1991 Individual Speedway World Championship Explained

The 1991 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 46th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.^[1] ^[2] ^[3]

Diminutive Danish rider Jan O. Pedersen won his first and only World Championship with a 15-point maximum from his five rides, the last time a rider would have a perfect score in the Final.^[4] Local favourite Tony Rickardsson finished second with 12 points, with triple champion Hans Nielsen of Denmark finishing third on 11 points after defeating fellow Dane Tommy Knudsen in a run-off. Defending champion Per Jonsson finished in ninth place with 7 points.^[5]

First round

British qualifiers

See main article: 1991 British Speedway Championship.

Top 32 to British-Semi finals

Second round

Australian qualification

See main article: 1991 Australian Individual Speedway Championship.

width=100	Date	width=180	Championship	width=280	Venue	width=150	Winner	width=150	2nd	width=150	3rd
17 Nov '90	Northern Territory				Trevor O'Brien
1 Dec '90	Queensland				Alan Rivett
23 Dec '90	Victorian				Phil Crump
26 Dec '90	New South Wales				Stephen Davies
28 Dec '90	Western Australian				Michael Carter
29 Dec '90	South Australian				Brett Tomkins
19 Jan 1991	Last Chance				Mark Lemon

New Zealand qualification

width=100	Date	width=180	Championship	width=280	Venue	width=150	Winner	width=150	2nd	width=150	3rd
??	South Island Final			??	??
??	North Island Final			??	??

British semi-finals

See main article: 1991 British Speedway Championship.

Top 16 to British final

Third round

Continental preliminary round

Riders progress to Continental quarter-finals

width=100	Date	width=280	Venue	width=180	Winner	width=180	2nd	width=180	3rd
4 May				Oleg Kurguskin
5 May	Stadion Wiener Neustadt
5 May				Robert Barth
5 May				Markus Jans

Swedish qualification

Top 8 in each heat to Swedish final

(3 May, Nässjö Motorstadion, Nässjö)
width=20	Pos	width=180	Rider	width=40	Points
1		13
2		11
3		11
4		10
5		10
6		9
7	Mikael Ritterwall	9
8	Mikael Löfqvist	8
9	Niklas Karlsson	7
10		6
11	Magnus Oscarsson	6
12	Patrik Karlsson	6
13		5
14		4
15	Mikael Olsson	4
16	Joakim Karlsson	1

(4 May, Tallhult Motorstadion, Hagfors)
width=20	Pos	width=180	Rider	width=40	Points
1		13
2		13
3		13
4		11
5		11
6	Claes Ivarsson	9
7		8
8		7+3
9	Dennis Löfqvist	7+2
10	Kenneth Lindby	7+1
11	Jörgen Johansson	6
12	Göran Flood	5
13	Robert Johansson	4
14		1
15		1
16	Lillebror Johansson	0

Australian Final

See main article: 1991 Australian Individual Speedway Championship.

First 3 (+ *Leigh Adams seeded) to Commonwealth Final

New Zealand Final

14 February 1991
Awapuni Speedway, Gisborne
First 2 to Commonwealth final

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=70px	Total
1		15
2		14
3		12
4	John Tuffley	11
5	Justin Monk	10
6	Michael Long	10
7	Greg Fisher	8
8	John Roberts	7
9	Nathan Murray	5
10	Ricky Bennett	5
11	Jacqui Mauger	5
12	Dean Sullivan	5
13	Nick Young	4
14	Michael Hollow	3
15	Gary Marsh	3
16	Steve Etches	0

British Final

See main article: 1991 British Speedway Championship.

Top 10 to Commonwealth final plus 1 reserve

Fourth round

Danish Final

19 May 1991
- Fladbro Speedway, Randers First 6 to Nordic final plus 1 reserve

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=70px	Total
1		15
2		14
3		12+3
4		12+2
5		10
6		9
7		8
8		6
9		6
10		6
11		6
12		5
13		4
14		3
15		3
16		1

Finnish qualifying

Vesa Ylinen & Juha Moksunen seeded to Nordic final

Norwegian Final

Elgane Speedway, Varhaug
19 Aug 1990, top 1 (+1 seeded) to Nordic final 1991

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=40px	Points
1		15
2	Kjell Øyvind Sola	13
3	Willy Tjessem	12
4	Robert Langeland	11
5	Atle Knutsen	11
6	Odd Pettersen	11
7	Jorn Arve Arda	9
8	Gjermund Aas	9
9	Bjorn Ivar Fauske	5
10	Marten Tunheim	5
11	Ingvar Hvamstad	4
12	Rolf Netland	4
13		3
14	Nils Mellomstrand	1
15	Anders Bjorkqvist	1
16	Per Erga	0

Swedish Final

3 rounds, top 5 to Nordic final plus 1 reserve
R1 (14 May, Kumla Motorstadion, Kumla)
R2 (15 May, Ljungheden, Västervik)
R3 (2 June, Gubbängens IP, Stockholm)

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=70px	Scores	width=50px	Total
1		15+14+11	40
2		11+11+14	37
3		12+12+9	33
4		13+12+8	33
5		8+9+12	29
6		11+6+10	27
7		3+11+12	26
8		8+8+7	23
9		10+5+4	19
10		4+3+11	18
11		2+7+6	15
12		5+5+5	15
13		7+1+5	13
14		3+9+1	13
15		5+4+1	10
16		3+3+2	8

Continental quarter-finals

Top 32 to Continental semi-finals

width=100	Date	width=320	Venue	width=180	Winner	width=180	2nd	width=180	3rd
1 June				Ryszard Dołomisiewicz
2 June				Antal Kocso
2 June				Armando Castagna
2 June				Jarosław Olszewski

American Final

2 March 1991
Veterans Memorial Stadium, Long Beach
First 5 to Overseas final plus 1 reserve

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=70px	Total
1		15
2		14
3		13
4		11
5		10+3
6		10+2
7		9
8		7
9		7
10		6
11		5
12		4
13		3
14		3
15	Andy Northrup	2
16	Josh Larsen (Res)	1
17	John Kehoe	0

Commonwealth Final

2 June 1991
Norfolk Arena, King's Lynn
First 11 to Overseas final plus 1 reserve

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=70px	Total
1		14
2		10+3
3		10+2
4		10+1
5		9
6		9
7		8
8		8
9	Todd Wiltshire*	7
10		7
11		7
12		6
13		5
14		4
15		4
16		1

Todd Wiltshire replaced Glyn Taylor

Fifth round

Continental semi-finals

width=50% valign=top

22 June
Ellermühle Speedway Stadium, Landshut
Top 7 to World semi-final

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

width=50% valign=top

23 June
Santa Marina Stadium, Lonigo
Top 7 to World semi-final

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

Nordic Final

23 June 1991
Nordjylland Speedway Center, Brovst
First 9 to World Semi-final plus 1 reserve

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=70px	Total
1		13
2		12
3		11
4		10
5		9
6		9
7		8
8		8
9		8
10		7+3
11		7+2
12		7+1
13		4
14		4
15		1
16		1

Overseas Final

23 June 1991
- Odsal Stadium, Bradford First 9 to World Semi-final plus 1 reserve

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=70px	Total
1		13
2		12+3
3		12+2
4		11
5		10
6		9
7		7
8		7
9		7
10		6+3
11		6+2
12		5
13		4
14		4
15		4
16		3

Sixth round

World Semi-Finals

width=50% valign=top

11 August 1991
Rivne Speedway Stadium, Rivne
First 8 to World final plus 1 reserve

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=40px	Points
1		12
2		11
3		10+3
4		10+2
5		9
6		9
7		9
8		9
9		8+3
10		8+2
11		7
12		6
13		4
14		4
15	Antonín Kasper, Jr. (Res)	2
16		1
17		1

width=50% valign=top

18 August 1991
Abensberger Stadion, Abensberg
First 8 to World final plus 1 reserve

width=25px	Pos.	width=200px	Rider	width=40px	Points
1		15
2		14
3		12
4		11
5	Tony Rickardsson*	10
6		8
7		8
8		8
9		7+3
10		7+2
11		6
12		5
13		3
14		3
15		2
16		1

First reserve Tony Rickardsson replaced injured qualifier Andy Smith

World final

31 August 1991
Ullevi, Göteborg^[6]

Classification

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

Notes and References

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