Västervik Speedway are 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 clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

team from

Västervik Västervik is a city status in Sweden, city and the seat of Västervik Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden, with 36,747 inhabitants in 2021. Västervik is one of three coastal towns with a notable population size in the province of Småland. Cl ...

in Sweden. They ride in 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 ...

and are one time champions of Sweden. The team race at the

Ljungheden Ljungheden also known as the Hejla Arena (for sponsorship purposes) is a motorcycle speedway track located in the north western outskirts of Västervik Västervik is a city status in Sweden, city and the seat of Västervik Municipality, Kal ...

also known as the Helja Arena.

History

1966 to 1981

They were established as Skepparna and raced in division 3 during the 1966 Swedish speedway season. In

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, 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 (no ...

the team won their first honours when winning division 2 and were promoted to the top tier for the first time. However, in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

the team struggled and were subsequently relegated before signing

Bengt Jansson Bengt Gustaf Jansson (born 9 January 1943 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a former international motorcycle speedway rider from Sweden. He earned 107 caps for the Sweden national speedway team. Career Jansson was runner up in the 1967 World Final ...

and winning division 2 again 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 ...

. With the addition of Tommy Johansson the team survived the 1980 and 1981 seasons.

1982 to 1992

The club were put in the second tier, on the introduction of the

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 Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

. 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 en ...

the team won division 2 and backed up this success in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

by winning division 1, which resulted in their return to the top tier for the first time since 1981. They have raced in the Elitserien (the top league division of Swedish speedway) ever since.

1993 to 2004

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

, the team changed their name to Västervik and signed

Sam Ermolenko Guy Allen Ermolenko (born November 23, 1960 Maywood, California) is a former motorcycle speedway rider. During his career he was known as Sam Ermolenko. In 1993, he won the Speedway World Championship. Career Early career After originally ...

(who would become the world champion that year). The team finished third for their highest ever position. The team continued to compete in the Elitserien finishing third again in

2001 The year's most prominent event was 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. The United States led a Participan ...

after signing

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. He earned 52 caps for the Poland nati ...

and

Nicki Pedersen Nicki Pedersen (born 2 April 1977) is a Danish motorcycle speedway rider. He is a three time world champion having won the World Championship in 2003, 2007 and 2008. He has also won the World Cup with Denmark in 2006, 2008, 2012 and 2014. Car ...

2005 to present

During the

2005 Swedish speedway season The 2005 Swedish speedway season was the 2005 season of motorcycle speedway in Sweden. Individual Individual Championship The 2005 Swedish Individual Speedway Championship final was held in Vetlanda on 2 July. Tony Rickardsson won the Swedish ...

the club won their first Swedish Team Championship with a team that included Tomasz Gollob,

Jacek Gollob Jacek Gollob (born 27 October 1969 in Bydgoszcz, Poland) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from Poland. Career Gollob twice won the individual Polish Championship (in 1998 and 2000), and has also won the team and pairs championships sever ...

Bjarne Pedersen Bjarne Aagaard Pedersen (born 12 July 1978 in Holstebro, Denmark) is a former international motorcycle speedway rider who represented Denmark in the Speedway World Cup, winning it on two occasions: in 2006 and 2008. Career summary Pedersen beg ...

and

Niels Kristian Iversen Niels Kristian Trochmann Iversen (, born 20 June 1982 in Esbjerg, Denmark) is an international motorcycle speedway rider. He is a seven times national champion of Denmark and was part of the Danish teams that won the Speedway World Cup in 2006 ...

. They then narrowly lost the title after finishing runners-up to

Dackarna Dackarna is a motorcycle speedway club from Målilla in Sweden who compete in the Swedish Elitserien. Their home track since 1993 has been the Skrotfrag Arena which was the venue for the Grand Prix of Scandinavia and is the current venue for ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

. In 2014, the club were relegated but won two

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

titles in 2016 and 2017, which took them back to the Elitserien. In 2023, the team signed three times world champion

Tai Woffinden Tai Woffinden (born 10 August 1990) is a British speedway rider. He is a three-time World Champion (2013, 2015 and 2018). Early life Woffinden was born in Scunthorpe, the son of former speedway rider Rob Woffinden. Although born in the Unite ...

Season summary

Previous teams

2012 team * Jurica Pavlič 1.889 *

Chris Harris Chris Harris may refer to: Sportspeople * Chris Harris (basketball) (1933–2022), English basketballer * Chris Harris (cricketer) (born 1969), New Zealand cricketer * Chris Harris (darts player) (born 1977), Welsh darts player * Chris Harris (rowe ...

1.669 * Tomasz Jedrzejak 1.520 * Danny King 1.508 *

Davey Watt David John Watt (born 6 January 1978 in Townsville, Queensland) is a former international motorcycle speedway rider from Australia. He won the Queensland state championship in 2005 and was a member of the Australian team that finished second to ...

1.500 *

Rafał Okoniewski Rafał Okoniewski (born 26 January 1980) is a Polish former motorcycle speedway, speedway rider. Career Okoniewski started riding in 1996 and is the son of former speedway rider Mariusz Okoniewski (1956–2006). He is the only rider to win the ...

1.432 * Peter Ljung 1.393 *

Mikael Max Karl Mikael Karlsson (born 21 August 1973), who later rode under the name Mikael Max, is a Swedish former international motorcycle speedway rider. He earned 21 caps for the Sweden national speedway team. Career After first riding a speedway ...

1.383 *

Pontus Aspgren Pontus Aspgren (born 15 March 1991) is a Swedish motorcycle speedway rider. Speedway career He rode in the top tier of British Speedway for the Wolverhampton Wolves during the 2012 Elite League speedway season. The same year, he was part of the S ...

0.973 2022 team * Mads Hansen * Fredrik Lindgren *

Bartosz Smektała Bartosz Smektała (born 22 August 1998) is an international speedway rider from Poland. Speedway career Smektała won the gold medal at the World Under-21 Championship in the 2018 World Under-21 Championship. Smektała rode in the Team Sp ...

Paweł Przedpełski Paweł Przedpełski (born 23 June 1995) is a speedway rider from Poland. Speedway career He rode in the top tier of British Speedway riding for the Leicester Lions in the SGB Premiership 2017. He currently rides for Apator Toruń in Poland. ...

* Jaimon Lidsey *

Kenneth Bjerre Kenneth Bjerre Jensen (born 24 May 1984 in Esbjerg, Denmark) is a Danish international motorcycle speedway rider. He earned 17 caps for the Denmark national speedway team. Career Bjerre began his Polish league career in 2001 for Ostrów. The ...

* Peter Ljung * Anton Karlsson */

Gleb Chugunov Gleb Sergeevich Chugunov (born 17 December 1999) is an international speedway rider from Russia, who rides on a Polish licence. Speedway career Chugunov won a bronze medal at the Speedway World Cup in the 2017 Speedway World Cup. The follow ...

2023 team *

David Bellego David Bellego (born 15 May 1993 in Marmande) is a French motorcycle speedway rider, who competes in Grasstrack, Longtrack and Speedway. He is four times champion of France. Speedway career International He was part of the French team that wo ...

* Mads Hansen *

Chris Holder Christopher Robert Holder (born 24 September 1987 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian speedway rider, who was the 2012 World Speedway Champion. He is also five times Australian champion (2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014. Career Hold ...

Oscar Holstensson Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer J ...

* Anton Karlsson * Alexander Liljekvist * Fredrik Lindgren *

Mikkel Michelsen Mikkel Michelsen (born 19 August 1994) is a Danish speedway rider. Career Born in Nykøbing Falster, Michelsen took up speedway at the age of 6, and went on to win the Junior World Cup in both 2008 and 2009.Laursen Brock, Jeppe (2013)Speedway ...

* Anders Thomsen *

Jacob Thorssell Jacob Thorssell (born 24 July 1993) is a motorcycle speedway rider from Sweden. He is a two times Swedish national champion. Career Thorssell joined Wolverhampton Wolves in the Elite League for the 2012 season, as a replacement for Pontus ...

Notable riders

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vastervik Speedway Speedway teams in Sweden Västervik Sports clubs and teams in Kalmar County 1966 establishments in Sweden 20th-century establishments in Kalmar County