The 1973 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 28th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider. The 1973 World Final was won by

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

rider

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 ...

following a run-off in with defending 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 ...

after both riders had finished on 13 points. On the second lap of the run-off, Mauger fell in turn 3 after trying a risky passing move leaving Szczakiel to win easily. Another Polish rider,

Zenon Plech Zenon Plech (1 January 1953 – 25 November 2020) was a Polish international motorcycle speedway rider. He finished third in the Speedway World Championship in 1973 and as the runner-up in 1979. Career summary Plech won the Polish National Cha ...

finished third. Rank outsider Szczakiel, who had finished last with no points scored in his only other World Final appearance in Sweden in 1971, rode the meeting of his life and was only beaten in his final two rides before defeating Mauger in the run-off. The final, held at the

Silesian Stadium Silesian as an adjective can mean anything from or related to Silesia. As a noun, it refers to an article, item, or person of or from Silesia. Silesian may also refer to: People and languages *Silesians, inhabitants of Silesia, either a West Sla ...

in Chorzów,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, is believed to have been held in front of the largest crowd in world speedway history, estimated to be around 130,000, though some reports put the size of the crowd as anywhere from 90,000 to 120,000. The previous record for a final was 95,000 during the 1938 Individual Speedway World Championship at Wembley.

Format changes

The format of the Championship changed for the 1973 event. This time the Polish riders were allowed five places in the World Final to be held in Poland. 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

British/Commonwealth Qualifying

Scandinavian Qualifying

Continental Qualifying

Second Round

*British/Commonwealth Final - 8 to British/Commonwealth/Nordic final *Nordic Final - 8 to British/Commonwealth/Nordic final

British/Commonwealth Final

*June 21, 1973 *

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

* First 8 to British-Nordic Final

Nordic Final

*June 6, 1973 * Norrköping * First 8 to British-Nordic Final

Third Round

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

British/Commonwealth/Nordic Final

*August 1, 1973 *

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 8 to European Final

Continental Final

* June 23, 1973 *

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

* First 8 to European Final plus 1 reserve

Fourth Round

*European Final - 11 to World Final *Polish Qualifications - 5 to World Final

European Final

* August 19, 1973 * Abensberg * First 11 to World Final plus 1 reserve

World Final

Final Controversy

The Final was surrounded by controversy, with decisions made by Georg Traunspurger, the referee assigned to the meeting by the

FIM FIM may refer to: Organizations and companies * Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme, the International Motorcycling Federation * Flint Institute of Music, in Michigan, United States * Fox Interactive Media, now News Corp. Digital Media * ...

, seeming to favour the Polish riders. One of his decisions was to have 2nd reserve

Andrzej Wyglenda Andrzej Wyglenda (born 4 May 1941 in Rybnik, Poland) is a former Polish motorcycle speedway rider who has won 1971 Speedway World Pairs Championship and Speedway World Team Cup three times. He was won Individual Polish Champion title four times. ...

of Poland race in Heat 16 in front of 1st reserve

Tommy Jansson Per Tommy Jansson (2 October 1952 – 20 May 1976) was a motorcycle speedway rider. He was one of Sweden's most exciting speedway prospects in the 1970s but was killed in the Swedish Final a World Championship Qualifying Round meeting. He was t ...

of Sweden (after

Bernt Persson Bernt Eveart Persson (24 June 1946 to 20 September 2020) was a Swedish international speedway rider who finished runner up in the 1972 Speedway World Championship final. He rode in Britain for the Edinburgh Monarchs, the Cradley Heath Heathens ...

of Sweden was unable to ride), making it four Polish riders in the race. In the race, second placed

Edward Jancarz Edward 'Ed' Jancarz (20 August 1946 – 11 January 1992) was a Polish international speedway rider.Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). ''A History of the World Speedway Championship''. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. Career Jancarz rode in the UK for ...

, who led for the first three laps, seemed to let Zenon Plech take the lead in the final turn, allowing Plech, who had more points at that stage of the meeting, to collect another three points for the win. His most controversial decision was to exclude

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

rider

Grigory Khlinovsky Grigory Khlinovsky is a former international speedway rider from the Soviet Union. Speedway career Khlinovsky reached the final of the Speedway World Championship on three consecutive years, in the 1972 Individual Speedway World Championship, ...

from heat 19. Khlinovsky had attempted to pass on the inside of Zenon Plech for the lead going into the back straight of the last lap. As he was passed by the Russian, Plech lost control of his bike and fell. Despite protests from riders and the Soviet officials Khlinovskywas excluded and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

's Peter Collins, who was in 3rd place at the time of the crash, was awarded the heat win, Plech, who didn't actually finish the race, was awarded 2nd. The result of the two points he gained for second place allowed Plech to finish a clear third in the championship. Had Khlinovsky been the winner of the heat, he would have ended on 13 points, which would have put him in the run-off for the title with Szczakiel and Mauger. British television commentator

Dave Lanning Dave Lanning (24 March 1938 – 29 October 2016) was an English sports commentator and journalist, best known for his coverage of Professional Darts. He was brought up in Poole and educated at Poole Grammar School. Broadcasting career He was o ...

called the ruling ''"The craziest piece of speedway regulations in the history of World Championship racing"'', before adding that ''"It seems to me that the authorities here in Katowice are making up the rules to suit themselves to get their boys a world title."''

Final result

*September 2, 1973 * Chorzów,

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

References

{{Speedway Grand Prix seasons

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

World Individual

World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

Speedway competitions in Poland