1997 FIM Long Track World Championship explained

1997 Individual Long Track World Championship
Prev:1996
Next:1998

The 1997 Individual Long Track/Grasstrack World Championship was the 27th edition of the FIM speedway Individual Long Track World Championship.[1] For the first time the Championship was decided on a Grand Prix system (a series of races) and also contained races on grasstrack.[2]

The new system combined with the relatively new Speedway World Championship Grand Prix which started in 1995, effectively resulted in a separation of speedway riders. The leading speedway riders (with the exception of several Long Track specialists) could not commit to the Longtrack/Grasstrack schedule and therefore competed in the Speedway World Championship. The days of a speedway world champion in both normal track and Long Track speedway were gone.

The world title was won by Tommy Dunker of Germany.[3] [4]

Venues

width=30Roundwidth=100Datewidth=200Venue
112 Jul Aduard
220 Jul Cloppenburg
317 Aug Pfarrkirchen
46 Sep
528 Sep Mariánské Lázně

Notes and References

  1. Web site: SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK. Speedway.org. 22 May 2018. 10 September 2005. https://web.archive.org/web/20050910032243/http://www.speedway.org/history/. live.
  2. Web site: World Longtrack World Champions. Grasstrack GB. 22 May 2018. 15 May 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180515033751/http://grasstrackgb.co.uk/world-longtrack/. live.
  3. Web site: Long Track Racing. Speedway Champions. 22 May 2018. 25 May 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180525072216/http://www.speedwaychampions.com/long-track-champions.php. live.
  4. Book: Montague, Trevor. A To Z of Sport, page 512. 2004. Little Brown. 0-316-72946-9.