1980 Individual Speedway World Championship Explained

The 1980 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 35th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

With the defending Ivan Mauger failing to qualify for a World Final for the first time since 1966, and Ole Olsen only qualifying as a reserve, the 1980 World Final at the Ullevi Stadium in Göteborg, Sweden was seen as an open final with a number of potential winners. Michael Lee, Bruce Penhall, Dave Jessup and Billy Sanders considered the favourites with Jan Andersson (the only Swedish rider in the World Final), John Davis, Hans Nielsen, Zenon Plech, Chris Morton and Peter Collins all expected to challenge.

Twenty-one-year-old English ace Lee who had only finished 7th in the Intercontinental Final at White City, won his only World Championship with 14 points from his 5 rides. Dave Jessup finished second after defeating Billy Sanders in a runoff when both riders finished on 12 points to give England a 1-2 finish in a World Final.

Michael Lee became only the fifth rider from Great Britain to win speedway's ultimate individual prize, joining Welshman Freddie Williams (1950), and fellow Englishmen Tommy Price (1949), Peter Craven (1955 & 1962) and Peter Collins (1976) as a speedway world champion.

First round

[7] [8]

British Qualification

width=100Datewidth=280Venuewidth=180Winnerwidth=1802ndwidth=1803rd
Preliminary Round
8 AprilDavid Kennett
9 AprilPaul Woods
11 AprilNigel Flatman
11 AprilDavid Gagen
13 AprilIan Clark
Quarter-Final
27 AprilDave Morton

Second round

Swedish qualification

(4 May, Målilla (Motorbana)
Målilla)
width=20Poswidth=180Rider width=40Points
1 15
2 14
3 11
4 11
5 Gert Carlsson 11
6 Per-Ove Gudmundsson 10+3
7 Stefan Salmonsson 10+2
8 Tommy Steen 8
9 Kalle Lindgren 8
10 Torgil Roth 4
11 Peter Carlsson 4
12 Willy Karlsson 3
13 Leif Bergqvist (res) 3
14 Bertil Andersson (res) 3
15 Glenn Andersson 2
16 Lars-Ove Lundgren 1
17 Alf Trofast0
18 Sven-Erik Andersson 0
(4 May, Gislaved Motorbana
Gislaved)
width=20Poswidth=180Rider width=40Points
1 15
2 13
3 12
4 Lillebror Johansson 12
5 Bengt Gustavsson 12
6 Karl-Erik Claesson 10
7 Thomas Hydling 9
8 Benny Ekberg 8
9 Lennart Bengtsson 6
10 Åke Axelsson 6
11 Börje Ring 5
12 Åke Fridell 4
13 Weine Ström 4
14 2
15 Thomas Engman 2
16 Kent Bäär 0
(8 May, Linköping Motorstadion
Linköping)
width=20Poswidth=180Rider width=40Points
1 15
2 14
3 12
4 Jan Ericsson 11
5 Rolf Sundberg 11
6 Uno Johansson 10
7 Jan Davidsson 10
8 Ingemar Andersson 8
9 Christer Nilsson 6
10 5
11 Kent Eriksson 5
12 Peter Johansson 4
13 Anders Törnström 4
14 Ragnar Holm 3
15 Göran Waltersson 2
16 Bo Åstrand 1
17 Leif Andersson 0

Continental Preliminary round

width=100Datewidth=280Venuewidth=180Winnerwidth=1802ndwidth=1803rd
19 April Edward Jancarz
20 April Marek Ziarnik
20 April Herbert Szerecz
20 April Petr Kučera
width=50% valign=top

Australian Final

width=25pxPos. width=200pxRider width=50pxTotal
1 15
2 12+3
3 12+2
4 10
5 10
6 10
7 9
8 9
9 Keith Wright7
10 Rob Maxfield6
11 Peter Collins4
12 Lou Sansom3
13 Danny Kennedy2
14 Rob Moores 2
15 Alan Lorymer2
16 Dean Van Bibra1
width=50% valign=top

New Zealand Final

width=25pxPos. width=200pxRider width=70pxHeat Scores width=50pxTotal
1 3,3,2,3,314
2 3,3,3,3,214
3 2,3,2,2,312
4 3,2,3,2,111
5 1,3,1,3,311
6 3,2,3,3,-11
7 2,1,1,2,39
8 2,0,2,1,27
9 1,2,3,1,07
10 Max Brown 0,2,2,1,1 6
11 Neil Abrahams 2,1,0,0,2 5
12 Greg Joynt 1,1,1,2,x 5
13 Colin Farquharson 1,F,0,0,2 3
14 Greame Beardsley 0,F,1,-,- 1
15 Paul Fewings F,1,F,-,-1
16 James Moore E,0,-,-,-0
R1 William Aulsfold 0,0,1,12
R2 Roger Pauling 0,00

British semi-finals

width=50% valign=top
  • 21 May
  • Wimborne Road, Poole
  • Top 8 to British final
width=25pxPos. width=200pxRider width=40pxPoints
1 Peter Collins15
2 Gordon Kennett13
3 Kevin Jolly13
4 Reg Wilson10
5 John Davis9
6 John Louis9
7 Melvyn Taylor8
8Mike Lanham7
9 Alan Grahame7
10 Kevin Hawkins6
11 Nigel Flatman6
12 Roger Johns6
13 Paul Woods6
14 Alan Molyneux0
15 Jim McMillan0
width=50% valign=top
width=25pxPos. width=200pxRider width=40pxPoints
1 Dave Jessup14
2 Chris Morton11
3 Dave Morton11
4 Peter Prinsloo11
5 Michael Lee9
6 Bobby Beaton9
7 Ian Cartwright8
8Phil Collins8
9 Les Collins7
10 Kenny Carter7
11 Steve Bastable7
12 Joe Owen6
13 Malcolm Simmons6
14 Andy Grahame3
15 Bobby Garrad2
16 Ian Clark1

Third round

Continental quarter-finals

width=100Datewidth=280Venuewidth=180Winnerwidth=1802ndwidth=1803rd
3 May Jan Verner
4 May Milan Špinka
4 May Piotr Pyszny

Swedish Final

Finland Final

width=25pxPos. width=200pxRider width=40pxTotal
1 12
2 9
3 9
4 8
5 Seppo Palomaki 8
6 Olli Turkia 8
7 Esko Myllari 8
8 Timo Kiansten 7
9 Pekka Hautamaki 6
10 Hannu Lehtonen 6
11 Heimo Kaikko 4
12 Markku Haapala 4
13 Veli Pekka Kunelius 3
14 3
15 Ismo Kivela 2
16 Jarmo Puttonen 0
17 Matti Hyyrylainen (res) 0

Danish Final

width=25pxPos. width=200pxRider width=70pxTotal
1 15
2 13
3 12+3
4 12+2
5 10
6 8
7 8
8 7
9 6
10 6
11 6
12 5
13 5
14 3
15 3
16 1

Norwegian Final

width=25pxPos. width=200pxRider width=70pxTotal
1 14
2 13
3 12+3
4 12+2
5 10
6 8
7 7
8 7
9 6
10 6
11 Jorn Haugvaldstad 6
12 Toralf Holen 6
13 Asgeir Bjerga 4
14 Geir Aasland 4
15 Rolf Havirstad 2
16 Dagvinn Jorgensen 2

Australasian Final

British Final

width=25pxPos. width=200pxRider width=70pxHeat Scores width=50pxTotal
1 (3,3,3,3,3)15
2 (3,3,3,3,2)14
3 (1,2,2,3,3) 11
4 (3,3,0,3,1) 10
5 (2,2,2,2,2) 10
6 (3,1,3,1,1) 9
7 (X,2,1,2,3) 8
8 (0,1,1,2,3) 7
9 (2,1,X,2,2) 7
10 (2,2,1,1,0) 6+3
11 (0,1,3,0,2) 6+2
12 (1,0,2,1,1) 5
13 (1,3,0,0,0) 4
14 (2,0,1,0,1) 4
15 (2,1,0,1,0) 4
16 (0,0,0,0,0) 0

Fourth round

Continental semi-finals

width=50% valign=top
width=25pxPos. width=200pxRider width=40pxPoints
1 14
2 12
3 11
4 11
5 10
6 10
7 9
89
9 8
10 6
11 5
12 4
13 4
14 3
15 2
16 1
width=50% valign=top
  • 25 May
  • Targovishte Speedway Stadium, Targovishte
  • Top 8 to Continental final
width=25pxPos. width=200pxRider width=40pxPoints
1 13
2 13
3 11
4 10
5 9
6 6
7 8+3
88+2
9 8+1
10 7
11 7
12 6
13 4
14 3
15 1
16 Marek Ciarnik (res)0

Commonwealth Final

American Final

width=25pxPos. width=200pxRider width=50pxTotal
1 14
2 13+3
3 13+2
4 13+1
5 10
6 10
7 9
8 7
9 5
10 5
11 5
12 5
13 4
14 4
15 3
16 1
17 0

Nordic Final

width=25pxPos. width=200pxRider width=70pxTotal
1 15
2 14
3 13
4 12
5 10
6 8
7 8
8 7
9 7
10 6
11 5
12 5
13 4
14 2
15 1
16 0

Fifth round

Continental Final

Intercontinental Final

World Final

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. 10 July 2021.
  3. Web site: WORLD FINALS 1936-1994. Speedway Researcher. 10 July 2021.
  4. Web site: HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK. Speedway.org. 10 July 2021.
  5. Web site: Speedway riders, history and results. wwosbackup. 10 July 2021.
  6. Web site: WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX. British Speedway. 10 July 2021.
  7. Web site: World Championship . Metal Speedway . 6 February 2024.
  8. Web site: World Championship . Speedway.org . 6 February 2024.
  9. Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing.

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