1976 Individual Speedway World Championship

The 1976 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 31st edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]

England's Peter Collins became the first British World Speedway Champion since Peter Craven had won in 1962. Fellow Englishman Malcolm Simmons finished second with Australia's Phil Crump finishing third. 1976 was the first time since 1952 that no rider from either New Zealand or Sweden finished on the podium in the World Final.^[7]

British Qualification[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Preliminary Round
3 April	Berwick	Taffy Owen	Tom Owen
10 April	Canterbury	Reg Luckhurst
11 April	Mildenhall	Kevin Jolly		Laurie Etheridge
13 April	Weymouth			Barney Kennett
22 April	Sheffield	Trevor Geer	Alan Grahame
23 April	Wolverhampton	Alan Molyneux	Brian Havelock
24 April	Swindon	Dave Perks	Steve Bastable	Tom Owen
24 April	Cradley Heath			Mick Bell
Quarter-Finals
3 May	Birmingham	Peter Collins	Chris Pusey	Alan Molyneux
5 May	Poole	Dave Jessup	Dave Morton	Arthur Price
8 May	Belle Vue	Alan Grahame	John Davis	Michael Lee
8 May	King's Lynn	Malcolm Simmons	Chris Morton	Doug Wyer
Semi-Finals
18 May	Leicester	Malcolm Simmons	Bob Kilby	John Louis
19 May	White City	Peter Collins	Jim McMillan	Doug Wyer
Final
June 2	Coventry	Malcolm Simmons	Chris Morton	Doug Wyer	result

British Final[]

June 2, 1976
GBR Coventry, Brandon Stadium
First 5 to Intercontinental 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
	(9) Malcolm Simmons	15			3		3						3					3		3			15	1
	(3) Chris Morton	13	2						3				2				3				3		13	2
	(6) Doug Wyer	13		3				3			3							2			2		13	3
4	(12) Peter Collins	12			2					3		3			3						1		12	4
5	(5) John Louis	11		2			2					2					2					3	11	5
6	(7) Dave Jessup	10		1					2					3	2					2			10	6
7	(2) Jim McMillan	8	3					1				1				3				0			8	7
8	(15) Terry Betts	7				3			1			0						0	3				7	8
9	(13) Ray Wilson	5				2	1							0		2					0		5	9
10	(11) Bob Kilby	5			1				0		2					1						1	5	10
11	(16) John Davis	5				0				2	1						1			1			5	11
12	(10) Dave Morton	4			0			2						2			0		0				4	12
13	(14) George Hunter	4				1		0					0		1							2	4	13
14	(1) Mike Lanham	3	1				0				0				0				2				3	14
15	(4) Reg Wilson	3	0							1				1				1				0	3	15
16	(8) Chris Pusey	2		0						0			1			0			1				2	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

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

Swedish Qualification[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Semi-Finals
6 May	Kumla	Bernt Persson	Tommy Nilsson	Sören Sjösten
9 May	Malilla		Bo Wirebrand
9 May	Lindesberg	Tommy Jansson	Hasse Holmqvist	Christer Sjösten
Final
20 May	Stockholm	Abandoned after the fatal crash of Tommy Jansson
25 May	Linköping	Bernt Persson	Anders Michanek	Sören Karlsson

Swedish Final[]

May 25, 1976
SWE Linköping
First 8 to Nordic 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
1	(9) Bernt Persson	14			3		3						2					3		3			14	1
2	(14) Anders Michanek	11				X		3					3		3							2	11	2
3	(2) Sören Karlsson	11	3					2				3				2				1			11	3
4	(3) Bengt Jansson	11	2						3				1				3				2		11	4
5	(10) Jan Simensen	10			2			0						3			2		3				10	5
6	(16) Tommy Nilsson	10				3				1	3						1			2			10	6
7	(13) Sören Sjösten	10				2	1							1		3					3		10	7
8	(4) Christer Sjösten	8	F							3				2				0				3	8	8
9	(5)	8		3			2					2					0					1	8	9
10	(6)	6		2				1			2							1			0		6	10
11	(1)	6	1				0				1				2				2				6	11
12	(15) Richard Hellsen	5				0			1			1						2	1				5	12
13	(8)	2		0						2			0			0			0				2	13
14	(7)	1		1					-					0	-					0			1	14
15	(11) Bo Wirebrand	1			1				-		0					-						-	1	15
16	(12)	1			0					0		0			0						1		1	16
	(17) Bengt Larsson	1							0							1							1
	(18) Gunnar Malmqvist	3							2						1							0	3
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

New Zealand Qualification[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
South Island Final
6 December, '75	Invercargill	Larry Ross	Graeme Stapleton
North Island Final
10 January	Palmerston North			Roy Trigg
New Zealand Final
14 February	Christchurch	Ivan Mauger	Barry Briggs	Larry Ross

Australian Qualification[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
New South Wales Round
22 November '75	Liverpool	Billy Sanders	Phil Herne	Mitch Shirra
28 November '75	Newcastle	Phil Herne		Mitch Shirra
29 November '75	Sydney	Mitch Shirra	Phil Herne	Billy Sanders
Queensland Qualification
6 December '75	Brisbane	Mike Farrell
Southern Territory Qualification
9 January	Adelaide	John Boulger
Victoria Qualification
17 January	Melbourne
Northern District
23 January	Adelaide	Phil Crump	John Boulger
31 January	Sydney	Billy Sanders	Mike Farrell
7 February	Brisbane	Mike Farrell	John Titman	Garry Middleton
Southern Zone Final
13 February		Phil Crump		Phil Herne

Australian Final[]

February 13, 1976
Adelaide
First 8 to Austral-Asian Final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Phil Crump	15
2		13
3	Phil Herne	12
4	John Boulger	12
5	Mitch Shirra	10
6	John Titman	9
7		9
8	Billy Sanders	8
9		8
10	Mike Farrell	6
11		5
12		4
13		3
14		3
15		2
16	Dene Davies	1
17		0

Intercontinental Round[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Australasian Final
21 February		John Boulger	Billy Sanders	Phil Crump
Norwegian Final
25 April	Skien	Reidar Eide	Dag Lovaas	Edgar Stangeland
Danish Final
25 April	Vojens	Finn Thomsen	Kurt Bøgh	Jan Henningsen
Nordic Final
2 June	Norrköping	Ole Olsen	Anders Michanek	Bengt Jansson
American Final
? June	Santa Monica	Scott Autrey
Intercontinental Final
26 June	Wembley	Peter Collins	Ivan Mauger	Phil Crump

Australasian Final[]

February 21, 1976
Auckland
First 4 to Intercontinental Final

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	John Boulger	3,3,2,3,3	14
2	Billy Sanders	2,3,3,3,2	13
3	Phil Crump	3,3,3,X,3	12
4	Ivan Mauger	3,2,X,3,3	11+3
5	Phil Herne	3,2,1,2,3	11+2
6	Mitch Shirra	2,3,2,3,1	11+1
7	Barry Briggs	X,1,3,2,2	8
8	John Titman	X,2,2,2,2	8
9		1,1,3,0,1	6
10		2,2,1,0,0	5
11		1,E,1,2,1	5
12		X,1,2,1,0	4
13	Larry Ross	2,1,0,1,E	4
14	Graeme Stapleton	0,0,E,1,2	3
15	Roy Trigg	1,0,0,0,1	2
16		0,0,1,0,0	1
R1			1
R2			1

Norwegian Final[]

April 25, 1976
Skien
First 3 to Nordic Final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Reidar Eide	15
2	Dag Lovaas	14
3		13
4	Audun Ove Olsen	11
5	Øyvind S. Berg	11
6	Jan Terje Gravningen	10
7	Kjell Gimre	9
8		9
9		6
10	Tom Godal	5
11		4
12		4
13		3
14		2
15		2
16		1

Danish Final[]

April 25, 1976
Vojens

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Finn Thomsen	15
2	Kurt Bøgh	12+3
3	Jan Henningsen	12+2
4		12+1
5	Finn Rune Jensen	11
6		10
7	Bent Nørregaard-Jensen	10
8	Mike Lohmann	8
9	Kristian Præstbro	8
10		4
11		4
12	Ernst Bøgh	4
13		3
14	Godtfred Andreasen	3
15		2
16		2

Nordic Final[]

June 2, 1976
SWE Norrköping

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
	(4) Ole Olsen	14	3							3				3				3				2	14	1
	(14) Anders Michanek	13				3		3					3		3							1	13	2
	(10) Bengt Jansson	12			3			2						1			3		3				12	3
4	(12) Dag Lovaas	11			2					2		3			1						3		11	4
5	(7) Bernt Persson	10		3					0					2	2					3			10	5
6	(5) Sören Sjösten	10		2			1					2					2					3	10	6
7	(6) Sören Karlsson	8		1				0			3							2			2		8	7	3
8	(13) Edgar Stangeland	8				2	3							0		2					1		8	8	2
9	(2) Ila Teromaa	8	2					1				0				3				2			8	9	1
10	(3) Finn Thomsen	6	0						3				2				1				0		6	10
11	(1) Reidar Eide	6	1				2				2				0				1				6	11
12	(15) Tommy Nilsson	5				0			2			1						0	2				5	12
13	(11) Markku Helminen	4			1				1		1					1						0	4	13
14	(9)	2			0		0						0					1		1			2	14
15	(8) Jan Simensen	1		0						1			-			0			0				1	15
16	(16) Christer Sjösten	1				1				0	0						0			0			1	16
R1	(R1) Lars-Åke Andersson	1											1										1	R1
R2	(R2) Thomas Pettersson	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

American Final[]

, 1976
Santa Monica
First to Interconinental Final

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Scott Autrey
2
3

Intercontinental Final[]

June 26, 1976
GBR London, Wembley Stadium
First 8 to World 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
1	(11) Peter Collins	12+3			0				3		3					3						3	12	1
2	(9) Ivan Mauger	12+2			1		3						2					3		3			12	2
3	(1) Phil Crump	11+3	3				1				2				2				3				11	3
4	(7) Malcolm Simmons	11+2		3					0					3	3					2			11	4
5	(8) Chris Morton	10		2						2			3			1			2				10	5
6	(5) Doug Wyer	10		1			2					3					2					2	10	6
7	(10) Scott Autrey	9			2			2						1			3		1				9	7
8	(6) John Louis	8+3		0				3			0							2			3		8	8
9	(16) Anders Michanek	8+2				3				3	1						0			1			8	9
10	(12) John Boulger	7			3					1		2			1						T		7	10
11	(3) Billy Sanders	7	2						2				1				1				1		7	11
12	(13) Ole Olsen	6				X	E							2		2					2		6	12
13	(15) Bengt Jansson	4				2			1			1						X	0				4	13
14	(4) Bernt Persson	3	1							0				0				1				1	3	14
15	(2) Dag Lovaas	1	0					1				0				0				0			1	15
16	(14) Sören Sjösten	1				1		0					E		-							-	1	16
	(17) Trevor Geer	0													0							0	0
	(18) Barry Thomas	0																			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

Continental Round[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Preliminary Round
25 April	Lonigo	Hans Wassermann
25 April	Wiener Neustadt	Georg Gilgenreiner	Alois Wiesböck
Quarter-Finals
15 May	Ostrava	Mikhail Starostin	Vladimir Gordeev	Viktor Trofimov
15 May	Prelog	Giuseppe Marzotto	Viktor Kuznetsov
16 May	Pocking	Egon Müller	Christoph Betzl	Valery Gordeev
16 May	Debrecen			Václav Verner
Semi-Finals
30 May	Gdańsk	Viktor Kuznetsov	Giuseppe Marzotto	Vladimir Gordeev
30 May	Krumbach	Egon Müller	Valery Gordeev	Christoph Betzl
Final
June 20	Leningrad	Egon Müller	Jiří Štancl	Valery Gordeev

Continental Final[]

June 20, 1976
Soviet Union Leningrad

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
	(6) Egon Müller	9		3				3			3												9	1
	(4) Jiří Štancl	8	3							3				2									8	2
	(9) Valery Gordeev	7			1		3						3										7	3
4	(7) Vladimir Gordeev	7		1					3					3									7	4
5	(11) Grigory Khlinovsky	6			2				2		2												6	5
6	(14)	6				3		1					2										6	6
7	(12) Jan Hadek	6			3					1		2											6	7
8	(15) Viktor Kuznetsov	4				0			1			3											4	8
9	(13)	4				2	2							0									4	9
10	(5) Vladimir Smirnov	4		2			1					1											4	10
11	(16) Viktor Trofimov	4				1				2	1												4	11
12	(10) Giuseppe Marzotto	3			0			2						1									3	12
13	(2) Hans Wassermann	2	2					0				0											2	13
14	(8) Christoph Betzl	1		0						0			1										1	14
15	(3)	1	1						0				0										1	15
16	(1) Mikhail Starostin	0	0				0				0												0	16
R1	(R1)	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2)	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

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[]

September 5, 1976
POL Chorzów, Silesian Stadium

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
	(11) Peter Collins	14			3				3		3					3						2	14	1
	(15) Malcolm Simmons	13				2			2			3						3	3				13	2
	(13) Phil Crump	12				3	3							2		1					3		12	3
4	(5) Ivan Mauger	11		3			E					2					3					3	11	4
5	(9) Zenon Plech	11			1		2						3					2		3			11	5
6	(7) John Louis	9		2					1					1	3					2			9	6
7	(10) Doug Wyer	8			0			3						3			1		1				8	7
8	(1) Egon Müller	8	3				1				2				2				F				8	8
9	(2) Scott Autrey	7	2					2				1				2				0			7	9
10	(12) Jiří Štancl	6			2					2		0			1						1		6	10
11	(16) Chris Morton	6				1				1	1						2			1			6	11
12	(6) Edward Jancarz	5		1				1			0							1			2		5	12
13	(4) Marek Cieślak	4	0							3				0				E				1	4	13
14	(3) Jerzy Rembas	3	1						0				2				0				0		3	14
15	(8) Valery Gordeev	1		0						0			1			0			X				1	15
16	(14) Vladimir Gordeev	0				0		0					0		0							0	0	16
R1	(R1) Anders Michanek	2																	2				2	R1
R2	(R2) Grigory Khlinovsky	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

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 10 July 2021.
^ "WORLD FINALS 1936-1994" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
^ "HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK". Speedway.org. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
^ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
^ "WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX". British Speedway. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
^ 1976 Individual Speedway World Championship

[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 10 July 2021.

[3] "WORLD FINALS 1936-1994" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 10 July 2021.

[4] "HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK". Speedway.org. Retrieved 10 July 2021.

[5] "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 10 July 2021.

[6] "WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX". British Speedway. Retrieved 10 July 2021.

[7] 1976 Individual Speedway World Championship

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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