1981 Individual Speedway World Championship


The 1981 Individual Speedway World Championship was 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 Motorcycle 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, Denmark's future triple World Champion Erik Gundersen set the 4 lap record of 66.8 seconds for the long track when he defeated eventual 3rd placed rider Tommy Knudsen, Jiří Štancl and Zenon Plech. As this was the final speedway meeting at Wembley it will forever be the track record.

New Zealand Qualification

New Zealand Final

Pos.RiderHeat ScoresTotal
1 Ivan Mauger3,3,3,3,315
2 Mitch Shirra3,3,3,3,214
3 Larry Ross3,3,2,2,313
4 Wayne Brown1,3,3,3,111
5 Mike Fullerton2,2,2,1,310
6 David Bargh3,2,1,2,210
7 Tony Briggs2,2,2,2,19
8 Greame Beardsley1,1,3,2,18
9 John Goodall0,1,1,3,38
10 Mark Dekok2,1,2,0,05
11 Gavin Rhodes2,1,1,1,05
12 Greg Joynt0,2,1,0,25
13 Max Brown1,0,0,0,23
14 Colin Farquharson0,0,0,1,12
15 Alan Crosbie0,0,0,1,01
16 Patrick Pawson1,0,0,0,-1
R1 Bruce Elvey00
R2 Kym Maugerns0

Australian Qualification

Australian Final

Pos.RiderHeat ScoresTotal
1 Billy Sanders14
2 Phil Crump12
3 John Titman10
4 Danny Kennedy10
5 Phil Herne9
6 Gary Guglielmi8
7 Steve Regeling8
8 Mick McKeon8
9 John Boulger7
10 Robert Maxfield7
11 Steve Koppe7
12 Neil Coddington7
13 Tim Nunan6
14 Bob Chitchcock3
15 Glenn McDonald2
16 Lou Sansom2
R1 Mark williams
R2 Dave Mills

British Qualification

British Final

Intercontinental Round

Australasian Final

Pos.RiderTotal
1 Ivan Mauger15
2 Danny Kennedy11+3
3 Larry Ross11+2
4 Phil Herne11+1
5 Billy Sanders10+3
6 Phil Crump10+2
7 Gary Guglielmi9
8 Mitch Shirra8
9 John Titman7
10 Mick McKeon7
11 Tony Briggs6
12 Wayne Brown5
13 David Bargh2
14 Steve Regeling2
15 Mike Fullerton1
16 Graeme Beardsley1
17 Robert Maxfield 1

Norwegian Final

Pos.RiderTotal
1 Rolf Gramstad15
2 Audun Ove Olsen13
3 Jorn Haufvalstad12
4 Trodd Skretting11
5 Dag Haaland10
6 Ingve Madland9
7 Terje Tollefsen7
8 Kurt Ueland7
9 Geir Aasland7
10 Roy Otto6
11 Asgeir Bjerga6
12 Dagfin Jorgensen5
13 Sigvart Pedersen5
14 Kjell Gimre5
15 Rolf Havirstad2
16 Oddmund Bye0

Danish Final

Pos.RiderTotal
1 Ole Olsen15
2 Bo Petersen13
3 Erik Gundersen12+3
4 Tommy Knudsen12+2
5 Hans Nielsen12+1
6 Jens Henry Nielsen8+3
7 Finn Thomsen8+2
8 Preben Eriksen8+1
9 Finn Rune Jensen7
10 Michael Lochmann7
11 Bent Rasmussen5
12 Steen Mastrup5
13 Hans Ove Christiansen4
14 Bent Juul Larsen3
15 Svend Lund0
16 Klaus Lohman0
R1 Finn Lundahl1

American Final

Pos.RiderHeat ScoresTotal
1 Tommy Knudsen3,3,3,3,315
2 Hans Nielsen2,3,3,2,313
3 Ole Olsen2,3,2,3,212
4 Preben Eriksen3,2,2,2,312
5 Jan Andersson3,2,1,3,211
6 Erik Gundersen2,1,3,3,110+3
7 Bo Petersen3,3,0,2,210+ns
8 Kai Niemi1,1,1,2,38
9 Ari KoponenE,0,2,1,25
10 Tommy Nilsson1,1,2,1,05
11 Hans Danielsson1,2,0,1,15
12 Audun Ove Olsen1,1,1,1,04
13 Rolf GramstadE,2,1,0,14
14 Bernt Persson0,F,3,0,-3
15 Anders Michanek2,0,-,-,-2
16 Pekka HautamäkiF,0,0,0,11
17 Finn Thomsen 0,00
18 Bo Wirebrand 0,00

Overseas Final

Continental Final

Pos.RiderHeat ScoresTotal
1 Egon Müller3,3,3,3,X12+2+3
2 Aleš Dryml Sr.3,0,3,3,312+3+2
3 Edward Jancarz3,2,2,2,312+2+1
4 Jiří Štancl2,3,2,3,212+2+0
5 Zenon Plech2,3,3,3,112+E+E
6 Henryk Olszak2,1,2,1,39+3
7 Jan Verner0,2,3,2,29+2
8 Marek Kepa3,1,1,2,18
9 Roman Jankowski1,3,1,1,06
10 Zdeněk Kudrna1,1,0,1,36
11 Milan Špinka0,2,2,2,-6
12 Petr Kucera2,0,X,1,25
13 Waldemar Bacik0,1,1,0,13
14 Marek Towalski0,2,0,0,02
15 Georg Hack1,X,F,0,-1
16 Valerij Gordeev1,0,0,0,01
R1 Petr Ondrašík0,22
R2 Antonín Kasper, Jr.11

World Final