1981 Individual Speedway World Championship
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The 1981 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 36th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider. It was also the last of a record 26 times that London's world famous Wembley Stadium hosted the World Final. It also marked the final time that the stadium would be used for any
Motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that use only ...
. In future years when the final was held in England, it would be held at the
Odsal Stadium Odsal Stadium in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, is the home of Bradford Bulls Rugby League team. It has also been used by the Bradford Dukes speedway team, BRISCA F1 and F2 stock cars, the football team Bradford City, following the Valley ...
in
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until the advent of the Speedway Grand Prix series in
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. The 1981 Final was held before a reported crowd of 92,500, just shy of the Wembley record of 95,000 set at the 1938 World Final. Bruce Penhall became the first American to win the World Championship since Jack Milne in
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. As a past World Championship winner at Wembley, the 74-year-old Milne was a special guest at the event and saw Penhall end America's 44 year Individual World Championship drought. Though he remained undefeated until his last ride when he only needed to finish 3rd to win the Championship (he finished that race in second behind his rival Kenny Carter), Penhall was forced to work hard for his maiden World Championship. In both Heat 7 and Heat 14 he was second for over 3½ laps behind Ole Olsen and Tommy Knudsen respectively before passing both in the run to the line. Olsen would defeat Knudsen in a runoff for second and third places after both finished on 12 points. The triple World Champion gaining some revenge on his younger countryman after Knudsen had defeated Olsen in the first heat of the meeting. In Heat 6, Denmark's future triple World Champion Erik Gundersen set the 4 lap record of 66.8 seconds for the long track when he defeated eventual 3rd placed rider Tommy Knudsen (Denmark), Jiří Štancl ( Czechoslovakia) and Zenon Plech ( Poland). As this was the final speedway meeting at Wembley it will forever be the track record.


New Zealand Qualification


New Zealand Final

* 6 February 1981 *
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* First 8 to Austral-Asian Final


Australian Qualification


Australian Final

* February 14, 1981 * Brisbane * First 8 to Austral-Asian Final


British Qualification


British Final

*June 3, 1981 * Coventry, Brandon Stadium *First 8 to Overseas final plus 1 reserve


Swedish Qualification


Intercontinental Round


Australasian Final

*February 28, 1981 *
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, Liverpool City Raceway *First 4 to Overseas final plus 1 reserve


Norwegian Final

*April 26, 1981 * Elgane *First 2 to Nordic final


Danish Final

*May 10, 1981 * Fredericia *First 6 to Nordic final


American Final

*May 30, 1981 * Los Angeles, Los Angeles Coliseum *First 4 to Overseas final


Nordic Final

*June 2, 1981 *
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,
Vargarna Speedway Vargarna are a Swedish motorcycle speedway team based in Norrköping, Sweden. The team race at the Norrköpings Motorstadion. History The name Vargarna literally translates into English as "The Wolves". The team won the Swedish Speedway Team Cham ...
*First 6 to Intercontinental final plus 1 reserve


Overseas Final

*July 12, 1981 * London, White City Stadium *First 10 to Intercontinental final plus 1 reserve


Intercontinental Final

*July 25, 1981 * Vojens, Vojens Speedway Center *First 11 to World final plus 1 reserve


Continental Round


Continental Final

*July 25, 1981 * Prague, Marketa Stadium *First 5 to World final plus 1 reserve


World Final

*September 5, 1981 * London, Wembley StadiumBamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). ''A History of the World Speedway Championship''. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. *Referee: () Sam Bass *Attendance: 92,500


References

{{Speedway Grand Prix seasons
1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...
World Individual 1981 in British motorsport
Individual Speedway World Championship The World Championship of Speedway is an international competition between the highest-ranked motorcycle speedway riders of the world, run under the auspices of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). The first official champion ...
Speedway competitions in the United Kingdom