1977 Individual Speedway World Championship

The 1977 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 32nd edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

History was made in the 1977 final when Ivan Mauger of New Zealand equalled Ove Fundin's title record of five World Championship wins. Mauger had gone close to equalling the record before and finally achieved it in Sweden, the home of Fundin.^[7] In a decisive 18th heat Mauger won from his nearest challenger Ole Olsen, when Olsen was forced to lay his bike down to avoid hitting John Boulger. The result was just one point for Olsen, a badly damaged Jawa bike and the end of his title hopes. Defending champion Peter Collins won his last ride to claim the silver medal but Olsen won the bronze medal run-off against young English rider Michael Lee.^[8]

Australian Qualification[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
New South Wales Round
27 November	Sydney		Billy Sanders	Mitch Shirra
Queensland Qualification
28 November	Bundaberg	John Titman
Victorian Qualification
8 January	Melbourne	Phil Crump
Southern Qualification
17 January	Adelaide	John Boulger
28 January	Adelaide	Phil Crump	John Boulger
New South Wales Qualification
11 February	Newcastle	Phil Crump	Phil Herne	Billy Sanders
West Australian Qualification
21 February	Perth	Glyn Taylor
Northern Zone Final
23 February	Brisbane		Steve Koppe	Mike Farrell

Australian Final[]

• February 25, 1977
• Newcastle
• First 8 to Australasian final

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

New Zealand Qualification[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
North Island Final
12 January	Auckland			Jack Millen
South Island Final
3 January	Christchurch		Larry Ross
New Zealand Semi-Final
20 January	Christchurch	Ivan Mauger	Larry Ross	Barry Briggs

New Zealand Final[]

• February 12, 1977
• Auckland
• First 8 to Australasian final

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Larry Ross	3,2,3,3,3	14
2	Ivan Mauger	X,3,3,3,3	12
3		2,3,2,2,3	12
4	Barry Briggs	1,1,3,3,3	11
5		3,3,1,3,1	11
6		1,3,2,2,2	10
7		2,2,3,2,1	10
8		3,1,2,1,2	9
9		3,0,1,2,2	8
10		2,1,0,1,1	5
11		1,0,2,0,1	4
12		0,2,1,1,F	4
13		0,F,X,1,2	3
14		2,F,0,-,-	2
15		0,1,0,0,0	1
16		0,-,0,0,0	0
R1		1,1,0	2
R2		2,0	2

Swedish Qualification[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Semi-Finals
6 May	Avesta	Sören Karlsson	Jan Andersson	Jan Simensen
7 May	Motala	Hasse Holmqvist	Richard Hellsen	Christer Sjösten
6 May	Vastervik	Bernt Persson	Soren Sjosten	Tommy Johansson
Final
24 May	Vetlanda	Anders Michanek	Bengt Jansson	Bernt Persson
25 May	Norrköping	Anders Michanek	Bernt Persson	Sören Karlsson
26 May	Eskilstuna	Anders Michanek	Bengt Jansson	Jan Andersson

Swedish Final[]

• June 24–26, 1977
• - 3 Rounds (Vetlanda, Norrköping & Eskilstuna)
• First 4 to World final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Anders Michanek	44
2	Bengt Jansson	38
3	Bernt Persson	32
4	Tommy Nilsson	30
5	Sören Karlsson	29
6	Jan Andersson	27
7	Rickard Hellsén	27
8	Christer Sjösten	24
9	Sören Sjösten	21
10	Tommy Johansson	19
11	Hasse Holmqvist	15
12	Jan Simensen	15
13		14
14		13
15	Börje Klingberg	7
16		5
17	Lars-Åke Andersson	0
18	Conny Samuelsson	0

British Qualification[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Preliminary Round
21 April	Oxford		Geoff Bouchard	Martin Yeates
30 April	Stoke	Robbie Gardner	John Jackson	Carl Glover
1 May	Rye House	Karl Fiala	Les Collins	Mike Lanham
5 May	Newport	Steve Weatherley	Barney Kennett
Quarter-Finals
14 May	Halifax	Chris Pusey	Doug Wyer	John Louis
16 May	Cradley Heath	Gordon Kennett	George Hunter	Bob Kilby
18 May	Kings Lynn	Michael Lee		Chris Morton
20 May	Hackney	Malcolm Simmons	Martin Yeates	Dave Jessup
Semi-Finals
27 June	Birmingham	Terry Betts	Michael Lee	Alan Wilkinson
29 June	Poole	Dave Jessup	Doug Wyer	Malcolm Simmons
Final
13 July	Coventry	Michael Lee	Dave Jessup	Doug Wyer	result

British Final[]

• July 13, 1977
• Coventry, Brandon Stadium
• First 5 to Intercontinental final plus Peter Collins seeded 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	21
	(6) Michael Lee	14		3				2			3							3			3		14	1
	(8) Dave Jessup	13		1						3			3			3			3				13	2
	(16) Doug Wyer	12				3				2	2						3			2			12	3
4	(2) John Davis	10	3					0				2				2				3			10	4
5	(5) Keith White	10		2			2					3					1					2	10	5
6	(3) Chris Morton	9	X						3				2				2				2		9	6
7	(14) Bob Kilby	9				2		3					0		3							1	9	7
8	(11) Gordon Kennett	8			3				1		0					1						3	8	8
9	(1) Terry Betts	8	2				3				1				1				1				8	9
10	(9) Alan Wilkinson	7			2		1						1					2		1			7	10
11	(15) John Louis	6				1			2			0						1	2				6	11
12	(10) Martin Ashby	5			1			1						3			0		0				5	12
13	(7) Barry Thomas	2		T					0					0	2					0			2	13
14	(12) David Gagen	2			0					1		1			0						0		2	14
15	(4) Neil Middleditch	2	1							0				1				0				0	2	15
16	(13) Malcolm Simmons	0				F	-							-		-					-		0	16
R1	(R1) Mick Bell	3		0										2							1		3	R1
R2	(R2)	0					F									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

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

Intercontinental Round[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Australasian Final
19 February	Sydney	Ivan Mauger	Phil Crump	John Boulger
Norwegian Final
17 April	Sandnes		Rolf Gramstad
Danish Final
19 May	Fredericia	Finn Thomsen		Bo Petersen
Nordic Final
29 May	Tampere	Ole Olsen	Ila Teromaa	Finn Thomsen
American Final
29 July	Costa Mesa	Mike Bast	Bruce Penhall	Scott Autrey
Intercontinental Final
21 August	White City	Peter Collins	Ole Olsen	Billy Sanders

Australasian Final[]

• February 19, 1977
•  AUS Sydney
• First 4 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	21
	(5) Ivan Mauger	14		3			3					3					2					3	14	1	3
	(1) Phil Crump	14	3				2				3				3				3				14	2	2
	(16) John Boulger	14				3				3	2						3			3			14	3	1
4	(9) Billy Sanders	12			3		1						3					3		2			12	4
5	(12) Phil Herne	11			2					2		2			2						3		11	5
6	(4) Barry Briggs	9	1							1				3				2				2	9	6
7	(3)	9	2						3				2				1				1		9	7
8	(13) Mitch Shirra	8				1	0							2		3					2		8	8
9	(6) Mike Farrell	7		2				3			1							1			0		7	9
10	(14) John Titman	7				2		2					1		1							1	7	10
11	(7)	4		1					2					0	0					1			4	11
12	(10) Larry Ross	4			1			1						1			0		1				4	12
13	(15)	3				0			0			1						0	2				3	13
14	(11)	3			0				1		0					2						E	3	14
15	(8)	1		0						0			E			1			0				1	15
16	(2)	0	0					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	21

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

Norwegian Final[]

• April 17, 1977
• Sandnes
• First 5 to Nordic Final

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1			15
2	Rolf Gramstad		12
3			12
4			11
5			11
6			10
7	Tom Godal
8
9	Trond Helge Skretting
10
11
12
13
14
15
16

Danish Final[]

• May 19, 1977
• Fredericia
• First 6 to Nordic Final

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Finn Thomsen		13
2			12+3
3	Bo Petersen		12+2
4			11
5	Finn Rune Jensen		9+3
6	Bent Nørregaard-Jensen		9+2
7			8
8			8
9			7
10			7
11			7
12	Kurt Bøgh		6
13			5
14			5
15			1
16			0

Nordic Final[]

• May 29, 1977
• Tampere
• First 4 to Intercontinental final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Ole Olsen	15
2	Ila Teromaa	14
3	Finn Thomsen	12
4	Kai Niemi	12
5	Bo Petersen	10
6	Tom Godal	10
7	Finn Jensen	9
8		8
9		7
10	Markku Helminen	5
11		5
12	Trond Helge Skretting	4
13	(Res)	3
14	(Res)	2
15		1
16	(Res)	1
17		0
18	Ari Koponen	0
19		0

American Final[]

• July 29, 1977
• Los Angeles, Costa Mesa Speedway
• First 2 to Intercontinental final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Mike Bast	14
2	Bruce Penhall	13+3
3	Scott Autrey	13+2
4	Steve Bast	11
5	Rick Woods	10
6		9
7		9
8	Dennis Sigalos	8
9		8
10		7
11		6
12		5
13		5
14	R. McGill	1
15		1

Intercontinental Final[]

• August 21, 1977
• London, White City Stadium
• First 7 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	21
	(1) Peter Collins	15	3				3				3				3				3				15	1
	(15) Ole Olsen	13				3			2			3						3	2				13	2
	(12) Billy Sanders	12			2					3		2			2						3		12	3	3
4	(11) Michael Lee	12			1				3		2					3						3	12	4	2
5	(4) Ivan Mauger	9	2							0				3				2				2	9	5
6	(16) John Boulger	9				2				2	1						1			3			9	6
7	(3) Finn Thomsen	8	E						0				3				3				2		8	7
8	(9) John Davis	7			3		2						0					X		2			7	8	3
9	(5) Dave Jessup	7		3			1					1					2					F	7	9	F
10	(8) Ila Teromaa	6		1						1			1			2			1				6	10
11	(7) Doug Wyer	6		2					1					2	0					1			6	11
12	(14) Kai Niemi	5				1		0					2		1							1	5	12
13	(6) Keith White	4		0				3			0							1			0		4	13
14	(13) Bruce Penhall	3				0	0							1		1					1		3	14
15	(10) Phil Crump	2			0			2						E			0		0				2	15
16	(2) Mike Bast	1	T					1				0				0				0			1	16
R1	(R1) Trevor Geer	1	1																				1	R1
R2	(R2) Steve Weatherley	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

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

Continental Round[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Preliminary Round
24 April	Civitanova Marche		Jan Hadek	Jiří Štancl
25 April	Bopfingen	Georg Hack
Quarter-Finals
1 May	Bremen	Edward Jancarz	Marek Cieślak	Egon Muller
8 May	Wiener Neustadt	Jiří Štancl		Jerzy Szczakiel
7 May	Slany		Zenon Plech	Jerzy Rembas
8 May	Debrecen			Václav Verner
Semi-Finals
29 May	Gorzów	Jerzy Rembas	Bogusław Nowak	Jan Mucha
29 May	Norden	Marek Cieślak	Egon Muller	Edward Jancarz
Final
June 25	Tolyatti	Jan Verner	Egon Muller	Jiří Štancl

Continental Final[]

• July 25, 1977
• Togliatti
• First 5 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
	(9) Jan Verner	13			1		3						3					3		3			13	1	3
	(4) Egon Muller	13	3							3				3				1				3	13	2	2
	(6) Jiří Štancl	13		3				3			3							2			2		13	3	1
4	(12) Edward Jancarz	11			3					2		2			3						1		11	4
5	(13) Jan Mucha	11				2	2							2		2					3		11	5
6	(10)	10			2			2						0			3		3				10	6
7	(11) Grigory Khlinovsky	9			0				2		2					3						2	9	7
8	(14) Bogusław Nowak	7				3		1					2		1							T	7	8
9	(7) Jerzy Rembas	6		0					3					1	F					2			6	9
10	(2) Jan Hadek	5	2					0				1				1				1			5	10
11	(8)	3		2						1			F			-			-				3	11
12	(15) Henny Kroeze	2				1			1			F						-	-				2	12
13	(16) Marek Cieślak	1				0				F	1						E			E			1	13
14	(5)	1		1			F					-					-					-	1	14
15	(3) Andrzej Jurczyński	0	F						0				F				F				-		0	15
16	(1) Václav Verner	0	F				-				-				-				-				0	16
R1	(R1)	5									E	3			2								5	R1
R2	(R2)	1					1																1	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

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

World Final[]

• September 2, 1977
• Göteborg, Ullevi^[9]
• Referee: () Torrie Kittelsen

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
	(7) Ivan Mauger	14		3					2					3	3					3			14	1
	(14) Peter Collins	13				3		3					2		2							3	13	2
	(9) Ole Olsen	12+3			2		3						3					3		1			12	3
4	(16) Michael Lee	12+2				2				3	3						2			2			12	4
5	(3) Finn Thomsen	10	2						3				1				1				3		10	5
6	(13) Bengt Jansson	8				1	1							2		3					2		9	6
7	(1) Egon Müller	8	3				2				0				F				3				8	7
8	(5) Anders Michanek	8		2			E					3					3					E	8	8
9	(11) Billy Sanders	7			3				1		2					0						E	6	9
10	(4) Tommy Nilsson	6	0							2				E				2				2	6	10
11	(12) Bernt Persson	6			1					1		2			1						1		6	11
12	(2) John Boulger	5	1					2				E				2				F			5	12
13	(6) Edward Jancarz	4		1				1			1							1			0		4	13
14	(15) Jiří Štancl	3				0			0			1						0	2				3	14
15	(8) Jan Verner	1		0						0			0			1			X				1	15
16	(10) Jan Mucha	0			0			0						1			E		X				1	16
R1	(R1) Sören Karlsson	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2) Bogusław Nowak	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

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

References[]