1977 Individual Speedway World Championship

The 1977 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 32nd edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.
History was made in the 1977 final when Ivan Mauger of New Zealand equalled Ove Fundin's title record of five World Championship wins. Mauger had gone close to equalling the record before and finally achieved it in Sweden, the home of Fundin. In a decisive 18th heat Mauger won from his nearest challenger Ole Olsen, when Olsen was forced to lay his bike down to avoid hitting John Boulger. The result was just one point for Olsen, a badly damaged Jawa bike and the end of his title hopes. Defending champion Peter Collins won his last ride to claim the silver medal despite riding with a broken left leg, but Olsen won the bronze medal run-off against young English rider Michael Lee.
Qualifying results.

First round

British Preliminary round

Riders progress to British quarter-finals

Date	Venue	Winner	2nd	3rd
21 April	Oxford Stadium, Oxford	Paul Tyrer	Geoff Bouchard	Martin Yeates
30 April	Loomer Road, Newcastle-under-Lyme	Robbie Gardner	John Jackson	Carl Glover
1 May	Rye House Stadium, Hoddesdon	Karl Fiala	Les Collins	Mike Lanham
5 May	Somerton Park, Newport	Steve Weatherley	Barney Kennett	Steve Lomas

Second round

Continental Preliminary round

Riders progress to Continental semi-finals.

Josef Angermüller was killed during the first preliminary round at the San Savino Speedway Park after falling and colliding with a concrete post.

Date

Venue

Winner

2nd

3rd

24 April

British quarter-finals

Top 32 progress to British semi-finals

Date	Venue	Winner	2nd	3rd
14 May	The Shay, Halifax	Chris Pusey	Doug Wyer	John Louis
16 May	Dudley Wood Stadium, Dudley	Gordon Kennett	George Hunter	Bob Kilby
18 May	King's Lynn Stadium, King's Lynn	Michael Lee	Paul Tyrer	Chris Morton
20 May	Hackney Wick Stadium, London	Malcolm Simmons	Martin Yeates	Dave Jessup

Third round

New Zealand Final

12 February 1977
Western Springs Stadium, Auckland
First 8 to Australasian final

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Larry Ross	3,2,3,3,3	14
2	Ivan Mauger	X,3,3,3,3	12
3	Robin Adlington	2,3,2,2,3	12
4	Barry Briggs	1,1,3,3,3	11
5	John Goodall	3,3,1,3,1	11
6	Roger Wright	1,3,2,2,2	10
7	Colin Farquharson	2,2,3,2,1	10
8	Mike Fullerton	3,1,2,1,2	9
9	Colin Tucker	3,0,1,2,2	8
10	Paul Fewings	2,1,0,1,1	5
11	Max Brown	1,0,2,0,1	4
12	Allan Brown	0,2,1,1,F	4
13	James Moore	0,F,X,1,2	3
14	Malcolm Chambers	2,F,0,-,-	2
15	Bruce Spargo	0,1,0,0,0	1
16	John Bargh	0,-,0,0,0	0
R1	Merv Hodgson	1,1,0	2
R2	Bruce Mitchell	2,0	2

Australian Final

25 February 1977
Jerilderie Park Speedway, Tomago
First 8 to Australasian final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Phil Crump	15
2	Phil Herne	13
3	Billy Sanders	13
4	John Boulger	11
5	Mike Farrell	10
6	John Titman	9
7	Ricky Day	9
8	Mitch Shirra	8
9	Stuart Mountford	7
10	Danny Kennedy	7
11	Tony Boyle	7
12	Paul O'Neil	4
13	Robin Amundson	3
14	Mick McKeon	2
15	John Williams	2
16	Robert Maxfield	0

Finland Final

29 August '76
Turku Hippodrome, Turku
4 selected for Nordic Final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Ilkka Teromaa	13
2	Veli Pekka Teromaa	12+3
3	Markku Helminen	12+2
4	Kai Niemi	11
5	Rauli Mäkinen	11
6	Seppo Palomäki	11
7	Esko Mylläri	10
8	Ari Koponen
9	Esa Mattila	7
10	Pekka Hautamäki	5
11	Ismo Kivelä	5
12	Pentti Mattila	5
13	Olli Turkia	4
14	Keijo Mylläri	3
15	Veli Pekka Kunelius	2
16	Veikko Haapamäki	0
17	Veijo Tuoriniemi	0

Norwegian Final

17 April 1977
Sandnes Stadion, Sandnes
First 5 to Nordic Final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Tormod Langli	15
2	Rolf Gramstad	12
3	Stein R.Pedersen	12
4	Jan Gravningen	11
5	Edgar Stangeland	11
6	Tom Godal
7	Ingve Madland
8	Trond Helge Skretting
9	Geir Aasland

Danish Final

19 May 1977
Speedway Center, Fredericia
First 5 to Nordic Final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Finn Thomsen	13
2	Erling Rasmussen	12+3
3	Bo Petersen	12+2
4	Gunnar Svendsen	11
5	Finn Rune Jensen	9+3
6	Bent Nørregaard-Jensen	9+2
7	Bent Rasmussen	8
8	Frank Mastrup	8
9	Kaj Kristiansen	7
10	Knud Ellegaard	7
11	Jens Erik Krause Kjaer	7
12	Kurt Bøgh	6
13	Frank Hansen	5
14	Jorgen Walther Johansen	5
15	Otto Larsen	1
16	Preben Rosenkilde	0

Continental quarter-finals

Top 32 to Continental semi-finals

Date

Venue

Winner

2nd

3rd

1 May

Fourth Round

Swedish qualification

Top 5 in each heat to Swedish final

American Final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Mike Bast	14
2	Bruce Penhall	13+3
3	Scott Autrey	13+2
4	Steve Bast	11
5	Rick Woods	10
6	Alan Christian	9
7	Mike Curoso	9
8	Dennis Sigalos	8
9	Steve Gresham	8
10	Duane Yarrow	7
11	Larry Shaw	6
12	Rich McMurray	5
13	Dennis Robinson	5
14	Ron McGill	1
15	Dave Faria	1

Nordic Final

29 May 1977
Eteläpuisto, Tampere
First 4 to Intercontinental final

Pos.

Rider

Total

Australasian Final

19 February 1977
Sydney Showground Speedway, Sydney
First 4 to Intercontinental final

British Final

13 July 1977
Brandon Stadium, Coventry
First 5 plus Peter Collins to Intercontinental final.

Fifth round

Swedish Final

First 4 over three meetings to World final plus 1 reserve
R1
R2
R3

Pos.	Rider	R1	R2	R3	Total
1	Anders Michanek	15	15	14	44
2	Bengt Jansson	13	11	14	38
3	Bernt Persson	12	14	6	32
4	Tommy Nilsson	10	8	12	30
5	Sören Karlsson	8	11	10	29
6	Jan Andersson	6	9	12	27
7	Richard Hellsén	11	9	7	27
8	Christer Sjösten	9	6	9	24
9	Sören Sjösten	6	8	7	21
10	Tommy Johansson	7	7	5	19
11	Hasse Holmqvist	7	5	3	15
12	Jan Simensen	3	6	6	15
13	Åke Fridell	4	6	4	14
14	Karl-Erik Claesson	4	3	6	13
15	Börje Klingberg	4	0	3	7
16	Eddie Davidsson	1	2	2	5
17	Lars-Åke Andersson	0	-	-	0
18	Conny Samuelsson	-	0	-	0

Continental Final

25 July 1977
Anatoly Stepanov Stadium, Tolyatti
First 5 to World Final plus 1 reserve

Intercontinental Final

21 August 1977
White City Stadium, London
First 7 to World Final

World Final

2 September 1977
Ullevi, Gothenburg
Referee: Torrie Kittelsen