The 1936 Individual Speedway World Championship was the first ever Speedway World Championship and was won by Lionel Van Praag of Australia. The forerunner to the World Championship was generally regarded to be the Star Riders' Championship.[1] [2] [3] The final was held at London's Wembley Stadium in front of 74,000. It was the first of a record 26 times that Wembley would host the World Final with the last being in 1981.[4]
The World Championship would consist of qualifying heats and then a Championship round, where points would be carried forward to the final to determine the winner. One of the favourites Jack Parker had a broken hand injury and was unable to compete in the final.[5] Joe Abbott was also unable to line up for the final due to injury, despite qualifying for the final. They were replaced by Arthur Atkinson and Bill Pitcher.[3] [6]
Despite being unbeaten in the Final, Australian Bluey Wilkinson only finished third as the Championship was decided by bonus points accumulated in previous rounds plus the score from the final. Van Praag defeated England's Eric Langton in a runoff to be declared the inaugural Speedway World Champion.[7] [8] [9]
As they lined up at the tapes for the runoff, Langton broke them which would ordinarily lead to disqualification. However, Van Praag stated he did not want to win the title by default and insisted that a race should take place. At the restart Langton made it to the first bend in front and led until the final bend on the last lap when Van Praag darted through the smallest of gaps to win by less than wheel length.[10]
Afterwards, controversial allegations were abound that the two riders had 'fixed' the match race, deciding between them that the first person to the first bend would win the race and the Championship and split the prize money; Langton led into the first bend but was overtaken by Van Praag. Van Praag reportedly paid Langton £50 "conscience money" after the race for going back on the agreement.
In the Championship round the top 16 riders over 7 rounds would qualify for the World final. Ron Johnson and Bill Pitcher qualified as first reserves.[11]
| width=100 | Date | width=200 | Venue | width=250 | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 May | Jack Parker | ||||
| 30 May | Bluey Wilkinson | ||||
| 6 June | Frank Charles | ||||
| 19 June | Arthur Atkinson & Jack Ormston | ||||
| 20 June | Fred Tate | ||||
| 25 June | Ron Johnson | ||||
| 1 July | Joe Abbott |
| width=100 | Date | width=200 | Venue | width=250 | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 July | Harringay Stadium | Jack Parker | |||
| 14 July | West Ham Stadium | Eric Langton | |||
| 23 July | Wembley Stadium | Lionel Van Praag | |||
| 29 July | New Cross Stadium | George Newton | |||
| 8 August | Hyde Road | Eric Langton | |||
| 10 August | Wimbledon Stadium | Lionel Van Praag | |||
| 14 August | Hackney Wick Stadium | Frank Charles |
Qualifying points (top 16 qualify, 2 reserves)
| width=25px | Pos. | width=200px | Rider | width=40px | Qual Points | width=50px | c/f |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 66 | 13 | |||||
| 2 | 59 | 12 | |||||
| 3 | 59 | 12 | |||||
| 4 | Jack Parker | 59 | 12 | ||||
| 5 | 58 | 12 | |||||
| 6 | 48 | 10 | |||||
| 7 | Bob Harrison | 48 | 10 | ||||
| 8 | 48 | 10 | |||||
| 9 | 48 | 10 | |||||
| 10 | 47 | 9 | |||||
| 11 | 47 | 9 | |||||
| 12 | 45 | 9 | |||||
| 13 | 43 | 9 | |||||
| 14 | 37 | 7 | |||||
| 15 | 37 | 7 | |||||
| 16 | 36 | 7 |
| width=25px | Pos. | width=200px | Rider | width=40px | Qual Points | width=50px | c/f |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | 34 | 7 | |||||
| 18 | 32 | 6 | |||||
| 19 | 31 | 6 | |||||
| 20 | Bill Kitchen (res) | 29 | n/a | ||||
| 21 | 28 | 6 | |||||
| 22 | 27 | ||||||
| 23 | 24 | ||||||
| 24 | 24 | ||||||
| 25 | 22 | ||||||
| 26 | 22 | ||||||
| 27 |  Mick Murphy | 21 | |||||
| 28 | Wally Lloyd (res) | 17 | |||||
| 29 | 15 | ||||||
| 30 | 16 | ||||||
| 31 | Gordon Byers (res) | 9 |
| width=25px | Pos. | width=200px | Rider | width=40px | c/f | width=40px | Final Points | width=70px | Final Heats | width=50px | Total Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | 14 | (3,3,3,2,3) | 26+3 | |||||||
| 2 | 13 | 13 | (3,3,3,2,2) | 26+2 | |||||||
| 3 | 10 | 15 | (3,3,3,3,3) | 25 | |||||||
| 4 | 9 | 11 | (2,2,1,3,3) | 20 | |||||||
| 5 | 12 | 8 | (3,3,0,2,0) | 20 | |||||||
| 6 | 9 | 8 | (2,0,3,1,2) | 17 | |||||||
| 7 | 9 | 8 | (1,1,2,3,1) | 17 | |||||||
| 8 | 10 | 7 | (1,2,0,2,2) | 17 | |||||||
| 9 | 12 | 4 | (0,0,3,1,0) | 16 | |||||||
| 10 | 9 | 6 | (1,2,1,0,2) | 15 | |||||||
| 11 | 10 | 5 | (2,1,2,0,0) | 15 | |||||||
| 12 | 10 | 5 | (0,0,2,0,3) | 15 | |||||||
| 13 | 7 | 5 | (1,1,0,2,1) | 12 | |||||||
| 14 | 12 | - | - | 12 | |||||||
| 15 | 7 | 4 | (2,0,1,0,1) | 11 | |||||||
| 16 | 6 | 3 | (0,2,1,0,0) | 9 | |||||||
| 17 | Bill Pitcher | 6 | 2 | (0,1,X/-,0,1) | 8 | ||||||
| 18 | Norman Parker (res) | 6 | 1 | (1) | 7 | ||||||
| 19 | 7 | - | - | 7 |