Vikingarna () are a Swedish

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 ...

team based at the Örebro Motorstadion, 9 km west of Örebro, near Örebro Airport in Sweden.

Season summary

History

1950 to 1954

The beginning of competitive league speedway in Örebro can be traced back to the

1950 Swedish speedway season The 1950 Swedish speedway season was the 1950 season of motorcycle speedway in Sweden. Individual Individual Championship The 1950 Swedish Individual Speedway Championship final was held on 20 October, in Stockholm. Helge Brinkeback won the S ...

. A club called Vikingarna finished last out of four teams in the second division. However, the following season in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

, was much improved to the degree that the team actually won the six team division. The team competed in the highest tier for the first time during the 1952 Swedish speedway season (called division 1 at the time) but struggled in the division and were eventually relegated. A young

Göte Nordin Göte Nordin (born 2 July 1935) is a former speedway rider from Sweden. Speedway career Nordin is a two times champion of Sweden, winning the Swedish Championship in 1965 and 1971. He reached the final of the Speedway World Championship on fo ...

rode for the club from 1952 to 1954 and he helped them win division 2 again in

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...

. They returned to division 1 again for the 1954 Swedish speedway season but once again finished last. Swedish league participation suffered during the following years and Vikingarna were just one of several teams that failed to enter a team.

1961 to 1981

The team returned for the

1961 Swedish speedway season The 1961 Swedish speedway season was the 1961 season of motorcycle speedway in Sweden. Individual Individual Championship The 1961 Swedish Individual Speedway Championship final was held on 22 September in Stockholm. Björn Knutson won the Swe ...

but once again dropped out afterwards, missing the 1962 to 1966 seasons. They were one of several teams that returned in

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

for the newly created four division league system, they were placed in division 3 west. During the 1970s, they twice won division 3 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 scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

and

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

. In between (in 1975), work started on a new venue for the team called the Täby Motorstadion (the current venue); the site would offer speedway, motocross and karting. Previous venues included the Adolfsberg Motorstadion and Trängen's sports stadium.

1982 to 1986

The club remained in the third tier, which became known as the Division 2 because of the introduction of 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 ...

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 ...

. Two years later 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 ...

, they won division 2 but Örebro found itself without speedway once again from 1987 to 1988.

1989 to 2001

Racing returned to Örebro in 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 ...

, with the team taking the city's name Örebro. However, in 1991, they were renamed Buddys and this was followed by another name change in 1994, to Team Viking. In

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, Team Viking won division 2, a feat they emulated in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, despite finishing last in 1996.

2002 to present

During the

2002 Swedish speedway season The 2002 Swedish speedway season was the 2002 season of motorcycle speedway in Sweden. Individual Individual Championship The 2002 Swedish Individual Speedway Championship final was held at the Smedstadion in Eskilstuna on 17 August. Niklas Kl ...

, the team reverted to their traditional name Vikingarna and won division 1 east (which was now the third tier). Riding for them that season was

Freddie Lindgren Jan Fredrik Tobias (Freddie) Lindgren (born 15 September 1985) is a Swedish motorcycle speedway rider. He has twice won the bronze medal at the Speedway World Championship and won the world team championships in 2015. Career Born in Örebro, Sw ...

and Robert Eriksson. As of 2023 the team continued to ride in the third tier (division 1).

2023 team

* Ludvig Lindgren *Eric Persson *Benny Johansson *Sebastian Glimfjäll Johansson *Adrian George *Patrick Hamburg

Notable riders

References

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