1989 Individual Speedway World Championship

The 1989 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 44th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider. It was the second time the championship was held in West Germany after previously being held in Norden in 1983.
The World Final was held at the Olympic Stadium in Munich. Hans Nielsen made up for his 1988 run-off defeat to Erik Gundersen by scoring a 15-point maximum to take his third World Championship. Nielsen joined fellow Danes Ole Olsen and Erik Gundersen as a three time speedway world champion.
Simon Wigg from England finished second with the slick, track suiting his long track style. Wigg defeated fellow Englishman Jeremy Doncaster in a run-off for second and third places. In what would prove to be his last World Final before his career ending crash in the World Team Cup Final at the Odsal Stadium in England just two weeks later, Erik Gundersen finished in fourth place. His chances of an outright second-place finish ended when his bike's engine seized while leading heat 9 causing him to not finish the race. In a sad twist, it was also seized engine in Heat 1 of the World Team Cup Final that would cause Gundersen's career ending crash.
Australian rider Troy Butler had a lucky passage to the World Final. After being seeded to the Commonwealth Final, he finished eighth to qualify for the Overseas Final. He then finished tenth in the Overseas Final to be the first reserve for the Intercontinental Final. He then got a start in the Intercontinental Final at Bradford when Overseas champion Sam Ermolenko injured his back in a horrific Long track motorcycle racing crash and was forced to withdraw. Butler would finish twelfth in the IC Final to become a reserve for the World Final where he once again came in as an injury replacement when Dane Jan O. Pedersen was forced to pull out. The 1986 Australian Champion ultimately finished twelfth in Munich, finishing with 4 points from his 5 rides.

First round

British qualification

Top 32 riders to British semi-finals

Date	Venue	Winner	2nd	3rd
8 April	Arena Essex Raceway, Purfleet	Andy Buck	Martin Goodwin	Neville Tatum
8 April	Loomer Road Stadium, Chesterton	Louis Carr	Nigel Crabtree	Graham Jones
13 April	Cleveland Park Stadium, Middlesbrough	Les Collins	Sean Wilson	Mark Courtney

Second Round

Austrian Final

Riders progress to Continental qualification 1989
3 rounds

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Heinrich Schatzer	40
2	Walter Nebel	36
3	Robert Funk	35
4	Andreas Bossner	33
5	Thomas Stadler	33
6	Toni Pilotto	32
7	Siegfried Eder	31
8	Christian Hochtl	21
9	Anton Wannasek	7
10	Manfred Trisko	6
11	Paul Ager	4
12	Josef Faching	2
13	Thaddaus Walach	2
14	Hans Kogler	2
15	Erich Hackl	1
16	Rainer Selb	1
17	Franz Penz	0

West German Final

2 October 1988
Holsteinring, Brokstedt
Riders progress to Continental qualification 1989

Pos.	Rider	Scores	Total
1	Klaus Lausch	3,3,3,3,2	14+3
2	Tommy Dunker	3,3,2,3,3	14+2
3	Karl Maier	2,2,3,3,2	12
4	Gerd Riss	E,3,3,2,3	11
5	Carsten Pelzmann	3,2,2,2,1	10
6	Andre Pollehn	2,1,2,2,1	8
7	Klaus Freundorfer	1,3,3,F,-	7
8	Peter Schrock	0,2,0,2,3	7
9	Peter Hehlert	3,0,1,1,2	7
10	Andreas Rahn	1,0,1,1,3	6
11	Andreas Marynowski	1,2,2,F,-	5
12	Andreas Schapfl	2,1,1,E,0	4
13	Hans Faltermeier	2,0,0,F,1	3
14	Michael Domes	1,F,0,0,2	3
15	Alois Bachhuber	0,1,1,1,0	3
16	Egon Muller	F,-,-,-,-	0
R1	Bernhard Osterlocher	1,0,3,1,1	6

Hungarian Final

5 rounds, riders progress to Continental qualification 1989

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Zoltán Adorján	56
2	Antal Kocso	49
3	Róbert Nagy	47
4	Zoltan Hajdu	47
5	József Petrikovics	46
6	Sándor Tihanyi	45
7	Robert Csilik	38
8	Sandor Ujhelyi	30
9	Janoš Sereš	30
10	Janoš Bologh	28
11	Andraš Kovacs	26
12	Sandor Kabai	19
13	Atilla Kovacs	15
14	Laszlo Bodi	12

Yugoslavian Final

8 rounds, riders progress to Continental qualification 1989

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Zvonko Pavlič	110
2	Artur Horvat	96
3	Gregor Pintar	83
4	Franc Kalin	79
5	Kreso Omerzel	78
6	Martin Peterca	76
7	Darko Tominač	70
8	Zdravko Tominač	62
9	Andrej Matjašeč	57
10	Lazar Csaba	54
11	Goran Hoblaj	54
12	Igor Hauptman	33
13	Rudi Spitaler	27
14	Zelkjo Feher	23
15	Drago Dolinšek	22
16	Josip Lehki	10
17	Mitja Pungašič]	8
18	Niko Klavzar	6
19	Gorazd Vinšek	1

Czechoslovak Final

Riders progress to Continental qualification 1989
6 rounds

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Roman Matoušek	76
2	Antonín Kasper Jr.	72
3	Zdenek Schneiderwind	68
4	Lubomír Jedek	63
5	Petr Vandírek	54
6	Bohumil Brhel	53
7	Stanislav Urban	53
8	Pavel Karnas	39
9	Josef Fejfar	38
10	Jan Schinagl	35
11	Jan Holub II	26
12	Zdeněk Tesař	26
13	Bořivoj Hádek	25
14	Jiří Svoboda	23
15	Vladimír Kalina	21
16	Jindřich Dominik	16
17	Václav Milík, Sr.	10
18	Ladislav Hrádecký	10
19	Karel Průša	10

Soviet Union Final

2 October 1988
Rivne Speedway Stadium, Rivne
Rriders progress to Continental Qualification 1989

Pos.	Rider	Scores	Total
1	Vladimir Trofimov	3,3,3,3,3	15
2	Rif Saitgareev	3,3,3,2,3	14
3	Rinat Mardanshin	3,2,2,3,2	12
4	Mikhail Starostin	2,2,2,3,2	11
5	Pavel Chernov	2,1,3,2,2	10
6	Igor Dubinin	E,3,2,3,1	9
7	Flyur Kalimullin	3,0,0,1,3	7
8	Igor Zverev	1,E,3,2,1	7
9	Arkady Kononec	1,0,1,1,3	6
10	Andrej Korzhevoy	1,3,1,0,1	6
11	Oleg Volokhov	1,2,1,0,2	6
12	Valery Sokolov	2,2,F,1,1	6
13	Grigory Kharchenko	0,1,1,2,0	4
14	Aleksandr Pawlov	2,F,0,1,-	3
15	Fjodor Zakharov	0,T,2,0,-	2
16	Ruslan Koval	ns

Nederlands/Belgium Final

4 rounds, riders progress to Continental Qualification

Pos.	Rider	Scores	Total
1	Henk Steman	24+22+20+24	90
2	Rene Elzinga	21+21+24+23	89
3	Robert Jan Munnecom	19+24+23+22	88
4	Peter Seur	17+19+22+20	78
5	Ron Koppe	20+20+19+19	78
6	Rikus Gorter	18+14+17+21	70
7	Ron Van Dam	15+17+18+17	67
8	Rob Steman	22+18+21+ns	61
9	Fokke Van Der Walle	16+13+14+15	58
10	Henk Bangma	8+15+16+18	57
11	Patrick Pino	14+11+15+16	56
12	John Lispet	13+12+13+9	47
13	Henny Kroeze	23+23+ns+ns	46
14	Rias Kazemeier	9+10+11+10	40
15	Gerard Kok	10+ns+12+12	34
16	Harry Kuipers	6+8+8+11	33
17	Hilbert Tel	ns+7+10+13	30
18	Rene Van Merkenstein	7+9+9+2	27
19	Mans Kok	3+6+ns+7	16
20	Wil Stroes	ns+16+ns+ns	16
21	Jim Groen	ns+ns+7+8	15
22	Rob Dolman	ns+ns+ns+14	14
23	Jan Dijkema	12+ns+ns+ns	12
24	Chris Slager	11+ns+ns+ns	11
25	Roy Wervaard	5+5+ns+ns	10
26	Herman Hulseboch	ns+ns+5+4	9
27	Han Hendriks	4+4+ns+ns	8
28	Jan Tjassing	ns+ns+3+1	4
29	Martinus Bikema	+ns+ns+ns+6	6
30	Jacco Valentejn	+ns+ns+ns+5	5
31	Michel Bolt	ns+ns+ns+3	3

Australian qualification

+ Rode as a guest

Third round

Continental preliminary round

Riders progress to Continental quarter-finals

Date

Venue

Winner

2nd

3rd

22 April

Swedish qualification

Top 8 in each heat to Swedish final

British Final

21 May
Brandon Stadium, Coventry
First 10 to Commonwealth final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Points	Details
	Simon Wigg	14
	Kelvin Tatum	12+3
	Alan Grahame	12+2
4	Les Collins	11
5	Andy Phillips	10
6	Andy Grahame	7
7	Martin Dugard	7
8	Neil Collins	7
9	Andy Smith	7
10	Jeremy Doncaster	7
11	Neil Evitts	6
12	John Davis	5
13	Mark Courtney	5
14	Graham Jones	4
15	Andrew Silver	4
16	Marvyn Cox	2

Australian Final

15 January, Newcastle Motordrome
Winner to Commonwealth final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Glenn Doyle	13
2	Stephen Davies	12
3	Jamie Fagg	11
4	Mick Poole	11
5	Steve Regeling	11
6	Phil Crump	10
7	Craig Boyce	10
8	Troy Butler	7
9	Leigh Adams	6
10	Glyn Baxter	6
11	Craig Hodgson	6
12	Glyn Taylor	6
13	Chris Watson	5
14	Mark Fiora	3
15	Shane Parker	2
16	Tony Primmer	1
17	Brian Nixon	0

New Zealand Final

First 2 to Commonwealth final
28 January, Western Springs Stadium

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Larry Ross	15
2	Gary Allan	14
3	Mark Thorpe	12
4	Nathan Murray	12
5	Stephen Rose	10
6	Craig Wilkie	9
7	John Roberts	8
8	Justin Monk	7
9	Mark Jamieson	6
10	Greg Fisher	6
11	David Claydon	6
12	Rex Brosnan	5
13	Richard Davdison	3
14	Bradley Sockton	3
15	Darren Hopewell	2
16	Scott Mitchell	1
17	Geoff Tomkins	1

Fourth Round

Continental quarter-finals

To 32 to Continental semi-finals

Date

Venue

Winner

2nd

3rd

14 May

American Final

3 June, Top 4 to Overseas final plus 1 reserve
Veterans Memorial Stadium, Long Beach

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Sam Ermolenko	19+3
2	Shawn Moran	19+2
3	Ronnie Correy	19+1
4	Lance King	17
5	Rick Miller	16
6	Bobby Schwartz	14
7	Mike Faria	14
8	Gary Hicks	12
9	Bart Bast	12
10	Billy Hamill	10
11	Louis Kossuth	8
12	Greg Hancock	7
13	Ed Castro	7
14	Alan Christian	7
15	Steve Lucero	7
16	Brad Oxley	5
17	John Sizemore	3
18	Shawn Venables	1
19	Scotty Brown	1
20	John Kehoe	1

Commonwealth Final

4 June
Belle Vue Stadium, Manchester
First 12 to Overseas final plus 1 reserve

Pos.

Rider

Total

Swedish Final

R1
R2
R3
First 6 to Nordic Final

Pos.	Rider	Scores	Total
1	Per Jonsson	13+15+14	42
2	Mikael Blixt	13+13+11	37
3	Jan Andersson	11+12+11	34
4	Jimmy Nilsen	14+11+8	33
5	Erik Stenlund	9+10+13	32
6	Tony Olsson	11+8+11	30
7	Niklas Karlsson	7+8+9	24
8	Peter Karlsson	8+9+5	22
9	Christer Rohlén	6+6+8	20
10	Conny Ivarsson	8+4+7	19
11	Dennis Löfqvist	5+7+3	15
12	Mikael Teurnberg	1+4+10	15
13	Mikael Ritterwall	6+1+3	10
14	Peter Nahlin	4+6+ns	10
15	Tommy Nilsson	3+5+0	8
16	Kenneth Lindby	ns+ns+5	5
17	Tommy Lindgren	1+1+ns	2

Norway Final

Vinsvollbanen, Drammen
30 August 1987, top 1 to Nordic final 1988

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Lars Gunnestad	14+3
2	Tor Einar Hielm	14+2
3	Arnt Førland	11
4	Ingvar Skogland	10
5	Gjermund Aas	10
6	Willy Tjessem	8
7	Atle Knutsen	8
8	Arne Svendsen	8
9	Ronny Erga	6

Finland Final

28 August 1988, top 1 to Nordic Final 1989
Kotkan Motor Center, Karhula

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Kai Niemi	3,3,3,3,3	15
2	Ari Koponen	3,3,3,2,3	14
3	Vesa Ylinen	3,3,1,3,2	12+3
4	Petri Kokko	2,2,3,3,2	12+2
5	Aki Ala Riihimaki	2,3,3,2,1	11
6	Janne Moksunen	2,2,2,E,3	9
7	Jonko Jarvi	0,1,2,2,3	8
8	Roy Malminhelmo	3,2,2,X,1	8
9	Janne Koivula	1,1,1,1,2	6
10	Jari Moisio	2,0,0,3,F	5
11	Ossi Henriksson	1,1,2,1,0	5
12	Tomi Havu	0,F,0,2,2	4
13	Olli Turkia	1,2,0,1,-	4
14	Esa Reijo	1,1,1,E,1	4
15	Petri Hurmisniemi	0,0,1,0,-	1
16	Esa Einola	0,-,-,-,-	0
R1	Jarno Kosonen	1	1
R2	Jouni Ala Koskela	0	0
R3	Kaj Kujala	0,0,0	0
R4	Markku Haapala	X	0

Danish Final

19 May
Speedway Center, Vojens
First 6 to Nordic final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Erik Gundersen	14+3
2	Jan O. Pedersen	14+2
3	Brian Karger	14+1
4	Hans Nielsen	12
5	John Jørgensen	11
6	Peter Ravn	9
7	Allan Johansen	9
8	Ole Hansen	7+3
9	Kenneth Arnfred	7+2
10	Jan Stæchmann	6
11	Per Sorensen	5
12	John Eskildsen	3
13	Jan Jakobsen	3
14	Henrik Kristensen	3
15	Jens-Henry Nielsen	2
16	Jan Pedersen	1
17	Torben Hansen	0

Fifth Round

Nordic Final

4 June
Eteläpuisto, Tampere
First 7 to Intercontinental final plus 1 reserve

Pos.

Rider

Total

Overseas Final

25 June
Brandon Stadium, Coventry
First 9 to Intercontinental final plus 1 reserve

Pos.

Rider

Total

Sixth Round

Continental Final

12 August
Debrecen Speedway, Debrecen
First 5 to World final plus 1 reserve

Pos.

Rider

Total

Intercontinental Final

13 August
Odsal Stadium, Bradford
First 11 to World final plus 1 reserve

Pos.

Rider

Total

World Final

2 September 1989
Olympic Stadium, Munich
Referee: Henry van den Boomen

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Books 1 Wuthering Heights 118,587 2 Tales of Dunk and Egg 23,854 3 Project Hail Mary 12,936 4 Lord of the Flies 11,294 5 A Song of Ice and Fire 10,337 6 The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao 10,100 7 Nobody's Girl (memoir) 7,986 8 Hamlet 7,026 9 Frankenstein 6,782 10 Dungeon Crawler Carl 6,600 Films 1 Wuthering Heights (2026 film) 95,843 2 Marty Supreme 50,577 3 The Housemaid (2025 film) 49,096 4 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple 48,316 5 Dhurandhar 45,834 6 One Battle After Another 33,762 7 Goat (2026 film) 33,528 8 XXX (2002 film) 29,905 9 Psycho Killer (film) 29,842 10 Toy Story 5 27,866 Programming Languages 1 C (programming language) 3,639 2 Python (programming language) 3,490 3 C++ 1,676 4 JavaScript 1,631 5 Rust (programming language) 1,504 6 Go (programming language) 1,434 7 R (programming language) 1,421 8 Scratch (programming language) 1,374 9 Java (programming language) 1,333 10 Assembly language 899 TV Series 1 A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (TV series) 104,072 2 The Night Agent 73,897 3 Love Story (2026 TV series) 64,192 4 Famous Last Words (TV series) 64,170 5 America's Next Top Model 53,934 6 The Pitt 44,764 7 Heated Rivalry 36,398 8 Euphoria (American TV series) 33,909 9 How to Get to Heaven from Belfast 33,789 10 Grey's Anatomy 32,330 Video Games 1 Ecco the Dolphin (video game) 39,935 2 Wordle 26,024 3 Poppy Playtime 18,118 4 Resident Evil Requiem 15,300 5 Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen 13,433 6 Roblox 12,144 7 Minecraft 10,844 8 Grand Theft Auto V 9,575 9 Reanimal 9,006 10 Pokémon (video game series) 8,881 © 2026 OWIKI.org. Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Status: ONLINE Version: 1.05