1955 Individual Speedway World Championship

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The 1955 Individual Speedway World Championship was the tenth edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

In a very competitive World final Peter Craven of England finished one point ahead of three other riders who had to ride off for the silver medal. The defending champion Ronnie Moore won the ride off to claim silver from fellow countryman Barry Briggs and Welshman Eric Williams who both crashed leaving Moore an easy victory, Briggs took third place from Williams who missed out on a medal.[7]

Nordic Final[]

  • 8 June 1955
  • Norway Trondheim
  • First 6 to European final
Pos. Rider Points
1 Sweden Ove Fundin 14
2 Norway Henry Andersen 14
3 Norway Basse Hveem 12
4 Sweden Ulf Ericsson 10
5 Sweden 10
6 Sweden Kjell Carlsson 9
7 Sweden 9
8 Sweden Joel Jansson 8
9 Sweden 7
10 Sweden Bert Lindarw 7
11 Sweden 6
12 Sweden 5
13 Norway Reidar Kristoffersen 5
14 Sweden Göran Norlén 3
15 Finland 2
16 Finland 1

Continental Final[]

  • 13 June 1955
  • West Germany Abensberg
  • First 6 to European Final
Pos. Rider Points
1 Austria Fritz Dirtl 15
2 Austria Josef Kamper 12
3 Sweden 12
4 West Germany Josef Hofmeister 11
5 West Germany 11
6 Sweden Per Olof Söderman 10

Championship Round[]

Venues
7 events in Great Britain

Scores
First 12 to World final + 2 reserves

Pos. Rider Total pts
1 England Peter Craven 29
2 Australia Jack Young 29
3 New Zealand Barry Briggs 28
4 New Zealand Ron Johnston 26
5 New Zealand Ronnie Moore 26
6 England Arthur Wright 26
7 South Africa Doug Davies 26
8 England Cyril Roger 25
9 England Arthur Forrest 24
10 Australia Aub Lawson 24
11 England Phil Clarke 24
12 England Brian Crutcher 23
13 Wales Eric Williams 23
14 England Billy Bales 23
15 England Gerry Hussey 22
16 Scotland Ken McKinlay 22
17 Wales Freddie Williams 21
18 England Alf Hagon 19
19 England Ken Middleditch 19
20 England Ron Mountford 18
21 Australia Jack Geran 18
22 Australia Jack Biggs 17
23 England Alan Hunt 17
24 England 17
25 Australia Peter Moore 15
26 England Ron How 14
27 England Harry Bastable 14
28 New Zealand 14
Pos. Rider Total pts
29 England Tommy Price 14
30 England 14
31 England Dick Bradley 12
32 England 11
33 Wales Ian Williams 11
34 England Split Waterman 11
35 New Zealand Bob Duckworth 11
36 England 10
37 England Reg Reeves 10
38 Australia 10
39 England 9
40 England Fred Brand 9
41 Australia Neil Street 9
42 England 8
43 Australia 8
44 England 7
45 Scotland 7
46 England Bob Roger 6
47 New Zealand 6
48 England Jimmy Gooch 5
49 England Bill Holden 5
50 England Eric French 4
51 England Ron Clarke 3
52 England 3
53 England Ken Sharples 1
54 Australia 1
55 England Eddie Rigg 0
56 England Jim Lightfoot 0

European Final[]

  • 4 July 1955
  • Norway Oslo
  • First 4 to World final[8]
Pos. Rider Total Notes
1 Norway Henry Andersen 14 Qualified for World final
2 Sweden Olle Nygren 12 Qualified for World final
3 Sweden Kjell Carlsson 11 Qualified for World final
4 Sweden Ove Fundin 11 Qualified for World final
5 Sweden Per Olof Söderman 11
6 Norway Basse Hveem 10
7 Austria Josef Kamper 9
8 Sweden Ulf Ericsson 8
9 Austria Fritz Dirtl 7
10 Sweden 7
11 Sweden 6
12 England Alf Hagon 5
13 Sweden Rune Sörmander 4
14 England Cyril Maidment 3
15 Austria 2
16 West Germany Josef Hofmeister 0
17 Norway Reidar Kristoffersen 0

World final[]

Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total
1 England Peter Craven (3,3,2,3,2) 13
2 New Zealand Ronnie Moore (3,1,3,2,3) 12+3
3 New Zealand Barry Briggs (3,2,3,2,2) 12+2
4 Wales Eric Williams (3,1,2,3,3) 12+1
5 England Brian Crutcher (2,2,3,Fx,3) 10
6 Sweden Ove Fundin (2,1,1,3,3) 10
7 Australia Jack Young (1,3,1,3,2) 10
8 Sweden Olle Nygren (0,3,2,2,2) 9
9 England Arthur Forrest (0,2,3,1,1) 7
10 England Arthur Wright (1,3,0,1,1) 6
11 England Billy Bales (2,0,1,2,1) 6
12 New Zealand Ron Johnston (1,1,2,1,1) 6
13 Sweden Kjell Carlsson (0,2,0,1,0) 3
14 England Phil Clarke (2,0,0,0,0) 2
15 Norway Henry Andersen (1,0,1,0,0) 2
16 England Cyril Roger (0,0,0,0,Fx) 0
R1 England Gerry Hussey did not ride -
R2 Scotland Ken McKinlay did not ride -
  • Note - Aub Lawson withdrew injured, Doug Davies withdrew with meningitis,

Classification[]

Placing Rider Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts Pos
1 England (8) Peter Craven 13 3 3 2 3 2 13 1
2 New Zealand (2) Ronnie Moore 12+3 3 1 3 2 3 12 2
3 New Zealand (14) Barry Briggs 12+2 3 2 3 2 2 12 3
4 Wales (12) Eric Williams 12+1 3 1 2 3 3 12 4
5 England (1) Brian Crutcher 10 2 2 3 - 3 4 5
6 Sweden (5) Ove Fundin 10 2 1 1 3 3 10 6
7 Australia (9) Jack Young 10 1 3 1 3 2 10 7
8 Sweden (6) Olle Nygren 9 0 3 2 2 2 9 8
9 England (4) Arthur Forrest 7 0 2 3 1 1 7 9
10 England (3) Arthur Wright 6 1 3 0 1 1 6 10
11 England (10) Billy Bales 6 2 0 1 2 1 6 11
12 New Zealand (7) Ron Johnston 6 1 1 2 1 1 6 12
13 Sweden (11) Kjell Carlsson 3 0 2 0 1 0 3 13
14 England (13) Phil Clarke 2 2 0 0 0 0 2 14
15 Norway (16) Henry Andersen 2 1 0 1 0 0 2 15
16 England (15) Cyril Roger 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 16
England (17) Gerry Hussey 0 0
Scotland (18) Ken McKinlay 0 0
Placing Rider Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts Pos

m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fell • ns - non-starter • nc - non-classify

gate A - inside gate B gate C gate D - outside

References[]

  1. ^ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 20–21. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  2. ^ "World Championship 1936-1994". Edinburgh Speedway. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  3. ^ "WORLD FINALS 1936-1994" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  4. ^ "HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK". Speedway.org. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  5. ^ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  6. ^ "WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX". British Speedway. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
  7. ^ "Craven Wins Speedway's World Title". Bradford Observer. 16 September 1955. Retrieved 5 July 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ^ "1955". Speedway.org. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  9. ^ Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-2402-5
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