1975 Individual Speedway World Championship Explained

The 1975 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 30th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.^[1] ^[2] ^[3] ^[4] ^[5] ^[6]

Ole Olsen won his second World title in front of 81,000 at Wembley Stadium in London with a 15 point maximum from his five rides. Defending champion Anders Michanek finished second and England's John Louis won the run-off for the bronze medal, defeating four time world champion Ivan Mauger. Some criticism was aimed at the track surface which was described as dusty and dry.^[7]

Format changes

The format of the Championship changed for the 1975 event. This time the British riders (not including Commonwealth riders for the first time) were allowed four places in the World Final to be held in England. All other nations had to go through the European Final route to provide the remaining 12 riders for the World Final. The European Final qualification route included a new Intercontinental Final which feature riders from the United States for the first time for many years.^[8] ^[9]

First round

Swedish qualifying

Top 5 in each heat to Swedish final

(1 May, Motorbanen Hagalund Lindesberg)
width=20	Pos	width=180	Rider	width=40	Points
1		14
2		14
3		12
4	Eddie Davidsson	12
5		11
6		10
7	Bo Wirebrand	9
8	Kjell Bergström	8
9	Åke Dovhed	6
10	Sven Nilsson	6
11	Berndt Johansson	5
12		4
13	Sven-Olof Lindh	4
14	Sune Stark	2
15	Ragnar Holm	2
16	Gunnar Ärlevik	1

(1 May, Målilla (Motorbana) Målilla)
width=20	Pos	width=180	Rider	width=40	Points
1		15
2		13
3		12
4	Conny Samuelsson	11
5		11
6	Peter Smith	10
7		9
8	Jan Johansson	8
9	Sigvard Johansson	7
10	Lars-Inge Hultberg	7
11	Karl-Erik Claesson	4
12	Stefan Johansson	3
13	Billy Syrén	3
14	Leif Mellberg	2
15	Sven-Erik Andersson	2
16	Bo Åstrand	1
17	Bertil Andersson (res)	1

(1 May, Gamla Galgberget Visby)
width=20	Pos	width=180	Rider	width=40	Points
1		15
2		14
3		13
4	Jan Andersson	12
5		9
6	Stefan Salmonsson	8
7		8
8	Stephan Johansson	8
9	Dirk van der Voet	8
10		7
11		6
12		4
13	Curt Nyqvist	4
14	Käll Haage	2
15	Tommy Wedén	2
16	Eskil Jonsson	0
17	Rolf Jacobsson (res)	0

Continental qualifying

Riders progress to Continental quarter-finals

width=100	Date	width=280	Venue	width=180	Winner	width=180	2nd	width=180	3rd
4 May				Josef Minarik
4 May				Angeł Eftimov

Second round

British/Commonwealth preliminary round

Riders progress to British/Commonwealth qualifying round

width=100	Date	width=280	Venue	width=180	Winner	width=180	2nd	width=180	3rd
19 April				Nigel Wasley
22 April				Ian Cartwright
27 April				Alan Sage
30 April				Geoff Bouchard

Continental quarter-finals

Top 32 to Continental semi-finals

width=100	Date	width=280	Venue	width=180	Winner	width=180	2nd	width=180	3rd
18 May				Valery Gordeev
18 May				Vladimir Nesterov
18 May				Paweł Waloszek
18 May				Viktor Trofimov

width=50% valign=top

Norwegian Final

14 September 1974
Nærbø, Nærbø
Top 2 (+1 seeded) to Nordic final 1975

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=40px	Points
1		14
2		13
3		13
4		11
5		11

width=50% valign=top

Finland Final

Eteläpuisto, Tampere
25 August 1974, first (+1 seeded riders) to 1975 Nordic final

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=40px	Total
1	Kari Vuoristo	15
2	Matti Olin	14
3	Veli Pekka Teromaa	13
4		12
5	Markku Helminen	10
6	Ari Hiljanen	9
7	Pekka Paljakka	9
8	Seppo Palomäki	7
9	Seppo Santala	6
10	Juhani Eronen	5
11	Esa Mattila	5
12	Reino Santala	5
13	Pekka Kortelainen	2
14	Harry Skofeldt	2
15	Erkki Etelatahti	1
16	Pentti Mattila	1

Danish Final

Top 3 to Nordic final

See main article: 1975 Danish speedway season.

Swedish Final

21 May 1975
Norrköping Motorstadion, Norrköping
First 8 to Nordic Final

Third round

Continental semi-finals

width=50% valign=top

29 May
Olching Speedwaybahn, Olching
Top 8 to Continental final

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=40px	Points
1		15
2		12
3		12
4		10
5		10
6		10
7		9
8		9
9		8
10		8
11	Vladimir Rozanchuk	5
12		4
13		4
14	Georgij Markatanov	2
15	Istvan Sziraczki	2
16		0
17	Janos Szöke (res)	0

width=50% valign=top

31 May
Markéta Stadium, Prague
Top 8 to Continental final

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=40px	Points
1		12
2		11
3		11
4		10
5		10
6		10
7		10
8		9+3
9		9+2
10	Vladimir Nesterov	8
11	Georgij Ivanov	5
12		5
13		4
14		4
15	Josef Minarik	1
16		1

British/Commonwealth qualifying round

Top 5 Commonwealth riders to Intercontinental final, top 32 British riders to British semi-finals

width=100	Date	width=280	Venue	width=180	Winner	width=180	2nd	width=180	3rd
16 May				John Boulger
16 May				Chris Morton
17 May				Charlie Monk
19 May				Martin Ashby
19 May				Bobby Beaton
20 May				Bob Valentine
21 May				Neil Street
21 May				John Boulger
24 May				Terry Betts
24 May				Malcolm Simmons
29 May				Carl Glover
29 May				Richard Greer
29 May				Jim McMillan
30 May	Wimbledon Stadium. London			Eric Broadbelt
30 May	Hackney Wick Stadium, London			Billy Sanders
31 May				Barry Thomas
31 May				John Boulger
31 May	Hyde Road, Manchester			Peter Collins

Nordic Final

1 June 1975
Geiteryggen Speedwaybane, Skien
First 9 to Intercontinental Final

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

Fourth round

British semi-finals

width=50% valign=top

24 June
Leicester Stadium, Leicester
Top 8 to British final

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=40px	Points
1		15
2	Malcolm Simmons	14
3		11
4	Jim McMillan	10
5	Gordon Kennett	10
6	John Louis	10
7	Doug Wyer	9
8	Chris Morton	8
9	Bobby Beaton	6
10	Frank Auffret	5
11	George Hunter	5
12	Mike Lanham	5
13	Eric Broadbelt	3
14	Arthur Price	2
15	Colin Gooddy	2
16	Roger Johns	1

width=50% valign=top

24 June
Owlerton Stadium, Sheffield
Top 8 to British final

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=40px	Points
1	Ray Wilson	15
2	Dave Jessup	13
3	Peter Collins	11
4	Dave Morton	11
5	Alan Wilkinson	10
6	Tony Davey	9
7	Carl Glover	8
8	Chris Pusey	8
9	Nigel Boocock	8
10	Terry Betts	5
11	Kevin Holden	4
12	Alan Grahame	4
13	Ray Bales	4
14	Tom Owen	4
15	Trevor Hedge	3
16	Paul Tyrer	2

Intercontinental Final

3 June 1975
- Ullevi, Göteborg First 8 to European Final plus 1 reserve

Continental Final

22 June 1975
Leningrad Speedway Stadium, Leningrad
First 8 to European Final

Fifth round

British Final

30 July 1975
Brandon Stadium, Coventry
First 4 to World Final plus 1 reserve

European Final

24 August 1975
Polonia Bydgoszcz Stadium, Bydgoszcz
First 12 to World Final plus 1 reserve

World Final

6 September 1975
Wembley Stadium, London.^[10]
Referee: () Torrie Kittelsen

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. 10 July 2021.
Web site: WORLD FINALS 1936-1994. Speedway Researcher. 10 July 2021.
Web site: HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK. Speedway.org. 10 July 2021.
Web site: Speedway riders, history and results. wwosbackup. 10 July 2021.
Web site: WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX. British Speedway. 10 July 2021.
News: Olsen-king of the track . The People . 7 September 1975 . 10 July 2021 . British Newspaper Archive. subscription .
Web site: 1975 World Championship . Metal Speedway . 20 January 2024.
Web site: 1975 World Championship . Speedway.org . 20 January 2024.
Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing.