1976 Individual Speedway World Championship

The 1976 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 31st edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.
England's Peter Collins became the first British World Speedway Champion since Peter Craven had won in 1962. Fellow Englishman Malcolm Simmons finished second with Australia's Phil Crump finishing third. 1976 was the first time since 1952 that no rider from either New Zealand or Sweden finished on the podium in the World Final.
Qualifying results.

First round

British Preliminary round

Riders progress to British qualifying round

Date	Venue	Winner	2nd	3rd
3 April	Shielfield Park, Berwick	Taffy Owen	Tom Owen	Graham Jones
10 April	Kingsmead Stadium, Canterbury	Reg Luckhurst	Ted Hubbard	Graham Banks
11 April	Mildenhall Stadium, Mildenhall	Kevin Jolly	Andy Cusworth	Laurie Etheridge
13 April	Wessex Stadium, Weymouth	Tony Featherstone	Bob Coles	Barney Kennett

British qualifying round

Riders progress to British quarter finals

Date	Venue	Winner	2nd	3rd
22 April	Owlerton Stadium, Sheffield	Trevor Geer	Alan Grahame	Paul Tyrer
23 April	Monmore Green, Wolverhampton	Alan Molyneux	Brian Havelock	Bob Coles
24 April	Abbey Stadium, Swindon	Dave Perks	Steve Bastable	Tom Owen
24 April	Dudley Wood Stadium, Dudley	Bobby McNeil	Mick Hines	Mick Bell

Second round

Swedish qualification

Top 5 in each heat to Swedish final

New Zealand qualification

Top 16 to New Zealand final

British quarter-finals

Top 32 to British semi-finals

Date	Venue	Winner	2nd	3rd
3 May	Birchfield Ladbroke Stadium, Birmingham	Peter Collins	Chris Pusey	Alan Molyneux
5 May	Wimborne Road, Poole	Dave Jessup	Dave Morton	Arthur Price
8 May	Hyde Road, Manchester	Alan Grahame	John Davis	Michael Lee
8 May	King's Lynn Stadium, King's Lynn	Malcolm Simmons	Chris Morton	Doug Wyer

Continental Preliminary round

Riders progress to Continental quarter-finals

Date

Venue

Winner

2nd

3rd

25 April

Third round

American qualifying

3 June
Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, San Jose
Top 16 to American Final

New Zealand Final

14 February, Ruapuna Speedway, Templeton
Top 8 to Australasian final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Ivan Mauger	14+3
2	Barry Briggs	14+2
3	Larry Ross	11+3
4	Roy Trigg	11+2
5	Graeme Stapleton	10
6	Paul Fewings	10
7	Colin Tucker	10
8	Colin Farquharson	7
9	Dennis Sincock	6
10	Robin Adlington	6
11	Merv Salt	5
12	Paul Church	4
13	Kevin Burt	3
14	Paul Wells	3
15	Graeme Stewart	3
16	Bruce Mitchell	2
17	Mike Fullerton	1

Australian Final

13 February 1976, Rowley Park Speedway, Adelaide
Top 8 to Australasian Final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Phil Crump	15
2	John Langfield	13
3	Phil Herne	12
4	John Boulger	12
5	Mitch Shirra	10
6	John Titman	9
7	Ticky Day	9
8	Billy Sanders	8
9	Mick McKeon	8
10	Mike Farrell	6
11	Robin Amundson	5
12	Robert Maxfield	4
13	Ron Henderson	3
14	Rod Chessell	3
15	Ray Snider	2
16	Dene Davies	1
17	Paul Scanlon	0

Swedish Final

The final was initially started on 20 May at Gubbängens IP but had to be abandoned following the fatal crash of Tommy Jansson.
25 May 1976
Linköping Motorstadion, Linköping
Top 8 to Nordic final

Danish Final

25 April 1976
Speedway Center, Vojens
Top 2 to Nordic final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Finn Thomsen	15
2	Kurt Bøgh	12+3
3	Jan Henningsen	12+2
4	Leif Rasmusen	12+1
5	Finn Rune Jensen	11
6	Gunnar Svendsen	10
7	Bent Nørregaard-Jensen	10
8	Mike Lohmann	8
9	Kristian Præstbro	8
10	Jens Erik Krause Kjaer	4
11	Knud Ellegaard	4
12	Ernst Bøgh	4
13	Erling Rasmussen	3
14	Godtfred Andreasen	3
15	Jorgen Walther Johansen	2
16	Kaj Kristensen	2

Finland Final

Top 1 to Nordic final
17 Sep '75,
Kärpänen speedway, Lahti

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Ilkka Teromaa	15
2	Kai Niemi	13
3	Olli Turkia	12
4	Kari Vuoristo	11
5	Rauli Mäkinen	11
6	Teuvo Sirenius	8
7	Pekka Paljakka	7
8	Esko Mylläri	7
9	Esa Mattila	7
10	Ismo Kivelä	7
11	Pentti Mattila	6
12	Veli Pekka Teromaa	5
13	Matti Vayrynen	4
14	Seppo Palomäki	3
15	Kari Lindevall	2
16	Heikki Ahonen	0
17	Esa Jamsalainen	0

Norwegian Final

25 April 1976
Geiteryggen Speedwaybane, Skien
First 3 to Nordic Final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Reidar Eide	15
2	Dag Lovaas	14
3	Edgard Stangeland	13
4	Audun Ove Olsen	11
5	Øyvind S. Berg	11
6	Jan Terje Gravningen	10
7	Kjell Gimre	9
8	Helge Langli	9
9	Tormod Langli	6
10	Tom Godal	5
11	Ingve Madland	4
12	Stein Pedersen	4
13	Askild Malmin	3
14	Jorn Flatha	2
15	Sigvard Pedersen	2
16	Per Hetland	1