1961 Individual Speedway World Championship

The 1961 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 16th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]

The final was held outside of Wembley and England for the first time when on the 15 September Ove Fundin retained his title in his home country of Sweden. It was the first time a rider had won three titles and Sweden produced a clean sweep of podium places with Björn Knutsson and Göte Nordin finishing second and third.^[7]

First Round[]

British & Commonwealth Qualifying - 32 riders to British & Commonwealth semi finals
Scandinavian Qualifying - 16 to Nordic Final
Continental Qualifying - 16 to Continental Final

British & Commonwealth Qualifying[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Preliminary Round
22 May	Exeter		Jim Lightfoot
24 May	Poole			Ken Middleditch
25 May	Middlesbrough		Peter Vandenberg	Geoff Mudge
26 May	Wolverhampton	Graham Warren
26 May	Rayleigh
26 May	Plymouth	Jack Scott		Chris Julian
27 May	Edinburgh	Jim Lightfoot
27 May	Cradley Heath	Harry Bastable	Ivor Brown	Peter Vandenberg
1 June	Sheffield			George Hunter
3 June	Stoke
Round 1
3 July	Wimbledon	Ronnie Moore	Ron How
4 July	Southampton	Peter Craven	Barry Briggs	Ray Cresp
5 July	New Cross	Bob Andrews	Split Waterman	Ken McKinlay
6 July	Oxford	Jack Young	Ronnie Genz	Mike Broadbanks
6 July	Ipswich	Peter Moore		Ray Cresp
7 July	Leicester	Ronnie Moore	Ken McKinlay	Danny Dunton
8 July	Swindon	Cyril Maidment	Tadeusz Teodorowicz	Neil Street
8 July	Coventry	Peter Moore	Bob Duckworth	Bob Andrews
8 July	Norwich	Billy Bales	Mike Broadbanks	Split Waterman
8 July	Belle Vue	Peter Craven		Eric Williams

Scandinavian Qualifying[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Qualifications
30 April	Vetlanda	?	?	?
1 May	Visby	?	?	?
4 May	Göteborg	?	?	?
26 May	Oslo	Ove Fundin	Björn Knutsson	Aage Hansen
28 May	Helsinki	Per Tage Svensson	Rune Sörmander	Arne Pander

Continental Qualifying[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Quarter-Finals
28 May	Poznan	Bohumír Bartoněk	Bedřich Slaný	Stanisław Tkocz
28 May	Liberec		Farid Szajnurov	Igor Plekhanov
28 May	Krsko	Konstanty Pociejkewicz		Henryk Żyto
28 May	Abensberg	Josef Hofmeister	Marian Kaiser	Antonín Kasper Sr.
Semi-Finals
17 June	Linz	Josef Hofmeister	Antonín Kasper Sr.	Marian Kaiser
18 June	Warsaw	Stanisław Tkocz	Mieczysław Połukard	Florian Kapała

Second Round[]

British & Commonwealth semi finals - 16 to British & Commonwealth final
Scandinavian Final - 8 to European Final
Continental Final - 8 to European Final

British & Commonwealth Semi finals[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Semi-Finals
31 July	Wimbledon	Ronnie Moore	Barry Briggs	Bob Andrews
1 August	Southampton	Ron How	Peter Craven	Cyril Maidment
5 August	Belle Vue	Ronnie Moore	Doug Davies	Nigel Boocock
5 August	Norwich	Barry Briggs	Peter Craven	Billy Bales

Nordic Final[]

11 June 1961
Gislaved
First 8 to European Final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Ove Fundin	14
2	Arne Pander	13
3	Björn Knutsson	13
4	Per Tage Svensson	12
5		10
6	Göte Nordin	10
7	Leif Larsson	8
8	Rune Sörmander	8
9	Göran Norlén	7
10	Arne Carlsson	7
11	Soren Sjosten	6
12	Joel Jansson	5
13	Bernt Nilsson	3
14	Timo Laine	2
15	Rolf Westerberg	1
16		2
R1	Aage Hansen	dnr
R1		dnr

Continental Final[]

23 July 1961
Slany
First 8 to European Final

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	21
	(2) Florian Kapała	14	3					3				3				2				3			14	1
	(1) Igor Plekhanov	14	2				3				3				3				3				14	2
	(6) Stanisław Tkocz	12		2				2			2							3			3		12	3
4	(8) Henryk Żyto	10		3						1			3			1			2				10	4
5	(7) Josef Hofmeister	9		1					3					3	0					2			9	5
6	(12) Konstanty Pociejkewicz	9			2					2		1			2						2		9	6
7	(4)	8	1							X				2				2				3	8	7
8	(15) Marian Kaiser	7				3			2			2						X	-				7	8
9	(11) Mieczysław Połukard	7			X				1		1					3						2	7	9
10	(14) Joachim Maj	7				2		1					2		1							1	7	10
11	(16) Antonín Kasper Sr.	7				1				3	0						2			1			7	11
12	(10) Bedřich Slaný	6			3			0						1			1		1				6	12
13	(9)	5			1		2						1					1		0			5	13
14	(3)	3	0						0				0				3				0		3	14
15	(13) Bohumír Bartoněk	1				X	0							0		E					1		1	15
16	(5)	1		0			1					E					0					0	1	16
R1	(R1)	0																					0	R1
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	21

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

Third Round[]

British & Commonwealth Final - 8 to World Final
European Final - 8 to World Final

European Final[]

26 August 1961
Wieden
First 8 to World Final plus 1 reserve

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	21
	(8) Ove Fundin	15		3						3			3			3			3				15	1
	(11) Björn Knutsson	14			3				3		3					2						3	14	2
	(3) Igor Plekhanov	11	3						2				1				3				2		11	3
4	(4) Rune Sörmander	10	2							1				3				3				1	10	4
5	(6) Florian Kapała	10		2				3			2							2			1		10	5
6	(12) Stanisław Tkocz	10			1					0		3			3						3		10	6
7	(15) Göte Nordin	9				3			1			2						1	2				9	7
8	(16) Josef Hofmeister	9				2				2	1						1			3			9	8
9	(5) Leif Larsson	8		1			2					1					2					2	8	9
10	(9) Henryk Żyto	7			2		3						2					F		-			7	10
11	(2)	6	1					2				0				1				2			6	11
12	(10) Per Tage Svensson	3			0			1						2			0		0				3	12
13	(14) Göran Norlén	2				0		0					0		2							0	2	13
14	(7) Mieczysław Połukard	1		0					0					1	-					-			1	14
15	(13) Marian Kaiser	1				1	F							E		E					0		1	15
16	(1)	0	NS				NS				NS				NS				NS				0	16
R1	(R1) Josef Bössner	3					1								1					1			3	R1
R2	(R2)	0	0																				0	R2
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	21

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

British Final[]

2 September 1961
Wembley
First 8 to World final plus 1 reserve

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	21
	(7) Barry Briggs	15		3					3					3	3					3			15	1
	(3) Peter Craven	14	3						2				3				3				3		14	2
	(12) Ronnie Moore	12			3					3		3			2						1		12	3
4	(5) Ken McKinlay	9		0			3					2					1					3	9	4
5	(1) Ron How	9	2				2				2				0				3				9	5
6	(4) Bob Andrews	9	1							2				2				3				1	9	6
7	(16) Ray Cresp	8				1				1	3						2			1			8	7
8	(15) Mike Broadbanks	7				3			1			1						0	2				7	8
9	(14) Cyril Maidment	7				2		3					1		1							0	7	9
10	(9) Ronnie Genz	7			1		1						2					1		2			7	10
11	(6) Jack Young	7		1				1			1							2			2		7	11
12	(11) Doug Davies	5			0				0		0					3						2	5	12
13	(8) Neil Street	5		2						0			0			2			1				5	13
14	(2) Peter Moore	3	0					2				1				0				0			3	14
15	(10) Jack Scott	2			2			0						0			0		0				2	15
16	(13) Nigel Boocock	1				0	0							1		0					0		1	16
R1	(R1) Chum Taylor	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2) Split Waterman	0																					0	R2
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	21

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

World Final[]

15 September 1961
Malmö, Malmö Stadion^[8]

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	21
	(6) Ove Fundin	14		3				3			3							3			2		14	1
	(4) Björn Knutsson	12	3							3				3				F				3	12	2	3
	(13) Göte Nordin	12				2	2							2		3					3		12	3	2
4	(15) Barry Briggs	12				1			3			3						2	3				12	4	1
5	(2) Bob Andrews	10	2					2				2				1				3			10	5
6	(16) Ronnie Moore	10				3				1	2						2			2			10	6
7	(3) Florian Kapała	8	0						2				2				3				1		8	7
8	(7) Rune Sörmander	7		2					1					0	3					1			7	8
9	(9) Ron How	7			2		3						1					1		0			7	9
10	(8) Peter Craven	6		F						2			3			0			1				6	10
11	(10) Ken McKinlay	5			3			F						1			1		E				5	11
12	(12) Cyril Maidment	4			1					0		1			2						0		4	12
13	(1) Igor Plekhanov	4	1				0				1				0				2				4	13
14	(5) Ray Cresp	3		F			1					0					F					2	3	14
15	(11) Stanisław Tkocz	3			0				0		0					2						1	3	15
16	(14) Mike Broadbank	2				0		1					0		1							0	2	16
R1	(R1) Jack Young	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2) Leif Larsson	0																					0	R2
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	21

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[]

^ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 20–21. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
^ "World Championship 1936-1994". Edinburgh Speedway. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
^ "WORLD FINALS 1936-1994" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
^ "HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK". Speedway.org. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
^ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
^ "WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX". British Speedway. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
^ "Ove Fundin Retains Speedway Title". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 16 September 1961. Retrieved 7 July 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.
^ Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-2402-5

[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 7 July 2021.

[3] "WORLD FINALS 1936-1994" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 7 July 2021.

[4] "HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK". Speedway.org. Retrieved 7 July 2021.

[5] "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 7 July 2021.

[6] "WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX". British Speedway. Retrieved 7 July 2021.

[7] "Ove Fundin Retains Speedway Title". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 16 September 1961. Retrieved 7 July 2021 – via British Newspaper Archive.

[8] Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-2402-5

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v t Individual Speedway World Championship and Speedway Grand Prix seasons
Speedway World Championship	1936 1937 1938 1939 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994
Speedway Grand Prix (SGP)	1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
See also	Medalists Medal Classification Grands Prix SGP riders Super Prix SGP Statistics