-Inge Svensson5231015 Per Olof Söderman531916 Herje Henriksson-10117 Rolf Johansson00-0

European Final 21 August 1971 Wembley Stadium, London First 10 to World Final plus 1 reserve

World Final 10 September 1971 Ullevi, GothenburgBamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. Referee: Georg Traunspurger

Note : Vladimir Gordeev was disqualified after illegal additives were found in his fuel.

References