1953 Individual Speedway World Championship

The 1953 Individual Speedway World Championship was the eighth edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.

Welshman Freddie Williams became the second rider to win a second title in front of a 90,000 attendance at Wembley Stadium. Williams won 4 of his 5 races, only dropping one point in heat 13 to Jeff Lloyd. Geoff Mardon defeated Olle Nygren in the bronze medal ride off.

Qualification Qualification started on 1952.

Stage 1 Norwegian round 28 September 1952 Lerkendal Stadion, Trondheim First 3 (+1 seeded) to Nordic round 1953 Pos. Rider Points1 Basse Hveem 14+32 Henry Andersen 14+23 Reidar Kristoffersen134 Sverre Gjomesli 115 Werner Lorentzen 106 Thorleif Andreassen 107 Erik Storm Larsen 108 Rolf Naess69 Oddvan Gundersgaard510 Edvin Fredriksen 511 Erling Simonsen 412 Odd Johansen413 Magne Flaaten 314 Gunnar Hilsen 215 Karl Andreassen 116 Olgar Torholen 1Swedish round 20 May 1953 Eslöv Motorstadion, Eslöv First 8 to Nordic final Pos. Rider Points1 Stig Pramberg 122 Olle Segerström 113 Olle Nygren 114 Dan Forsberg 105 Rune Sörmander 106 Sune Karlsson 97 Bert Lindarw 88 Thorsten Carlsson 89 Joel Jansson 810 Bertil Carlsson II 711 Ove Fundin 612 Ove Bodin 413 Göte Olsson414 Bernt Nilsson 415 Sven Skoglund 316 Evert Andersson 317 Gunnar Hellqvist 2

Stage 2 Continental qualifier 17 May 1953 Altes Stadion Abensberg, Abensberg First 6 to Continental round Pos. Rider Points1 Josef Kamper152 Kjell Carlsson 133 Fritz Dirtl 124 Sven Skoglund 115 Karl Killmeyer 106 Albin Siegl 97 Tony Kroeze 98 Josef Hofmeister89 Wilf Plant 510 Fred Aberl 511 Gerit Jonker 512 Jack Winstanley 513 Karl Kiendl 414 Co Boef 415 Walter Dirtl 316 Leopold Killmeyer 217 Alfred Hamberger 118 Hans Müller 0

Nordic Final 31 May 1953 Dælenenga idrettspark, Oslo First 8 to Continental final Pos. Rider Points1 Dan Forsberg 152 Basse Hveem 143 Olle Nygren 114 Olle Segerström 105 Henry Andersen 106 Rune Sörmander 97 Thorsten Carlsson 98 Stig Pramberg 99 Sune Karlsson 710 Leif Bech 711 Reidar Kristoffersen 712 Bert Lindarw 513 Thorleif Andreasen 314 Joel Jansson 315 Kaukko Jousanen 116 Simo Ylänen 017 Kiehn Berthelsen 0

Stage 3 Continental Final 21 June 1953 Kumla Motorstadion, Kumla First 8 to International Round Pos. Rider Points1 Basse Hveem 152 Olle Nygren 133 Dan Forsberg 124 Sune Karlsson 125 Rune Sörmander 106 Olle Segerström 97 Phil Clarke 98 Stig Pramberg 89 Thorsten Carlsson 710 Henry Andersen 611 Karl Killmeyer 612 Kjell Carlsson 413 Josef Kamper 314 Bob Roger 315 Fritz Dirtl 216 Sven Skoglund 117 Albin Siegl dnr

British qualifying round The top riders qualify for the International round. DateVenueWinner 26 May Banister Court Stadium Maury Mattingley 26 May Cornish Stadium Goog Hoskin 28 May Oxford Stadium Jim Boyd 29 May Pennycross Stadium Harold Fairhurst 30 May Rayleigh Weir Stadium Peter Clark

Stage 4 International round The top 54 riders qualify for the Championship round. DateVenueWinner6 July Stanley Stadium Tommy Miller6 July Wimborne Road Basse Hveem7 July Yarmouth Stadium Fred Brand8 July White City Stadium, Glasgow Tommy Miller10 July Leicester Stadium Olle Nygren10 July The Stadium, Motherwell Ron Mountford11 July Brandon Stadium Charlie New11 July Sun Street Stadium Brian Crutcher18 July Old Meadowbank Don Cuppleditch24 July Monmore Green Stadium Harry Bastable

Stage 5 Championship Round Top 16 qualify for World final, 17th-20th reserves for World final DateVenueWinner14 August Knowle Stadium Dick Bradley15 August Harringay Stadium Olle Nygren17 August Wimbledon Stadium Ronnie Moore18 August West Ham Stadium Jack Young20 August Wembley Stadium Jack Biggs22 August Hyde Road Stadium Ronnie Moore22 August Odsal Stadium Arthur Forrest26 August Perry Barr Stadium Graham Warren28 August The Firs Stadium Aub Lawson

Scores Top 16 qualify for World final, 17th-20th reserves for World final Pos. Rider Total pts1 Ronnie Moore 292 Olle Nygren 283 Jack Young 274 Arthur Forrest 265 Jack Biggs 256 Dick Bradley 257 Freddie Williams258 Aub Lawson 259 Alan Hunt 2510 Jeff Lloyd 2411 Split Waterman 2412 Eric Williams 2413 Geoff Mardon 2414 Brian Crutcher 2315 Rune Sörmander 2316 Graham Warren 2317 Dent Oliver 2318 Arthur Payne2219 Louis Lawson2120 Maury Dunn2121 Wally Green2022 Len Williams20 23 Ron How1924 Ken Walsh1925 Harry Edwards 1826 Howdy Byford1827 Don Cuppleditch1728 Billy Hole1729 Tommy Miller1630 Ron Johnston1631 Bill Kitchen1632 Dan Forsberg 1433 Dick Seers 1434 Fred Brand 1435 Eric Boothroyd1436 Charlie New13Pos. Rider Total pts37 Bob Fletcher1338 Ken Middleditch1339 Peter Moore1240 Bob Mark 1141 Jack Parker1142 Ron Clarke1143 Terry Small1144 John Reason1145 Harry Bastable1146 Jim Tolley1147 Olle Segerström1148 Stig Pramberg1149 Peter Clark1050 Harry Welsh1051 Ken McKinlay952 Fred Rogers 953 Les Hewitt854 Sune Karlsson855 Reg Reeves 756 Phil Clarke757 Charlie May758 Barry Briggs659 Geoff Pymar660 Peter Robinson661 Malcolm Craven662 Trevor Redmond5.563 Pat Clark 564 Bill Holden465 Alan Kidd366 Don Potter367 Ron Mountford368 Basse Hveem369 Dick Campbell270 Bob Baker271 Gordon McGregor2

World final 17 September 1953 London, Wembley StadiumBamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing.

Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total1 Freddie Williams (3,3,3,2,3)142 Split Waterman (3,3,3,3,1)133 Geoff Mardon (3,2,3,1,3)12+34 Olle Nygren(2,3,2,3,2)12+25 Jack Young (3,2,3,2,F) 106 Ronnie Moore (F,1,2,3,3) 97 Jeff Lloyd (2,2,F,3,1) 88 Arthur Forrest (2,2,0,0,3) 79 Aub Lawson (1,3,2,1,0) 710 Brian Crutcher (1,1,1,2,1) 611 Rune Sörmander (0,0,1,2,2) 512 Graham Warren (0,0,2,1,2) 513 Eric Williams (1,1,1,1,F) 414 Alan Hunt (0,0,1,0,2) 315 Dick Bradley(2,F,0,0,0) 216 Jack Biggs(1,1,0,0,-) 2R1 Dent Oliver (1)1R2 Arthur Payne did not ride-

Classification

References