Brian Askel Andersen (born 13 March 1971) is a Danish former international

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 ...

rider.

Career

Andersen reached the final of the Under-21 World Championship in 1990. The following year, he won the championship to become the 1991 Junior World Champion. In the final he defeatied fellow Dane

Morten Andersen Morten Andersen (born 19 August 1960), nicknamed the "Great Dane", is a Danish former American football placekicker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 25 seasons, most notably with the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons. F ...

in a run-off for the title after both riders had finished on 14 points. The success brought him to the attention of British leagues and

Coventry Bees Coventry Bees were a motorcycle speedway team that existed from 1929 to 2018. They raced at Brandon Stadium, Brandon near Coventry, England. History A Coventry team was first formed in 1928 and competed in the inaugural season of the Southern ...

signed him for the 1992 British League season. He drove up his average over the following seasons for Coventry and established himself as one of their leading riders. In 1995, he won the

Individual Speedway Danish Championship Individual Speedway Danish Championship is the National competition for Danish speedway riders to determine the champion of Denmark. The event was first held in 1947. From 1947 to 1951 there was no definitive difference between the short track and ...

. In 1996, he finished second in the 1996 Intercontinental Final, which qualified him for his first

Speedway Grand Prix Speedway Grand Prix are a series of stand-alone motorcycle speedway events over the course of a season used to determine the Speedway World Champion. The series started in 1995 replacing the previous format of a single event final. The first win ...

series. He rode in the Grand Prix between 1997 and 2001, and won two bronze medals in the

Speedway World Team Cup The Speedway World Team Cup was an annual speedway event held each year in different countries. The competition started in 1960 and was replaced with the Speedway World Cup in 2001. Format From 1960 until 1985 each team consisted of four riders ...

. He won the Danish Championship for the second time in 1999, which was also his last season for Coventry before he moved to join

Oxford Cheetahs The Oxford Cheetahs are a British speedway teamLawson,K (2018) “Riders, Teams and Stadiums”. based at Oxford Stadium, in Oxford, England. They were founded in 1939 and are five times champions of Britain, in 1964, 1985, 1986, 1989 and ...

for the

2000 Elite League speedway season The 2000 Elite League speedway season was the 66th season of the top tier of speedway in the United Kingdom. It was the fourth known as the Elite League and was governed by the Speedway Control Board (SCB), in conjunction with the British Speedwa ...

. In 2001, he was part of the Oxford Cheetahs title winning team in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

Family

His brother Jan Andersen was a speedway rider. His son Mikkel Andersen is also a speedway rider and the 2022 FIM Speedway Youth World Championship (SGP3) world champion.

Major results

World individual Championship

1997 Speedway Grand Prix The 1997 Speedway Grand Prix was the 52nd edition of the official World Championship. It was the third season in the Speedway Grand Prix era used to determine the Speedway World Champion. Greg Hancock from the United States became the World Champ ...

- 6th (80 pts) including winning the 1997 Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain *

1998 Speedway Grand Prix The 1998 Speedway Grand Prix was the 53rd edition of the official World Championship. It was the fourth season in the Speedway Grand Prix era used to determine the Speedway World Champion. Tony Rickardsson won the World title, which included thre ...

- 16th (31 pts) *

1999 Speedway Grand Prix The 1999 Speedway Grand Prix was the 54th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider. It was the fifth season in the Speedway Grand Prix era and was used to determine the Speedway World Champion. Event forma ...

- 22nd (12 pts) *

2000 Speedway Grand Prix The 2000 Speedway Grand Prix was the 55th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider. It was the sixth season in the Speedway Grand Prix era and was used to determine the Speedway World Champion. Event for ...

- 23rd (15 pts) *

2001 Speedway Grand Prix The 2001 Speedway Grand Prix was the 56th edition of the official World Championship and the seventh season in the Speedway Grand Prix era and is used to determine the Speedway World Champion. Event format The system first used in 1998 contin ...

- 18th (23 pts)

World team Championships

1996 Speedway World Team Cup The 1996 Speedway World Team Cup was the 37th edition of the FIM Speedway World Team Cup to determine the team world champions. The final took place on 15 September, at the Diedenbergen stadium in Germany. The Poland team won their seventh title ...

- bronze medal *

1998 Speedway World Team Cup The 1998 Speedway World Team Cup was the 39th edition of the FIM Speedway World Team Cup to determine the team world champions. The final took place on 11 September at the Vojens Speedway Center in Denmark. The winners were the United States tea ...

- bronze medal *

2000 Speedway World Team Cup The 2000 Speedway World Team Cup was the 41st edition of the FIM Speedway World Team Cup to determine the team world champions. It was the last time that the event was known as the Speedway World Team Cup because as from 2001 it was called the Spe ...

- =5th *

2001 Speedway World Cup The 2001 Speedway World Cup (SWC) was the 1st FIM Speedway World Cup season (and 42nd edition of a speedway team World Cup). The Final took place on 7 July 2008 in Wrocław, Poland. The tournament was won by Australia (68 points) and they beat hos ...

- 4th

References