1979 Individual Speedway World Championship

The 1979 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 34th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

In his 14th straight World Final appearance (dating back to 1966), New Zealand's Ivan Mauger won his 6th Speedway World Championship, breaking the previous record of 5 wins held by himself and legendary Swede Ove Fundin. Mauger scored 14 points to defeat local favourite Zenon Plech (13) and young English tearaway Michael Lee (11), with Lee the only rider to defeat Mauger on the day. Lee also had to defeat Kelly Moran (USA), Billy Sanders (Australia) and defending champion Ole Olsen in a runoff for third after all four riders finished on 11 points. This would prove to be the last appearance for Ivan Mauger as a rider in a World Final.^[7]

British Qualification[]

Similar to the previous season, the Sunday Mirror sponsored British qualifying rounds for the World Championship doubled up as qualifying rounds for the Berger sponsored Grand Prix. Therefore, many non-British riders such as Scott Autrey and Ivan Mauger rode in these meetings scoring points towards the Grand Prix qualification - but their scores didn't count towards World Championship qualification.

• Rye House track flooded so event moved to Hackney

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Preliminary Round
8 April	Hackney*	Mike Lanham	Dave Perks
8 April	Mildenhall		Geoff Bouchard	Alan Emerson
17 April	Crayford	Mike Sampson	Colin Richardson
17 April	Berwick		Eric Broadbelt
23 April	Boston			John Jackson
Qualifying Round
28 April	Swindon	Phil Crump	Jan Andersson	Scott Autrey
28 April	Halifax	Ivan Mauger	Ian Cartwright	Reg Wilson
28 April	Coventry	Mitch Shirra	Alan Molyneux	John Davis
30 April	Reading	Jan Andersson	John Davis	Bruce Penhall
30 April	Exeter	Scott Autrey	Phil Crump	Colin Richardson
30 April	Birmingham	Peter Collins	Billy Sanders	Alan Grahame
2 May	Poole	Ole Olsen	Dave Morton	Malcolm Simmons
2 May	Hull	Ivan Mauger	Bobby Beaton	Kenny Carter
3 May	Wimbledon	Colin Richardson	Hans Nielsen	Bruce Penhall
3 May	Sheffield	Doug Wyer		Les Collins
4 May	Hackney	John Davis	Mitch Shirra	Ole Olsen
4 May	Wolverhampton	Kenny Carter	Jim McMillan	Bruce Cribb
4 May	Eastbourne	Roger Johns	Kai Niemi	Dave Jessup
5 May	Kings Lynn	Michael Lee	Gordon Kennett	Mike Lanham
5 May	Cradley Heath	Bruce Penhall	Scott Autrey	Steve Bastable
5 May	Belle Vue	Doug Wyer	Larry Ross	Bobby Beaton
8 May	Leicester	Michael Lee	John Titman	Ila Teromaa
10 May	Ipswich	Steve Bastable	John Louis	Andy Grahame
Semi-Finals
22 May	Leicester	Peter Collins	Gordon Kennett	Doug Wyer
23 May	Poole	Dave Morton	Dave Jessup	John Louis
Final[8]
20 June	Coventry	Peter Collins	Michael Lee	Dave Jessup	result

British Final[]

• June 20, 1979
• Coventry, Brandon Stadium
• First 10 to Commonwealth 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) Peter Collins	15			3		3						3					3		3			15	1
	(8) Michael Lee	14		3						3			2			3			3				14	2
	(7) Dave Jessup	12		2					3					2	3					2			12	3
4	(16) John Davis	11				3				2	3						2			1			11	4
5	(10) Doug Wyer	10			1			2						3			3		1				10	5
6	(11) Malcolm Simmons	10			2				2		1					2						3	10	6
7	(12) Roger Johns	8			F					1		3			1						3		8	7
8	(1) Gordon Kennett	7	3				E				0				2				2				7	8
9	(13) Alan Molyneux	7				2	1							1		1					2		7	9
10	(2) John Louis	6	2					3				1				0				0			6	10	3
11	(6) Chris Morton	6		0				1			2							2			1		6	11	2
12	(5) Reg Wilson	6		1			2					0					1					2	6	12
13	(15) Jim McMillan	4				0			1			2						1	0				4	13
14	(14) Alan Grahame	3				1		0					1		0							1	3	14
15	(4) Mike Lanham	1	1							0				0				0				0	1	15
16	(3) Ian Turner	0	E						0				0				0				0		0	16
R1	(R1)	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2) Ian Cartwright	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

Swedish Qualification[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Semi-Finals
6 May	Motala	Jan Andersson		Sören Sjösten
6 May	Mariestad	Bernt Persson	Hans Danielsson	Bengt Jansson
6 May	Malilla	Bo Wirebrand	Tommy Nilsson	Tommy Johansson
Final
29 May	Kumla	Jan Andersson	Anders Michanek	Bernt Persson

Swedish Final[]

• May 29, 1979
• Kumla
• First 5 to Nordic Final + 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Jan Andersson	15
2	Anders Michanek	12
3	Bernt Persson	11
4	Richard Hellsen	11
5		11
6	Lars-Åke Andersson	10
7	Bo Wirebrand	9
8		8
9		7
10	Bengt Jansson	5
11	Hans Danielsson	5
12	Sören Sjösten	4
13	Tommy Nilsson	3
14	(res)	3
15		2
16		1
17	Sören Karlsson	0

New Zealand Final[]

• 21 January 1979
• Christchurch
• First 8 to Austral-Asian Final

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Larry Ross	3,3,3,3,3	15
2	Mitch Shirra	3,3,2,2,2	12
3	Ivan Mauger	2,3,E,3,3	11
4		2,0,3,3,3	11
5		1,3,3,1,2	10
6	David Bargh	3,0,1,3,2	9
7		1,2,1,2,3	9
8	Graeme Stapleton	2,2,2,1,2	9
9		3,1,3,0,1	8
10		1,2,0,2,1	6
11		0,2,1,2,0	5
12		0,1,2,1,0	4
13		0,1,2,0,1	4
14		1,1,0,0,0	2
15		0,0,0,0,1	1
16		ns	0
R1		2,1,0	3
R2		0,1	1

Intercontinental Round[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
American Final[8]
29 December 1978	Santa Ana	Bobby Schwartz	Mike Bast	Kelly Moran
Australian Final[8]
27 January	Mildura	Phil Crump		John Boulger
Australasian Final[8]
23 February	Adelaide	Billy Sanders	Steve Koppe	John Titman
Danish Final
6 May		Bo Petersen	Finn Thomsen	Mike Lohmann
Nordic Final
5 July	Norrköping	Jan Andersson	Hans Nielsen	Finn Thomsen
Commonwealth Final[8]
1 July	White City	Michael Lee	Billy Sanders	Dave Jessup
Intercontinental Final[8]
5 August	White City	Michael Lee	Peter Collins	Finn Thomsen

American Final[]

• December 29, 1978
• Santa Ana,
• First 2 to Intercontinental final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Bobby Schwartz	12+3
2	Mike Bast	12+2
3	Kelly Moran	12+1
4		12+0
5	Mike Faria	10
6		9
7	Bruce Penhall	7
8		7
9	John Cook	6
10		6
11		6
12		5
13		5
14		4
15		3
16		2

Australian Final[]

• February 11, 1978
• Mildura
• First 8 to Austral-Asian Final

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Phil Crump		15
2			13
3	John Boulger		11
4	John Titman		10
5	Steve Koppe		10
6	Billy Sanders		10
7	Gary Guglielmi		9
8	Glyn Taylor		9
9			6
10			5
11			5
12	Mike Farrell		4
13			4
14			2
15			2
16			2
R1
R2

Australasian Final[]

• February 23, 1979
• Adelaide, Rowley Park Speedway
• Referee: Sam Bass
• First 6 to Commonwealth final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Billy Sanders	13
2	Steve Koppe	12
3	John Titman	11+3
4	Phil Crump	11+2
5	Ivan Mauger	11+1
6	Larry Ross	10+3
7	Mitch Shirra	10+2
8	Gary Guglielmi	8
9		8
10		6
11	John Boulger	6
12	Glyn Taylor	6
13	(Res)	4
14	Graeme Stapleton	2
15	David Bargh (Res)	2
16		0

Danish Final[]

• May 6, 1979
• 
• First 5 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	21
	(5) Bo Petersen	14		3			2					3					3					3	14	1	3
	(12) Finn Thomsen	14			3					3		2			3						3		14	2	2
	(6) Mike Lohmann	12		2				2			3							3			2		12	3	3
4	(1) Hans Nielsen	12	3				3				2				1				3				12	4	2
5	(14) Finn Rune Jensen	11				3		3					3		0							2	11	5
6	(7)	10		F					2					3	2					3			10	6
7	(15)	10				2			3			1						2	2				10	7
8	(10) Steen Mastrup	8			2			1						2			2		1				8	8
9	(3)	5	2						1				1				1				0		5	9
10	(13)	5				0	1							E		3					1		5	10
11	(4)	5	1							1				1				1				1	5	11
12	(2)	4	0					0				0				2				2			4	12
13	(16) Alf Busk	4				1				2	1						F			-			4	13
14	(8)	3		1						0			2			F			-				3	14
15	(9) Kristian Præstbro	1			1		E						-					-		-			1	15
16	(11) Ernst Bogh	0																					0	16
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

Nordic Final[]

• June 5, 1979
• Norrköping
• First 5 to Intercontinental 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
	(1) Jan Andersson	13	3				2				3				3				2				13	1	3
	(13) Hans Nielsen	13				2	3							3		3					2		13	2	2
	(8) Finn Thomsen	12		3						3			3			2			1				12	3	3
4	(10) Ole Olsen	12			3			3						2			1		3				12	4	2
5	(3) Kai Niemi	9	0						3				0				3				3		9	5	3
6	(5) Ila Teromaa	9		2			1					3					0					3	9	6	2
7	(16) Bo Petersen	8				3				0	X						2			3			8	7
8	(6) Bernt Persson	8		1				1			2							3			1		8	8
9	(4) Anders Michanek	7	1							2				1				2				1	7	9
10	(14) Mike Lohmann	6				X		2					2		2							E	6	10
11	(2) Reidar Eide	6	2					0				1				1				2			6	11
12	(11) Rolf Gramstad	5			0				2		1					F						2	5	12
13	(15)	4				1			0			2						1	0				4	13
14	(9) Richard Hellsen	3			2		0						1					-		-			3	14
15	(7)	2		0					1					0	1					F			2	15
16	(12) Audun Ove Olsen	2			1					1		0			0						0		2	16
R1	(R1) Lars-Åke Andersson	1																		1			1	R1
R2	(R2) Sören Karlsson	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

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

Commonwealth Final[]

• July 1, 1979
• London, White City Stadium
• First 9 to Intercontinental 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
	(16) Michael Lee	14				3				3	2						3			3			14	1	3
	(11) Billy Sanders	14			3				3		3					2						3	14	2	2
	(13) Dave Jessup	12				2	2							2		3					3		12	3
4	(15) Larry Ross	11				1			2			3						3	2				11	4
5	(5) Ivan Mauger	11		3			3					2					1					2	11	5
6	(10) Peter Collins	10			2			2						3			2		1				10	6
7	(8) John Titman	9		2						1			2			1			3				9	7
8	(6) Gordon Kennett	8		F				3			1							2			2		8	8
9	(9) John Davis	7			1		1						3					F		2			7	9
10	(14) Malcolm Simmons	6				0		1					1		3							1	6	10
11	(4) Doug Wyer	5	3							2				F				-				-	5	11
12	(7) John Louis	4		1					0					1	2					F			4	12
13	(1) Phil Crump	2	2				0				-				-				-				2	13
14	(3) Roger Johns	2	1						1				E				0				-		2	14
15	(12) Steve Koppe	2			0					0		1			1						0		2	15
16	(2) Alan Molyneux	1	E					E				0				E				1			1	16
R1	(R1) Sean Willmott	0									0												0	R1
R2	(R2) Chris Morton	1																1				0	1	R2
R3	(R3) Mitch Shirra	1													0				0		1		1	R3
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 Final[]

• August 8, 1979
• London, White City Stadium
• First 9 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
	(14) Michael Lee	14				3		3					3		2							3	14	1	3
	(7) Peter Collins	14		3					3					2	3					3			14	2	2
	(9) Finn Thomsen	10			2		3						1					3		1			10	3	3
4	(8) Ivan Mauger	10		1						3			2			2			2				10	4	2
5	(13) Dave Jessup	10				2	2							3		3					0		10	5	1
6	(4) Ole Olsen	9	3							1				1				2				2	9	6
7	(2) Billy Sanders	8	2					0				3				1				2			8	7
8	(3) Kelly Moran	8	1						2				0				3				2		8	8
9	(10) John Titman	8			1			2						0			2		3				8	9
10	(6) Larry Ross	7		0				1			3							0			3		7	10
11	(15) Kai Niemi	6				1			1			2						1	1				6	11
12	(5) Gordon Kennett	5		2			1					1					1					0	5	12
13	(12) John Davis	4			3					0		0			0						1		4	13
14	(16) Hans Nielsen	2				0				2	0						0			0			2	14
15	(11) Bobby Schwartz	2			F				0		1					0						1	2	15
16	(1) Jan Andersson	1	0				0				T				1				0				1	16
R1	(R1) Malcolm Simmons	2									2												2	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

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

Continental Round[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Preliminary Round
22 April	Žarnovica	Jiří Štancl
22 April	Wiener Neustadt			Karl Maier
22 April	Giavera del Montello		Jan Hadek
22 April	Diedenbergen	Henny Kroeze
Quarter-Finals
6 May	Debrecen	Mikhail Starostin	Jan Verner
6 May	Abensberg	Jiří Štancl	Václav Verner
7 May	Osijek	Petr Ondrašík	Valery Gordeev	Henny Kroeze
7 May	Slany	Aleš Dryml Sr.	Zdeněk Kudrna
Semi-Finals
27 May	Krumbach	Jan Verner	Henny Kroeze	Valery Gordeev
27 May	Lonigo	Aleš Dryml Sr.	Viktor Kuznetsov	Jiří Štancl
Final
8 July	Pocking	Christoph Betzl	Mikhail Starostin	Zdeněk Kudrna

Continental Final[]

• July 8, 1979
• Pocking
• First 4 to World final plus 1 reserve
• Polish riders Zenon Plech, Edward Jancarz and Robert Słaboń seeded 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
	(9) Christoph Betzl	14			3		3						3					3		2			14	1
	(3) Mikhail Starostin	13	3						3				1				3				3		13	2
	(5) Zdeněk Kudrna	12		3			1					3					2					3	12	3	3
4	(14) Alois Wiesböck	12				3		3					2		3							1	12	4	2
5	(13) Petr Ondrašík	11				1	2							3		3					2		11	5
6	(16) Valery Gordeev	10				2				1	3						1			3			10	6
7	(11) Václav Verner	9			2				1		2					2						2	9	7
8	(10) Jiří Štancl	7			1			1						2			0		3				7	8
9	(12) Viktor Kuznetsov	7			0					2		2			2						1		7	9
10	(15)	6				X			2			0						2	2				6	10
11	(2) Karl Maier	6	2					2				1				X				1			6	11
12	(4) Georg Hack	4	1							3				X				-				X	4	12
13	(7) Jan Hadek	4		2					0					1	1					X			4	13
14	(1)	2	X				0				1				0				1				2	14
15	(8) Jan Verner	0		X						X			X			X			X				0	15
16	(6) Aleš Dryml Sr.	0		X				-			-							-			-		0	16
R1	(R1)	1						0			0							1			0		1	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

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

World Final[]

• September 2, 1979
• Chorzów, Silesian Stadium^[9]

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
	(15) Ivan Mauger	14				3			3			2						3	3				14	1
	(7) Zenon Plech	13		3					1					3	3					3			13	2
	(5) Michael Lee	11+3		2			3					3					0					3	11	3
4	(3) Kelly Moran	11+2	1						2				3				2				3		11	4
5	(4) Billy Sanders	11+1	3							3				1				2				2	11	5
6	(10) Ole Olsen	11+0			3			3						2			1		2				11	6
7	(11) Zdeněk Kudrna	8			2				0		3					3						0	8	7
8	(16) Dave Jessup	8				E				1	2						3			2			8	8
9	(12) Edward Jancarz	7			1					2		1			2						1		7	9
10	(13) Finn Thomsen	6				2	E							0		2					2		6	10
11	(1) Peter Collins	6	2				2				1				1				E				6	11
12	(14) John Titman	5				1		2					2		0							1	6	12
13	(2) Mikhail Starostin	3	0					1				0				1				1			3	13
14	(6) Christoph Betzl	2		1				0			0							1			0		2	14
15	(8) Robert Słaboń	2		0						0			1			0			1				2	15
16	(9) Alois Wiesböck	1			0		1						0					0		0			1	16
	(17) Petr Ondrašík	0																					0
	(18) Larry Ross	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

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

References[]