Hammarby IF Speedway was a Swedish
motorcycle speedway team based in
Stockholm, Sweden. The club has not been competing in the domestic leagues since 2016, after their home ground Gubbängens IP was demolished. Their biggest success was winning the bronze medal in
Elitserien in 2007.
Season summary
History
SMK Stockholm and Monarkerna
SMK Stockholm were one of the seven inaugural members of the Swedish speedway league, which started during the
1948 Swedish speedway season. They raced at
Hammarby IP, a ground based in
Södermalm
Södermalm, often shortened to just Söder, is a district and island in central Stockholm.
Overview
The district covers the large island of the same name (formerly called ''Åsön''). Although Södermalm usually is considered an island, wa ...
, an area Hammarby IF considers its heartland.
In
1950
Events January
* January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed.
* January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...
, SMK Stockholm became Monarkerna (the Monarchs) and the team won the
Swedish Speedway Team Championship in 1955 and 1956, with riders such as
Olle Nygren
Harald Olof "Olle" Ingemar Nygren (11 November 1929 – 13 February 2021) was a Swedish speedway rider who reached the finals of the Speedway World Championship five times. Nygren was Swedish Champion in 1949 and became Nordic Champion in 1960. ...
and
Ulf Ericsson
Ulf Ericsson (born c.1933) was an international speedway rider from Sweden.
Speedway career
Ericsson reached the final of the Speedway World Championship in the 1956 Individual Speedway World Championship. He represented Sweden in the 1955 and ...
. Monarkerna competed until the end of the
1963 Swedish speedway season.
Hammarby IF
In 2004, Hammarby IF Speedway was established, as a section under multi-sports club
Hammarby IF. Gary Selan was the driving force behind the project and became the first team president. Racing at Gubbängens IP, in a suburban district in the southern part of Stockholm. The club (colloquially known as Bajen Speedway) went on to compete in the second tier
Allsvenskan during their inaugural season, which was the
2004 Swedish speedway season. In
2005, Hammarby won the Allsvenskan in superior style and secured a promotion to Elitserien.
In
2006, Hammarby signed former World Champion
Nicki Pedersen
Nicki Pedersen (born 2 April 1977) is a Danish motorcycle speedway rider. He has won the World Championship in 2003, 2007 and 2008 and was a World Cup winner with Denmark in 2006, 2008, 2012 and 2014. His brother, R ...
, who was a leading rider in the Elitserien in his debut season. The club's biggest success came in
2007, when they finished second in the table in the regular season before winning the bronze medal in the playoffs.
After a promising start to the
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
Elitserien season, Hammarby dropped off in the table in the second half, and ultimately finished in eight place. At the end of the year, the club chose to withdraw from he league due to financial difficulties.
They competed in Allsvenskan in
2009 and
2010, before returning to Elitserien in
2011 with World Champion
Tomasz Gollob
Tomasz Robert Gollob (; born 11 April 1971 in Bydgoszcz, Poland) is a former Polish motorcycle speedway rider. He appeared in every Speedway Grand Prix series between its inaugural season in 1995 and 2013. His brother Jacek is also a speedway r ...
as one of their riders.
Hammarby competed in Elitserien for the last time in
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...
, before getting relegated to Allsvenskan. The club was, however, expelled from the second division at the end of
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
due to financial problems.
At the end of 2016, the club was effectively dissolved, after not being able to find a track to race on in the Stockholm area. After competing in Division 1, the domestic third tier, for several seasons, it had been announced that Hammarby's home ground Gubbängens IP would be demolished.
At its peak, Hammarby drew regular attendances of some 2,000 people.
Season summary
Notable riders
* (2004–2008, 2013)
* (2006–2007)
* (2007–2008)
* (2011–2013)
References
{{Hammarby IF sections
Speedway teams in Sweden
Hammarby IF
Sports clubs and teams in Stockholm