The 1974 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 29th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider. Sweden's own

Anders Michanek Anders Michanek (born 30 May 1943 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a Speedway rider. In 1974 he won the Speedway World Championship in his Swedish homeland with a maximum score of 15 points. Career Michanek had a very successful career riding in the Br ...

scored a 15-point maximum to claim his only Individual world title in front of a capacity crowd at the

Ullevi Ullevi, sometimes known as Nya Ullevi (, ''New Ullevi''), is a multi-purpose stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden. It was built for the 1958 FIFA World Cup, but since then has also hosted the World Allround Speed Skating Championships six times; the ...

stadium in

Göteborg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a p ...

. Four time champion

Ivan Mauger Ivan Gerald Mauger (4 October 1939 – 16 April 2018) was a New Zealand motorcycle speedway rider. He won a record six World Championships (Finals), a feat equalled only with the inclusion of the Speedway GP Championships by Tony Rickardsson ...

finished second on 11 points after winning a run-off with Swede

Sören Sjösten Sören Willy Ernfrid Sjösten (born 12 December 1938, Krylbo, Sweden, died 1999) was a motorcycle speedway rider. He won the world pairs championship in 1974 with Anders Michanek and became world team champion three times representing Sweden, ...

who also scored 11. With the defending champion

Jerzy Szczakiel Jerzy Szczakiel (28 January 1949 – 1 September 2020) was a Polish speedway rider. He was one of three Polish nationals to have won the Speedway World Championship, the others being 2010 World champion Tomasz Gollob and the 2019 Speedway Grand ...

not qualifying after finishing last in the 2nd Continental Semi-final, the only other World Champion in the field was

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

's Ole Olsen who suffered a horror night, finishing second in his first ride before falling in his second and not being able to contest the rest of the meeting.

Format changes

The format of the Championship changed for the 1974 event. This time the Swedish riders were allowed five places in the World Final to be held in Sweden. All other nations had to go through the European Final route to provide the remaining 11 riders for the World Final.

First Round

*British/Commonwealth Qualifying - 16 to British/Commonwealth Final *Scandinavian Qualifying - 16 to Nordic Final *Continental Qualifying - 16 to Continental Final *Swedish Qualifying - 16 to Swedish Final

British/Commonwealth Qualifying

Scandinavian Qualifying

Swedish Qualifying

Continental Qualifying

Second Round

*British/Commonwealth Final - 10 to British/Commonwealth/Nordic final *Nordic Final - 6 to British/Commonwealth/Nordic final

British/Commonwealth Final

*June 12, 1974 *

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

* First 10 to British-Nordic Final plus 1 reserve

Nordic Final

*9 June 1974 *

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

* First 6 to British-Nordic Final plus 1 reserve

Third Round

*British/Commonwealth/Nordic Final - 8 to European Final *Continental Final - 8 to European Final

Continental Final

* June 23, 1974 *

Tolyatti Tolyatti ( rus, Толья́тти, p=tɐlʲˈjætʲ(ː)ɪ), also known as Togliatti, formerly known as Stavropol (1737–1964), is a city in Samara Oblast, Russia. It is the largest city in Russia which does not serve as the administrative center ...

* First 8 to European Final

British/Commonwealth/Nordic Final

*August 4, 1974 *

Fredericia Fredericia () is a town located in Fredericia Municipality in the southeastern part of the Jutland peninsula in Denmark. The city is part of the Triangle Region, which includes the neighbouring cities of Kolding and Vejle. It was founded in 16 ...

* First 8 to European Final

Fourth Round

*Swedish Finals - 5 to World Final *European Final - 11 to World Final

Swedish Finals

Three races held on 28 May at Stockholm, 29 May at Norrköping and 30 May in

European Final

* August 31, 1974 *

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

World Final

*September 6, 1974 *

Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). ''A History of the World Speedway Championship''. Stroud: Tempus Publishing.

References

External links

The event at SVT's open archive
{{in lang, sv 1974 World Individual Speedway competitions in Sweden 1974 in Swedish motorsport