The 1970 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 25th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.
Ivan Mauger became the first rider to win the title in three consecutive years, his five ride 15 point maximum took him to third in the all-time list behind Ove Fundin and Barry Briggs. The Poles Paweł Waloszek and Antoni Woryna took silver and bronze respectively in their home nation at the Olympic Stadium.
Format changes The format of the Championship changed again for the 1970 event. This time the Polish riders were allowed six places in the World Final to be held in Poland. 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.
Swedish qualifying Top 8 in each heat to Swedish semi-finals
26 April, Gamla Motorstadion, MålillaPosRider Points 1 Bengt Jansson 152 Conny Samuelsson 123 Therje Henriksson 114 Tommy Johansson 105 Lennart Michanek 106 Åke Andersson 107 Bengt Brannefors 98 Bengt Svensson 89 Hasse Holmqvist 710 Per-Åke Gerhardsson 611 Inge Gustafsson 512 Lars-Åke Andersson 513 Anders Jansson 314 Yngve Nilsson 315 Kenneth Selmosson 316 Börje Olsson 1
1 May, Gamla Speedway Track, Visby PosRider Points1 Leif Enecrona 142 Göte Nordin 143 Olle Nygren 134 Christer Löfqvist 125 Lars Jansson 106 Tommy Bergqvist 97 Bo Magnusson 98 Rolf Johansson 79 Hans Hallberg 610 Dirk van der Voet 611 Benny Lundström 512 Håkan Karlsson 413 Torbjörn Karlsson314 Börje Melin 315 Sune Stark 316 Roger Gullbrandsgård 2
3 May, Vetlanda Motorstadion, VetlandaPosRider Points 1 Anders Michanek 152 Bo Josefsson 143 Sven-Inge Svensson 124 Sven Sigurd 105 Bengt Larsson 106 Bengt Andersson 97 Karl-Erik Claesson98 Leif Johansson 89 Gunnar Malmqvist 810 Sigvard Johansson 711 Egon Stengarn 512 Per Sjöholm 313 Nils Ringström 314 Curt Nyqvist 315 Sonny Widergren 216 Torbjörn Runesson 117 Lars-Göran Däldebring 0
22 May, Ryd Motorstadion, LinköpingPosRider Points 1 Sören Sjösten 152 Bernt Persson 143 Ove Fundin 134 Per-Olof Söderman 125 Jan Simensen 106 Hans Johansson97 Runo Wedin 98 Käll Haage 89 Göran Jansson810 Anders Jansson811 Leif Söderberg 512 Lars Jennefors 413 Lars Åhnström114 Benny Ekberg 115 Olle Åhnström 0
British/Commonwealth qualifying Top 32 to British semi-finals DateVenueWinner2nd3rd 25 AprilBrandon Stadium, Coventry Nigel Boocock Bruce Cribb Peter Vandenberg 25 AprilKing's Lynn Stadium, King's Lynn Ronnie Moore Wayne Briggs Terry Betts 25 AprilHyde Road, Manchester Chris Pusey Tommy Roper Cyril Maidment 27 AprilBrough Park, Newcastle Barry Briggs Jim Airey Rick Timmo 27 April County Ground Stadium, Exeter Ivan Mauger Bob Kilby Martin Ashby 28 AprilWest Ham Stadium, London Ivan Mauger Bob Kilby Charlie Monk 28 AprilLeicester Stadium, Leicester Ray Wilson John Boulger Graham Plant 29 April Wimborne Road, Poole Trevor Hedge Pete Smith Gordon Guasco 30 AprilWimbledon Stadium, London Eric Boocock Ronnie Moore Trevor Hedge 30 AprilOwlerton Stadium, Sheffield Jim Airey Les Sharpe Nigel Boocock 30 AprilOxford Stadium, Oxford Jim McMillan John Boulger Tony Clarke 1 MayMonmore Green, Wolverhampton Nigel Boocock Martin Ashby Norman Hunter 1 MayHackney Wick Stadium, London Barry Briggs Ronnie Moore Jimmy Gooch 1 May Hampden Park, Glasgow Charlie Monk Colin McKee Jim McMillan 1 MaySomerton Park, Newport Bill Andrew Norman Strachan Jim Airey 2 MayAbbey Stadium, Swindon Barry Briggs Bob Kilby Ray Wilson 2 MayThe Shay, Halifax Arnold Haley Les Sharpe Eric Boocock 2 MayDudley Wood Stadium, Dudley Colin Pratt Bob Andrews Jack Biggs 13 MayBrandon Stadium, Coventry Nigel Boocock Ken McKinlay Rick France
Second round Norwegian qualifying 15 October 1969 Krohnsminde Stadion, Bergen Top 2 (+2 seeded) to Nordic final 1970 Pos. Rider Points1 Reidar Eide 152 Oyvind S. Berg 143 Edgar Stangeland 124 Per Aulie 125 Dag Lövaas 116 Einar Egedius 87 Nils Otto Haraldsen 78 Jon Hovind 79 Hans Olav Schia610 Kjell Ttomas Skjäveland 5 Finnish qualifying (top 7) (2 rounds) 1 Aug & ?? 1969 Eteläpuisto, Tampere & Kärpänen Speedway, Lahti First to Nordic final 1970 Pos. Rider Points Total1 Kalevi Lahtinen 8+8162 Matti Olin 6+6123 Timo Laine 4+154 Jorma Taipale 0+445 Olavi Turunen 1+346 Reima Lohkovuori 2+247 Jouko Naskali 3+03
Swedish semi-finals 25 May, Ryavallen, Borås Top 4 to Nordic final Pos. Rider Points1 Sören Sjösten 142 Anders Michanek 143 Olle Nygren 144 Bengt Larsson125 Per-Olof Söderman 106 Käll Haage 107 Lars Jansson108 Leif Enecrona 99 Conny Samuelsson 910 Sven-Inge Svensson511 Karl-Erik Claesson 512 Rolf Johansson 413 Sigvard Johansson 414 Hans Johansson 315 Åke Andersson 116 Bo Magnusson 017 Egon Stengarn (res)028 May, Ullevi, Gothenburg Top 4 to Nordic final Pos. Rider Points1 Ove Fundin 142 Göte Nordin 143 Bengt Brannefors 134 Bengt Jansson 125 Bo Josefsson 106 Therje Henriksson97 Bernt Persson 98 Jan Simensen99 Bengt Svensson610 Christer Löfqvist611 Tommy Bergqvist 512 Runo Wedin513 Sven Sigurd 314 Tommy Johansson 315 Per-Åke Gerhardsson (res) 2 16 Lennart Michanek 117 Bengt Andersson 1
Continental qualifying Top 32 to Continental semi-finals DateVenueWinner2nd3rd 9 May Meissen Speedway Stadium, Meissen Jan Holub I Valery Gordeev Peter Liebing 10 May Borsod Volán Stadion, Miskolc Václav Verner Jaroslav Volf Viktor Trofimov 10 May Liebenauer Stadium, Graz Vladimir Gordeev Zdenek Majstr Jochen Dinse 10 May Igralište na Kajzerici, Zagreb Pavel Mares Boris Cehanovich Jürgen Hehlert
British/Commonwealth semi-finals 19 May Leicester Stadium, Leicester Top 8 to British/Commonwealth final
Pos. Rider Points1 Ivan Mauger 152 Ronnie Moore 143 Howard Cole 124 Nigel Boocock105 Trevor Hedge106 Terry Betts107 Jim Airey 98 Arnie Haley99 Bob Kilby810 Reg Luckhurst511 George Hunter 412 Bill Andrew (res)413 Wayne Briggs314 Cyril Maidment215 John Dews216 Rick Timmo 217 Jack Biggs118 Gordon Guasco 221 May Owlerton Stadium, Sheffield Top 8 to British Commonwealth final Pos. Rider Points1 Barry Briggs 132 Jim McMillan 113 Ray Wilson114 Roy Trigg105 Charlie Monk106 Chris Pusey107 John Boulger98 Martin Ashby99 Bob Andrews810 Tommy Roper811 Les Sharpe 712 Ken McKinlay413 Eric Boocock314 Tony Clarke315 Colin MCKee216 Colin Pratt2
Third round Continental semi-finals 6 June Svítkov Stadium, Pardubice Top 8 to Continental final Pos. Rider Points1 Valerij Klementiev 152 Vladimir Smirnov 113 Yury Dubinin 104 Viktor Trofimov 105 Jiří Štancl 106 Hans Jürgen Fritz 97 Nikołaj Aksenov 98 Grigory Khlinovsky 99 Antonín Šváb Sr. 810 Václav Verner 811 Jaroslav Volf 512 Viktor Pavlov 513 Jan Holub I 514 Hans Martens 215 Peter Liebing 116 Pal Perenyi 07 June Polonia Bydgoszcz Stadium, Bydgoszcz Top 8 to Continental final Pos. Rider Points1 Gennadij Kurilenko 142 Valerij Gordeev 123 Vladimir Kononovich 114 Viktor Kalmykov 115 Zdeněk Majstr 106 Jürgen Hehlert 107 Dieter Tetzlaff 108 Boris Cehanovich 99 Gabdrakhman Kadyrov 710 Gerhard Uhlenbrock 611 Josef Bössner 512 Jochen Dinse 413 Miloslav Verner 414 Jurij Lambotskij 115 Pavel Mareš dns16 Frantisek Ledecky dns
British/Commonwealth Final 9 June 1970 West Ham Stadium, London First 8 to British-Nordic Final
Nordic Final 4 June 1970 Snälltorpet, Eskilstuna First 8 to British-Nordic Final
Fourth round British Nordic Final 1 July 1970 Brandon Stadium, Coventry First 8 to European Final
Continental Final 2 June 1970 Abensberger Stadion, Abensberg First 8 to European Final
Fifth round European Final 20 July 1970 Leningrad Speedway Stadium, Leningrad First 10 to World Final
Polish qualifying 6 seeded to World Final 1 Alfred Smoczyk Stadium, Leszno, 14 Jun; 2 Hasiok, Świętochłowice, 16 June; 3 Rybnik Municipal Stadium, 26 Jun; 4 Polonia Bydgoszcz Stadium, 3 Jul; 5 Stadion żużlowy Gorzów, 10 Jul; 6 Stadion Kolejarz, Opole, 31 Jul; 7 Olympic Stadium, Wrocław, 7 Aug; 8 Stadion Wybrzeże, Gdańsk, 9 Aug Pos. Rider 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Total1 Jan Mucha 6141213128613722 Pawel Waloszek 91211612111213713 Andrzej Wyglenda 812914145109684 Antoni Woryna951410812105635 Henryk Glucklich 1293996127 586 Jerzy Szczakiel 1112811673 ns 587 Zygfryd Friedek 7797101211ns 568 Jozef Jarmula 61110866ns13 549 Stanislaw Kasa 104898776 4910 Edmund Migoś 745979111 4811 Zygmunt Pytko 7383ns710+0 3812 Stanislaw Skowron 64530116ns 3513 Henryk Żyto 8845ns504 3414 Jerzy Trzeszkowski 07705nsns12 3115 Piotr Bruzda 72217535 2916 Stanisław Tkocz 54593nsnsns 2617 Zbigniew Podlecki nsnsnsnsns25111818 Jerzy Gryt nsnsnsnsns65ns1119 Wiktor Waloszek nsnsnsnsnsns371020 Jerzy Padewski nsnsnsns8nsnsns821 Leszek Marsz nsnsnsnsnsnsns88
World Final 6 September 1970 Olympic Stadium, WrocławBamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing.
References