1981 Individual Speedway World Championship

The 1981 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 36th edition of the official Motorcycle speedway World Championship to determine the world champion rider.
It was also the last of a record 26 times that London's world famous Wembley Stadium hosted the World Final. It also marked the final time that the stadium would be used for any speedway. In future years when the final was held in England, it would be held at the Odsal Stadium in Bradford until the advent of the Speedway Grand Prix series in 1995. The 1981 Final was held before a reported crowd of 92,500, just shy of the Wembley record of 95,000 set at the 1938 World Final.
Bruce Penhall became the first American to win the World Championship since Jack Milne in 1937. As a past World Championship winner at Wembley, the 74-year-old Milne was a special guest at the event and saw Penhall end America's 44 year Individual World Championship drought. Though he remained undefeated until his last ride when he only needed to finish 3rd to win the Championship, Penhall was forced to work hard for his maiden World Championship. In both Heat 7 and Heat 14 he was second for over 3½ laps behind Ole Olsen and Tommy Knudsen respectively before passing both in the run to the line. Olsen would defeat Knudsen in a runoff for second and third places after both finished on 12 points. The triple World Champion gaining some revenge on his younger countryman after Knudsen had defeated Olsen in the first heat of the meeting.
In Heat 6, Erik Gundersen set a new four lap record of 66.8 seconds for the track and as this was the final speedway meeting at Wembley it will forever be the track record.

Second round

Continental preliminary round

Riders progress to Continental quarter-finals

Date

Venue

Winner

2nd

3rd

25 April

Australian Final

21 February 1981
Exhibition Ground, Brisbane
First 8 to Australasian Final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Billy Sanders	14
2	Phil Crump	12
3	John Titman	10
4	Danny Kennedy	10
5	Phil Herne	9
6	Gary Guglielmi	8
7	Steve Regeling	8
8	Mick McKeon	8
9	John Boulger	7
10	Robert Maxfield	7
11	Steve Koppe	7
12	Neil Coddington	7
13	Tim Nunan	6
14	Bob Chitchcock	3
15	Glenn McDonald	2
16	Lou Sansom	2

New Zealand Final

6 February 1981
Meeanee Speedway, Napier
First 8 to Australasian Final

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Ivan Mauger	3,3,3,3,3	15
2	Mitch Shirra	3,3,3,3,2	14
3	Larry Ross	3,3,2,2,3	13
4	Wayne Brown	1,3,3,3,1	11
5	Mike Fullerton	2,2,2,1,3	10
6	David Bargh	3,2,1,2,2	10
7	Tony Briggs	2,2,2,2,1	9
8	Greame Beardsley	1,1,3,2,1	8
9	John Goodall	0,1,1,3,3	8
10	Mark Dekok	2,1,2,0,0	5
11	Gavin Rhodes	2,1,1,1,0	5
12	Greg Joynt	0,2,1,0,2	5
13	Max Brown	1,0,0,0,2	3
14	Colin Farquharson	0,0,0,1,1	2
15	Alan Crosbie	0,0,0,1,0	1
16	Patrick Pawson	1,0,0,0,-	1
R1	Bruce Elvey	0	0
R2	Kym Mauger	ns	0

Swedish qualification

Top 8 in each heat to Swedish final

Third round

Continental quarter-finals

Top 32 to Continental semi-finals

Date

Venue

Winner

2nd

3rd

10 May

Australasian Final

28 February 1981
Liverpool City Raceway, Sydney
First 4 to Overseas final plus 1 reserve

Pos.

Rider

Total

American Final

30 May 1981
Los Angeles Coliseum, Los Angeles
First 4 to Overseas final

British Final

3 June 1981
Brandon Stadium, Coventry
First 8 to Overseas final plus 1 reserve

Norwegian Final

26 April 1981
Elgane Speedway, Varhaug
First 2 to Nordic final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Rolf Gramstad	15
2	Audun Ove Olsen	13
3	Jorn Haufvalstad	12
4	Trond Helge Skretting	11
5	Dag Haaland	10
6	Ingve Madland	9
7	Terje Tollefsen	7
8	Kurt Ueland	7
9	Geir Aasland	7
10	Roy Otto	6
11	Asgeir Bjerga	6
12	Dagfin Jorgensen	5
13	Sigvart Pedersen	5
14	Kjell Gimre	5
15	Rolf Havirstad	2
16	Oddmund Bye	0

Danish Final

10 May 1981
Fjelsted Speedway Stadium, Harndrup
First 6 to Nordic final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Ole Olsen	15
2	Bo Petersen	13
3	Erik Gundersen	12+3
4	Tommy Knudsen	12+2
5	Hans Nielsen	12+1
6	Jens Henry Nielsen	8+3
7	Finn Thomsen	8+2
8	Preben Eriksen	8+1
9	Finn Rune Jensen	7
10	Mikael Lohmann	7
11	Bent Rasmussen	5
12	Steen Mastrup	5
13	Hans Ove Christiansen	4
14	Bent Juul Larsen	3
15	Svend Lund	0
16	Klaus Lohman	0
R1	Finn Lundahl	1

Finland Final

Pippo Speedway, Lahti
7 September 1980, top 2 to 1981 Nordic final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Kai Niemi	15
2	Ari Koponen	14
3	Veijo Tuoriniemi	12
4	Olli Tyrvainen	10
5	Veli Pekka Kunelius	10
6	Ilkka Teromaa	9
7	Pekka Hautamaki	8
8	Timo Kiansten	7
9	Markku Parkkari	7
10	Ossi Henriksson	6
11	Veikko Haapamaki	6
12	Hannu Larronmaa	5
13	Pekka Turkia	4
14	Markku Haapala	3
15	Ari Heinonen	1
16	Kari Yrjanainen	1
17	Jarmo Puttonen	1
18	Seppo Palomaki	1
19	Heimo Kaikko	0

Swedish Final

17 May 1981
Gislaved Motorbana, Gislaved
First 4 to Nordic final, Jan Andersson seeded to Nordic final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Anders Michanek	12
2	Tommy Nilsson	11+3
3	Hans Danielsson	11+2
4	Bernt Persson	11+1
5	Bo Wirebrand	10+3
6	Börje Klingberg	10+2
7	Richard Hellsén	9
8	Björn Andersson	8
9	Lennart Bengtsson	7
10	Tommy Johansson	7
11	Pierre Brannefors	6
12	Åke Fridell	6
13	Gerd Carlsson	4
14	Lars Rosberg	4
15	Lillebror Johansson	3
16	Karl-Erik Claesson	1

Fourth round

Overseas Final

12 July 1981
White City Stadium, London
First 10 to Intercontinental final plus 1 reserve

Nordic Final

2 June 1981
Norrköping Motorstadion, Norrköping
First 6 to Intercontinental final plus 1 reserve

Pos.

Rider

Heat Scores

Total

Fifth round

Continental Final

25 July 1981
Marketa Stadium, Prague
First 5 to World final plus 1 reserve

Pos.

Rider

Heat Scores

Total

Intercontinental Final

25 July 1981
Vojens Speedway Center, Vojens
First 11 to World final plus 1 reserve

World Final

5 September 1981
Wembley Stadium, London.
Referee: Sam Bass
Attendance: 92,500