Bysarna were a Swedish motorcycle speedway team based at the Gamla Speedway Track, in Galgberget, north of

Visby Visby () is an urban area in Sweden and the seat of Gotland Municipality in Gotland County on the island of Gotland with 24,330 inhabitants . Visby is also the episcopal see for the Diocese of Visby. The Hanseatic city of Visby is arguably th ...

on the island of Gotland in Sweden. They were four times league champions of Sweden.

Season summary

History

1921 to 1951

The beginning of speedway in Visby can be traced back to November 1921 when the Gotland Motor Association was formed. Eight years later in 1929 the Gotland Motorcycle Club were riding dirt track races. A meeting was held at Gutavallen on 23 October and several other meetings took place at various venues before the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

. After the war a suitable piece of land was acquired in Galgberget and the track was completed in 1951.

1967 to 1977

Although a track existed in Visby there was no team until 1967, when a team called Bysarna entered Division 3 east, during the 1967 Swedish speedway season. The team finished second in the division behind

Dackarna Dackarna is a speedway club from Målilla in Sweden who compete in the Swedish Elitserien. Their home track is at the Skrotfrag Arena which has been used as the venue for the Grand Prix of Scandinavia since 2005. History The team was founded i ...

. Two years in

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

later Bysarna won their first trophy after finishing top of the same division and winning a promotion play-off final. The team competed in the second division in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

and duly completed a quick double by winning the division. The team made their debut in the first division (commonly known as the Allsvenskan at the time) and achieved a remarkable feat by winning the gold medal during the 1971 Swedish speedway season and thus becoming the Swedish Speedway Team Champions. The team then retained their title the following season in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

. The success continued finishing second in

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: ...

and then winning their third gold medal during the 1975 Swedish speedway season. Some of Bysarna's leading riders from the period included

Christer Löfqvist Christer Löfqvist (born 4 June 1944 in Visby, Gotland, Sweden - died 1 February 1978) was an international speedway rider who reached the final of the Speedway World Championship in 1974.Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). ''A History of the Wo ...

, Tommy Johansson and

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, ...

and Berndt Johansson. The golden period came to an end in 1977 when the club were relegated.

1978 to 1999

The club remained in the second tier, which became know as the Division 1 because of the introduction of the Elitserien in 1982. However, in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

, they won division 1 and were promoted to the Elitserien. In 1988, the team won their fourth gold medal led by riders such as

Per Jonsson Per Jonsson (born 21 March 1966 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a former speedway rider who won the Speedway World Championship in 1990, and finished runner-up in 1992. Career In 1985, his second season with the Reading Racers, the team won six major ...

, Tony Olsson, Dennis Löfqvist and Brian Karger. The team continued to compete in the Elitserien until relegation in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

2000 to 2007

The new millennium started well when the club won the Allsvenskan (second tier) and returned to the Elitserien for one final season in 2001. Unfortunately they were relegated back to the Allsvenskan in 2002 and struggled over the following years opting for the third tier in 2006. In 2007, the club's track at Galgberget was closed down and the team raced their last season despite efforts to find a new track.

Notable riders

References

{{Swedish speedway teams Speedway teams in Sweden Sport in Visby