Karlstad Speedway is a

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 ...

club from

Karlstad Karlstad (, ) is the 20th-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Karlstad Municipality, the capital of Värmland County, and the largest city in the province Värmland in Sweden. The city proper had 65,856 inhabitants in 2020 with 95,167 inhabitants ...

in Sweden.

Stadium

The city's stadium is the Kalvholmen Motorstadion, a 297-metre track, which is located in the southern Lamberget region of Karlstad.

History

Solkatterna

The city's first speedway club was Solkatterna (the Sun Cats) which was founded in 1967 and first raced in the

Swedish Speedway Team Championship The Swedish Speedway Team Championship is the team championship of speedway in Sweden. Season by season History The Championship was introduced in 1950. In 1982 the Championship was renamed with a new league called the Elitserien being intro ...

during the 1967 Swedish speedway season in division 3 west. After a decade of racing in the third tier of Swedish speedway, the team's first honours came during the 1976 Swedish speedway season when they won the third division south. However, they failed to gain promotion after being beaten in the promotion play off, despite the best efforts of Lars Ericsson. A second opportunity arose in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

, when the team won the division again but this time won the play off. After finishing second during their first season of second tier speedway in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

, they won the division in

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 ...

. The main riders that brought the success were

Lillebror Johansson Lillebror Johansson (born 18 October 1957) is a former international motorcycle speedway rider from Sweden. Speedway career Johansson won the silver medal at the 1979 Swedish Championship. He rode in the top tier of British Speedway from 1982 ...

, Jan Ericsson and Lars Ericsson but unfortunately the team lost the promotion play off. In

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

, they won the division again but once more lost the play off. However, they deservedly claimed a place in the top division for the first time because the

Elitserien Elitserien (literally, "the Elite League") is the name of several Swedish nationwide sport leagues. In many sports, Elitserien is the highest league, with the second highest named Allsvenskan. Elitserien leagues at present: * Elitserien (badmint ...

expanded for the 1983 Swedish speedway season. Their first season in the Elitserien ended with relegation but they quickly recovered to gain promotion again in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

. Two consecutive season relegations ensued in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

and

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

before the team won division 2 north in 1988 Swedish speedway season.

Karlstad

For the

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

season the city's speedway team was known as Karlstad and not Solkatterna. The following season a merger took place as the team competed as Eskilstuna and Karlstad. However, the merger only lasted for one season and the name reverted to Karlstad for the next 12 years. A mediocre period for the team ensued until the 1999 Swedish speedway season, when a change in the league structure saw the introduction of the

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

, which would form the division below the Elitserien the following season. In 1999 however, it was an additional league competition for teams finishing in the top four of division 1 and Karlstad finished 3rd in it.

Return as Solkatterna

The name of Solkatterna returned for the 2003 Swedish speedway season but the team initially struggled to perform before gaining promotion to the Allsvenskan for the 2007 Swedish speedway season. The team led by chairman Anders Berglund signed riders such as

Stefan Dannö Stefan Dannö (born 10 February 1969) is an international former Speedway rider who rode in the Speedway World Championship. He also rode for the Eastbourne Eagles in the British Speedway League and Indianerna in the Swedish Elite League when ...

Daniel Nermark Daniel Nermark (born 30 July 1977, in Karlstad, Sweden) is a Swedish international motorcycle speedway rider. Career summary Nermark first rode in the UK in 2001 when he signed for the Wolverhampton Wolves. In his second season Wolves won the E ...

Kauko Nieminen Kauko Tapio Nieminen (born 29 August 1979, in Seinäjoki) is a Finnish former speedway rider who raced for several teams in the UK, Sweden, and Poland, and as part of the Finland national speedway team. Career summary Nieminen started his Un ...

and

Claus Vissing Claus Vissing (born 6 June 1986) is a Danish speedway rider. Career Vissing made his British league debut for Stoke Potters in the 2007 Premier League speedway season before joining Peterborough Panthers for the 2008 and 2009 seasons. In 2010, h ...

. The team attempted unsuccessfully to make it back to the Elitserien despite a second-place finish in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

. The team competed until the end of the 2012 Swedish speedway season by which time they were in the third tier of Swedish speedway.

Speedway 054

Ater a ten-year absence the city saw speedway again with a team called Speedway 054. The team competed in the

2022 Swedish speedway season The 2022 Swedish Speedway season was the 2022 season of speedway in Sweden. Smederna won the Elitserien and were declared the winners of the Swedish Speedway Team Championship. Valsarna won the Allsvenskan (second tier league). Earlier in ...

in the third tier, despite a dispute between the promotions of the Speedway 054 and former Solkatterna team.

Season summary

Notable riders

References

{{Swedish speedway teams Speedway teams in Sweden