1972 Individual Speedway World Championship Explained

The 1972 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 27th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.^[1] ^[2] ^[3] ^[4] ^[5] ^[6]

The 1972 final attendance at Wembley Stadium was 75,000. New Zealander Ivan Mauger joined Barry Briggs on four title wins (2nd only behind Ove Fundin) by defeating Bernt Persson in a run-off after both riders finished on 13 points.^[7]

In heat five, Briggs was involved in an accident which all but ended his speedway career. Going into the first turn his front wheel was hit by Bernt Persson's bike which caused him to fall. He was then hit by the Russian riders Grigory Khlinovsky and Valery Gordeev. Briggs suffered a severe hand injury and lost the index finger on his left hand which caused him to temporarily retire from racing. Briggs had been considered one of the pre-meeting favourites and his favouritism had been firmed when he had beaten fellow New Zealander Ivan Mauger in heat 2.

To the boos of the 75,000 strong Wembley crowd, FIM referee Georg Traunspurger did not exclude Persson. Defending champion Ole Olsen was unlucky not to retain his title because in his first ride (heat 4) while challenging Swede Christer Löfqvist he fell and would score no points. He won his next four rides to finish in a clear third place.

Before the final, the Russian riders had three of their bikes stolen and had to borrow equipment to compete.^[8]

First round

Qualification results.^[9] ^[10]

Continental qualifying

Riders progress to Continental quarter-finals

width=100	Date	width=280	Venue	width=180	Winner	width=180	2nd	width=180	3rd
7 May	Kovinar Stadium, Maribor			Sandor Csato
11 May				Nedialko Nedialkov

Second round

width=50% valign=top

Norwegian qualifying

19 September 1971
Sandnes Idrettspark, Sandnes
Top 9 (+3 seeded) to Nordic qualification 1972

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=40px	Points
1		15
2	Dag Lovaas	13
3	Svein Kaasa	12
4	Tormod Langli	11
5	Odd Fossengen	11
6	Jan Terje Gravningen	10
7	Dagfinn Dahl	9
8		8
9		7
10	Johnny Larsen	6
11	Nils Otto Haraldsen	5
12	Kjell Thomas Skjëveland	4
13	Eidar Egedius	4
14	Helge Langli	3
15	Ole Fjötland

width=50% valign=top

Finnish qualifying (top 9)

(3 rounds) First (+2 seeded riders) to Nordic qualification 1972
R1 (9 Aug '71, Eteläpuisto, Tampere)
R2 (28 Aug '71, Kärpänen Speedway, Lahti)
R3 (12 Sep '71 Eteläpuisto, Tampere)

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=80px	Points	width=40px	Points
1	Matti Olin	8+6+8	16
2	Kalevi Lahtinen	4+8+0	12
3	Hannu Känkänen	3+4+6	10
4	Reima Lohkovuori	6+2+3	9
5	Heikki Ahonen	0+3+4	7
6	Kari Vuoristo	2+1+0	3
7	Matti Touru	0+0+2	2
8	Ari Hiljanen	1+0+0	1
9	Rauli Mäkinen	0+0+1	1

British/Commonwealth premilinaries

Top riders to British/Commonwealth qualifiers

width=100	Date	width=280	Venue	width=180	Winner	width=180	2nd	width=180	3rd
15 April				Brian Foote
16 April				Barry Crowson
21 April				Kevin Holden
27 April				Malcolm Shakespeare
28 April				Russ Dent

Continental quarter-finals

Top 16 to Continental semi-finals

width=100	Date	width=280	Venue	width=180	Winner	width=180	2nd	width=180	3rd
21 May				Aleksandr Pavlov
21 May				Jan Mucha
21 May				Grigory Khlinovsky
21 May				Valery Gordeev

Swedish qualification

Top 6 in each heat to Nordic qualification

(27 April, Gubbängens IP Stockholm)
width=20	Pos	width=180	Rider	width=40	Points
1		14
2		13
3		13
4		12
5		10
6		9
7	Åke Dovhed	9
8	Dirk van der Voet	7
9		6
10	Jan-Inge Karlsson	5
11	Bertil Andersson	5
12		5
13	Sune Eriksson	5
14	Harald Sandberg	3
15	Sune Stark	3
16	Bengt Brannefors	0
17	Kjell Marrsson (res)	0

(30 April, Målilla (Motorbana) Målilla)
width=20	Pos	width=180	Rider	width=40	Points
1		12
2		12
3		11
4		11
5		10
6	Stephan Johansson	9
7	Anders Jansson	9
8	Roy Dantanus	9
9	Berndt Johansson	7
10	Willy Karlsson	7
11	Bengt Olsson	7
12	Floyd Ohlsson	5
13	Lars-Olov Karlsson	4
14	Anders Lövgren	4
15	Claes-Ingvar Svensson	2
16	Curt Nyqvist	0
17	Kalle Lindgren (res)	0

(1 May, Motorbanen Hagalund Lindesberg)
width=20	Pos	width=180	Rider	width=40	Points
1		15
2		14
3		13
4		12
5	Hans Johansson	11
6	Tommy Wedén	9
7	Stefan Salmonsson	9
8	Casimir Nilsson	8
9	Sigvard Johansson	6
10	Therje Henriksson	6
11	Lars Jennefors	5
12		4
13		4
14	Inge Gustavsson	4
15	Hans Engzell	1
16	Leif Söderberg	0

(1 May, Gamla Galgberget Visby)
width=20	Pos	width=180	Rider	width=40	Points
1		15
2		13
3		13
4		12
5		12
6	Claes Löfstrand	8
7	Ragnar Holm	8
8	Bo Magnusson	7
9	Käll Haage	7
10	Håkan Karlsson	6
11	Torbjörn Karlsson	4
12	Kenneth Selmosson	4
13	Kurt Sigurdh	3
14		3
15	Reine Södergren	1
16	Ove Helander	0

Third round

British/Commonwealth qualifiers

Top 32 to British/Commonwealth semi-finals

width=100	Date	width=280	Venue	width=180	Winner	width=180	2nd	width=180	3rd
20 May				Ray Wilson
20 May				Howard Cole
20 May	Hyde Road, Manchester			Jim McMillan
22 May				Mick Bell
22 May				Barry Briggs
25 May				Malcolm Simmons
25 May				Bobby Beaton
25 May	Wimbledon Stadium, London			Barry Briggs
25 May				George Hunter
26 May	Hackney Wick Stadium, London			Chris Pusey
26 May				Norman Hunter
27 May				Phil Crump
27 May				Bob Kilby
27 May				John Louis
30 May				Howard Cole
2 June				John Louis
2 June				Mike Broadbanks
6 June				Malcolm Shakespeare

Nordic qualifying

Top 5 in each heat to Nordic final

(11 May, Gislaved Motorbana, Gislaved)
width=20	Pos	width=180	Rider	width=40	Points
1		15
2		13
3		12
4		12
5		11
6		10
7		9
8	Karl-Erik Claesson	8
9		7
10	Jörn Mogensen	6
11	Claes Löfstrand	5
12	Tormod Langli	4
13	Kari Vuoristo	3
14	Preben Bollerup	3
15		2
16	Hans Erik Fuglerud	0

(11 May, Avestavallen, Avesta
width=20	Pos	width=180	Rider	width=40	Points
1		15
2		12
3	Tommy Johansson	12
4	Göte Nordin	12
5		12
6		10
7	Lars Jansson	8
8	Edgar Stangeland	7
9	Henning Hansen	6
10	Fred Hansen	6
11	Erik Tillgaard	6
12		5
13	Hannu Känkänen	5
14	Lars-Inge Hultberg	2
15	Niels Heraldsen	1
16	Knud Heia	0

(12 May, Gamla Ryd Motorstadion, Linköping)
width=20	Pos	width=180	Rider	width=40	Points
1		15
2		14
3		13
4		11
5		11
6		10
7		10
8	Hans Johansso	7
9	Krause Kjaer	6
10	Ragnar Holm	6
11	Tommy Wedén	6
12	Nils Schelde	4
13	Stephan Johansson	3
14	Dagfinn Dahl	3
15	Kjell Skievelan	1
16	Matti Olin	0

Continental semi-finals

width=50% valign=top

3 June
- Markéta Stadium, Prague Top 8 to Continental final

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=40px	Points
1		15
2		11
3		10
4		10
5		9
6	Petr Ondrašík	9
7		8
8		8
9		8
10		8
11	Václav Verner (res)	8
12		7
13		4
14		3
15		2
16		0
17		0
18	Zdenek Novotny (res)	0

width=50% valign=top

4 June
Polonia Bydgoszcz Stadium, Bydgoszcz
Top 8 to Continental final

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=40px	Points
1		15
2		13
3		11
4		11
5		11
6		10
7		8
8		8
9	Andrzej Koselski (res)	8
10		6
11		6
12		6
13		3
14		2
15		1
16	Benedykt Kosek (res)	1
17		0

Fourth round

British/Commonwealth semi-finals

width=50% valign=top

20 June
Leicester Stadium, Leicester
Top 8 to British/Commonwealth final

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=40px	Points
1		14+3
2		14+2
3		13
4	Garry Middleton	12
5	Barry Briggs	11
6	John Louis	8
7	Trevor Hedge	8
8	George Hunter (res)	8
9	Nigel Boocock	6
10	Geoff Curtis	6
11	Chris Pusey	6
12	Phil Crump	4
13	Dave Younghusband	4
14	Bobby Beaton	2
15	Pete Smith	2
16	Tony Clarke	1
17	Howard Cole	0

width=50% valign=top

22 June
Owlerton Stadium, Sheffield
Top 8 to British/Commonwealth final

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=40px	Points
1		15
2		13
3		12
4	Martin Ashby	10
5	Ray Wilson	10
6	Eric Boocock	10
7	Dave Jessup	9
8	Peter Collins	9
9	Norman Hunter	9
10	Tony Lomas	4
11	Bob Kilby	4
12	John Harrhy	4
13	Bob Andrews	4
14	Barry Thomas	3
15	Mick Bell	2
16	Mike Broadbank	2

Nordic Final

1 June 1972
Norrköping Motorstadion
First 8 to European Final plus 1 reserve

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=70px	Heat Scores	width=50px	Total
1		3,2,3,3,3	14
2		3,3,3,1,3	13
3		3,2,2,3,2	12
4		1,2,3,2,3	11
5		2,3,2,2,2	11
6		3,3,3,0,1	10
7		2,0,2,3,3	10
8		1,3,1,2,2	9
9		2,1,2,3,E	8
10		1,1,1,2,0	5
11		0,1,0,1,2	4
12		1,0,0,1,1	3
13		0,2,1,0,-	3
14		0,0,1,1,1	3
15		2,0,0,0,0	2
16		0,1,0,0,-	1
R1		E	0
R2		0	0

Continental Final

25 June 1972
Dombay Motodrom, Cherkessk
First 8 to European Final plus 1 reserve

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=70px	Heat Scores	width=50px	Total
1		2,3,3,3,3	14
2		3,3,3,2,2	13
3		2,2,2,3,3	12
4		3,1,1,3,3	11
5		1,3,3,2,1	10
6		3,2,F,1,3	9
7		0,3,2,2,2	9
8		2,2,2,1,2	9
9		F,2,2,3,F	7
10		1,1,1,2,1	6
11		X,1,1,1,2	5
12		3,X,0,0,1	4
13		F,X,3,X,0	3
14		0,1,1,1,0	3
15		2,E,X,0,X	2
16		1,X,E,E,1	2
R1		1,0,0,X	1
R2		0,0,0	0

Fifth round

British/Commonwealth Final

2 August 1972
Brandon Stadium, Coventry
First 5 to World Final

European Final

3 September 1972
Olympic Stadium, Wroclaw
First 11 to World Final plus 1 reserve

World Final

16 September 1972
Wembley Stadium, London^[11]
Referee: Georg Traunspurger

Notes and References

Book: Oakes, Peter. 1981 Speedway Yearbook. 1981. 20–21. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. 0-86215-017-5.
Web site: World Championship 1936-1994. Edinburgh Speedway. 9 July 2021.
Web site: WORLD FINALS 1936-1994. Speedway Researcher. 9 July 2021.
Web site: HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK. Speedway.org. 9 July 2021.
Web site: Speedway riders, history and results. wwosbackup. 9 July 2021.
Web site: WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX. British Speedway. 9 July 2021.
News: 4-Timer Mauger . Sunday Mirror . 17 September 1972 . 9 July 2021 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
News: Fourth World title for Mauger . Birmingham Weekly Mercury . 17 September 1972 . 1 November 2023 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
Web site: 1972 World Championship . Metal Speedway . 20 January 2024.
Web site: 1972 World Championship . Speedway.org . 20 January 2024.
Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing.