1959 Individual Speedway World Championship Explained

The 1959 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 14th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]}

The event was sponsored by the Sunday Pictorial.^[7] New Zealand continued their recent domination as Ronnie Moore won his second title^[8] with a 15 point maximum and New Zealand won their fourth title in six years. Ove Fundin finished second and defending champion Barry Briggs, returning from retirement won the bronze medal ride off.^[9]

First Round

Qualification results.^{[10] [11]}

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Norwegian round 25 June 1958 Dælenenga idrettspark, Oslo Top 6 (+1 seeded) to Nordic qualification 1959 width=25px Pos. width=200px Rider width=40px Points 1 Aage Hansen 15 2 Nils Paulsen 14 3 Reidar Kristoffersen 13 4 12 5 Roger Steen 11 6 Sverre Harrfeldt 11 7 Tore Svaleng 9 8 Arne Kristiansen 7 9 Kjell Bergh 5 10 Haavard Gulbjornsrud 5 11 Oddvar Kristiansen 5 12 Oystein Mellerud 4 13 Thorbjorn Nygaard 3 14 Per Aulie 3 15 Tore Melbye 2 16 Egil H. Kruke 1

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Finnish round 5 October 1958 Turku Hippodrome, Turku Top 8 to Nordic qualification 1959 Swedish round width=50% valign=top 3 May 1959 Vetlanda Motorstadion, Vetlanda Top 6 to Nordic qualification, 2 to Continental quarterfinal width=25px Pos. width=200px Rider width=40px Points 1 15 2 13 3 12 4 11 5 9 6 9 7 Thorvald Karlsson 9 8 Allan Nilsson 9 9 Göran Carlsson 8 10 7 11 Evert Andersson 5 12 5 13 Bengt Fransson 3 14 3 15 Inge Gustavsson 2 16 Olle Andersson 0 17 Gösta Edvardsson 0 width=50% valign=top 3 May 1959 Hammarby IP, Stockholm Top 8 to Nordic qualification width=25px Pos. width=200px Rider width=40px Points 1 12 2 12 3 12 4 Bernt Nilsson 12 5 Bengt Eriksson 10 6 10 7 9 8 8 9 Kjell Wårenius 8 10 Curt Nyqvist 6 11 Kjell Lutteman 4 12 4 13 Bertil Stridh 3 14 Hans Hallberg 3 15 Curt Eldh 3 16 1 17 Sven-Gunnar Karlstén 1 Continental quarter-finals width=100 Date width=250 Venue width=200 Winner width=200 2nd width=200 3rd 31 May Mieczysław Połukard 31 May Konstanty Pociejkewicz 31 May 31 May Karel Průša Second round Nordic qualification width=50% valign=top 24 May 1959 Helsinki Velodrome, Helsinki Top 8 to Nordic final width=25px Pos. width=200px Rider width=40px Points 1 15 2 14 3 13 4 11 5 11 6 Kjell Lutteman 9 7 Kalevi Lahtinen 8 8 Aulis Tuominen 8 9 Kauko Jousanen 8 10 7 11 Curt Nyqvist 6 12 4 13 4 14 Esko Koponen 2 15 Antero Salasto 1 16 Pertti Mikkola 0 17 Torbjörn Nygaard 0 width=50% valign=top 24 May 1959 Selskov Stadium, Hillerød Top 6 to Nordic qualification width=25px Pos. width=200px Rider width=40px Points 1 14 2 12 3 11 4 11 5 Allan Nilsson 10 6 10 7 9 8 Thorvald Karlsson 9 9 Poul Hansen 8 10 6 11 5 12 Erik Kastebo 4 13 Roger Steen 4 14 3 15 Roger Hansen 2 16 Arne Kristiansen 1 Continental semi-final width=50% valign=top 14 June 1959 Slaný Speedway Stadium, Slaný Top 8 to Continental final width=25px Pos. width=200px Rider width=40px Points 1 13 2 13 3 10 4 10 5 10 6 10 7 9 8 9 9 7 10 7 11 7 12 6 13 5 14 2 15 1 16 1 width=50% valign=top 15 June 1959 Wiener Stadion, Vienna Top 8 to Continental final width=25px Pos. width=200px Rider width=40px Points 1 13 2 13 3 11 4 11 5 10 6 9 7 9 8 Zdeněk Dominik 7 9 Karel Průša 5 10 5 11 Alfred Aberl 4 12 Jan Kolber 4 13 Göran Carlsson 4 14 Josef Kamper (res) 4 15 Marian Phillip 3 16 Josip Klemencic 2 17 Franz Schenk 2 18 Otto Holoubek (res) 0 Third round Ove Fundin - seeded to European Final British & Commonwealth Qualifying Top 32 riders based on points accumulated progress to British semi-final width=100 Date width=200 Venue width=200 Winner width=200 2nd width=200 3rd 29 June George White Ronnie Moore 2 July Neil Street Brian Hanham 4 July Peter Craven 4 July Mike Broadbank Bob Duckworth 7 July Banister Court Stadium Ron Mountford 10 July Ron Johnston 11 July Brian Crutcher Geoff Mardon 11 July Nigel Boocock 23 July Ronnie Moore Jack Unstead Nordic Final 31 May 1959 Turku Speedway track, Turku First 9 to European Final width=25px Pos. Rider width=70px Total 1 14+3 2 14+2 3 12 4 11 5 9 6 9 7 9 8 8 9 7 10 6 11 6 12 4 13 4 14 3 15 2 16 1 17 0 18 dnr 19 dnr Continental Final 21 June 1959 BBM Stadium, Munich First 6 to European Final Fourth round Barry Briggs - seeded to World Final British & Commonwealth Semi finals Top 9 riders based on points accumulated over two rides would progress to World final width=100 Date width=200 Venue width=200 Winner width=200 2nd width=200 3rd 10 August Brian Crutcher Ken McKinlay Geoff Mardon 11 August Ronnie Moore Cyril Roger Neil Street 15 August Ron How Peter Moore Nigel Boocock 15 August Peter Craven Brian Crutcher George White width=50% valign=top width=25px Pos. width=200px Rider width=40px Points 1 Peter Moore 27 2 26 3 26 4 Ronnie Moore 25 5 Geoff Mardon 24 6 Ron How 23 7 George White 23 8 Cyril Roger 21 9 20 10 20 11 Nigel Boocock 20 12 18 13 Arthur Wight 16 14 16 15 15 16 15 width=50% valign=top width=25px Pos. width=200px Rider width=40px Points 17 Bob Duckworth 14 18 Mike Broadbank 13 19 Ron Mountford 12 20 12 21 11 22 11 23 8 24 8 25 Bob Andrews 7 26 Charlie Barsby 7 27 Les McGillivray 6 28 Ronnie Genz 6 30 6 31 5 32 Dick Bradley 4 33 Cyril Maidment 1 European Final 17 July 1959 Ullevi, Göteborg First 6 to World final plus 1 reserve width=25px Pos. Rider width=70px Total width=180px 1 14 3,2,3,3,3 2 13 2,3,2,3,3 3 12 3,3,2,2,2 4 11 2,1,3,3,2 5 10 3,2,3,2,0 6 9 3,0,3,3,t 7 9 2,3,1,0,3 8 7 0,1,1,2,3 9 7 1,3,0,2,1 10 6 1,2,2,1,0 11 6 f,1,2,1,2 12 5 f,2,1,1,1 13 4 0,1,1,0,2 14 3 2,0,0,1,0 15 2 1,0,0,0,1 16 1 0,0,0,0,1 R1 - dnr R2 - dnr World Final 19 September 1959 Wembley Stadium, London^[12] References

Notes and References

1. Book: Oakes, Peter. 1981 Speedway Yearbook. 1981. 20–21. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. 0-86215-017-5.
2. Web site: World Championship 1936-1994. Edinburgh Speedway. 5 July 2021.
3. Web site: WORLD FINALS 1936-1994. Speedway Researcher. 5 July 2021.
4. Web site: HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK. Speedway.org. 5 July 2021.
5. Web site: Speedway riders, history and results. wwosbackup. 5 July 2021.
6. Web site: WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX. British Speedway. 5 July 2021.
7. News: Craven can crown it . Sunday Pictorial . 13 September 1959 . 6 July 2021 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
8. News: Speedway Champion . Sunday Post . 20 September 1959 . British Newspaper Archive . subscription . 27 August 2024.
9. News: Ronnie Moore wins speedway title . Sunday Independent Dublin . 20 September 1959 . 6 July 2021 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
10. Web site: 1959 World Championship . Metal Speedway . 18 January 2024.
11. Web site: 1959 World Championship . Speedway.org . 18 January 2024.
12. Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing.