1980 Individual Speedway World Championship

The 1980 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 35th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

With 1979 World Champion Ivan Mauger failing to qualify for a World Final for the first time since 1966, and Ole Olsen only qualifying as a reserve, the 1980 World Final at the Ullevi Stadium in Göteborg, Sweden was seen as an open final with a number of potential winners. Michael Lee, Bruce Penhall, Dave Jessup and Billy Sanders considered the favourites with Jan Andersson (the only Swedish rider in the World Final), John Davis, Hans Nielsen, Zenon Plech, Intercontinental Final winner Chris Morton and 1976 World Champion Peter Collins all expected to challenge.

Twenty-one-year-old English ace Lee who had only finished 7th in the Intercontinental Final at White City, won his only World Championship with 14 points from his 5 rides. Dave Jessup finished second after defeating Billy Sanders in a runoff when both riders finished on 12 points to give England a 1-2 finish in a World Final.

Michael Lee became only the fifth rider from Great Britain to win Motorcycle speedway's ultimate individual prize, joining Welshman Freddie Williams (1950), and fellow Englishmen Tommy Price (1949), Peter Craven (1955 and 1962) and Peter Collins (1976) as a Speedway World Champion.

British Qualification[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Preliminary Round
8 April	Milton Keynes	Mike Lanham
9 April	Nottingham	Dave Perks	Dave Morton	Paul Woods
11 April	Peterborough
11 April	Ellesmere Port			David Gagen
13 April	Rye House	Melvyn Taylor	Bob Garrad	Ian Clark
Quarter-Final
27 April	Halifax	Mike Lanham		Dave Morton
Semi-Finals
21 May	Poole	Peter Collins	Gordon Kennett	Kevin Jolly
22 May	Sheffield	Dave Jessup	Chris Morton	Dave Morton
Final
4 June	Coventry	Dave Jessup	Michael Lee	Phil Collins	result

British Final[]

• June 4, 1980
• Coventry, Brandon Stadium
• First 10 to Commonwealth Final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Dave Jessup	(3,3,3,3,3)	15
2	Michael Lee	(3,3,3,3,2)	14
3	Phil Collins	(1,2,2,3,3)	11
4	Peter Collins	(3,3,0,3,1)	10
5	Gordon Kennett	(2,2,2,2,2)	10
6	John Louis	(3,1,3,1,1)	9
7	John Davis	(X,2,1,2,3)	8
8	Chris Morton	(0,1,1,2,3)	7
9	Melvyn Taylor	(2,1,X,2,2)	7
10	Reg Wilson	(2,2,1,1,0)	6+3
11	Bobby Beaton	(0,1,3,0,2)	6+2
12	Ian Cartwright	(1,0,2,1,1)	5
13	Dave Morton	(1,3,0,0,0)	4
14	Kevin Jolly	(2,0,1,0,1)	4
15		(2,1,0,1,0)	4
16	Mike Lanham	(0,0,0,0,0)	0

Swedish Qualification[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Semi-Finals
4 May	Malilla	Tommy Johansson	Tommy Nilsson	Conny Samuelsson
4 May	Gislaved	Anders Michanek	Bo Wirebrand
8 May	Linköping	Bernt Persson	Richard Hellsen
Final
20 May	Norrköping	Jan Andersson	Richard Hellsen	Tommy Johansson

Swedish Final[]

• May 20, 1980
• Norrköping
• Winner to World Final, riders 2-5 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
	(13) Jan Andersson	13				2	3							3		2					3		13	1
	(15) Richard Hellsen	12				3			3			3						X	3				12	2
	(2) Tommy Johansson	12	2					3				2				3				2			12	3
4	(8) Anders Michanek	11		3						3			2			1			2				11	4
5	(14) Bernt Persson	11				1		2					3		2							3	11	5
6	(9) Bengt Jansson	10			1		2						1					3		3			10	6
7	(11) Tommy Nilsson	9			2				2		3					0						2	9	7
8	(16)	7				0				1	2						3			1			7	8
9	(1) Hans Danielsson	7	1				1				1				3				1				7	9
10	(10)	6			3			X						1			2		0				6	10
11	(6)	6		2				1			0							1			2		6	11
12	(4) Bo Wirebrand	5	3							0				2				X				-	5	12
13	(7) Conny Samuelsson	3		1					1					0	1					0			3	13
14	(12) Lillebror Johansson	2			0					2		E			-						-		2	14
15	(5)	1		0			0					1					0					0	1	15
16	(3)	0	E						F				F				-				-		0	16
R1	(R1)	4													0			2			1	1	4	R1
R2	(R2)	1															1				0		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

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

New Zealand Final[]

• 2 February 1980
• 
• First 8 to Austral-Asian Final

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

Intercontinental Round[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
American Final
16 November 1979	Anaheim	Bruce Penhall	Scott Autrey	Dennis Sigalos
Austral-Asian Final
16 February	Christchurch	Billy Sanders	John Titman	Larry Ross
Danish Final
6 May	Fredericia	Bo Petersen	Preben Eriksen
Norwegian Final
18 May	Skien	Reidar Eide	Audun Ove Olsen	Rolf Gramstad
Nordic Final
15 June	Skien	Hans Nielsen	Ole Olsen	Finn Thomsen
Commonwealth Final
5 July	Wimbledon	Dave Jessup	John Louis	Ivan Mauger
Intercontinental Final
3 August	White City	Chris Morton	Bruce Penhall	Billy Sanders

American Final[]

• November 16, 1979
• Anaheim, Anaheim Stadium
• First 2 to Intercontinental Final

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Bruce Penhall		14
2	Scott Autrey		13+3
3	Dennis Sigalos		13+2
4	Ron Preston		13+1
5	Shawn Moran		10
6			10
7	John Cook		9
8	Mike Faria		7
9	Bobby Schwartz		5
10			5
11			5
12			5
13	Brad Oxley		4
14			4
15			3
16	Kelly Moran		1
17			0

Austral-Asian Final[]

• February 2, 1980
• Christchurch, Ruapuna Speedway
• First 5 to Commonwealth Final plus 1 reserve
• Ivan Mauger seeded to Commonwealth 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
	(10) Billy Sanders	15			3			3						3			3		3				15	1
	(1) John Titman	13	3				3				2				3				2				13	2
	(16) Larry Ross	12				3				3	3						2			1			12	3
4	(2) Mitch Shirra	12	2					2				3				3				2			12	4
5	(4) Phil Crump	11	1							2				2				3				3	11	5	3
6	(7)	11		2					3					1	2					3			11	6	2
7	(6) Mike Farrell	10		3				1			1							2			3		10	7
8	(14) Phil Herne	8				2		0					3		1							2	8	8
9	(3) Steve Koppe	7	0						2				2				1				2		7	9
10	(11) Glyn Taylor	5			2				1		0					2						0	5	10
11	(5)	5		0			2					2					0					1	5	11
12	(15) Graeme Stapleton	3				1			0			0						1	1				3	12
13	(13)	2				0	1							0		0					1		2	13
14	(9) David Bargh	2			1		0						1					0		0			2	14
15	(8)	2		1						0			0			1			0				2	15
16	(12) Wayne Brown	1			0					1		0			0						0		1	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

Danish Final[]

• May 4, 1980
• Fredericia
• First 6 to Nordic final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Bo Petersen	15
2	Preben Eriksen	13
3		12+3
4	Finn Rune Jensen	12+2
5	Finn Thomsen	10
6	Mike Lohmann	8
7	Alf Busk	8
8		7
9		6
10		6
11		6
12		5
13	Steen Mastrup	5
14		3
15		3
16		1

Norwegian Final[]

• May 18, 1980
• Skien
• First 3 to Nordic final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Reidar Eide	14
2	Audun Ove Olsen	13
3	Rolf Gramstad	12+3
4		12+2
5	Trond Helge Skretting	10
6		8
7		7
8	Kjell Gimre	7
9		6
10		6
11		6
12		6
13		4
14		4
15		2
16		2

Nordic Final[]

• June 15, 1980
• Skien
• First 5 to Intercontinental Final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Hans Nielsen	15
2	Ole Olsen	14
3	Finn Thomsen	13
4		12
5	Kai Niemi	10
6	Ila Teromaa	8
7	Bo Petersen	8
8	Hans Danielsson	7
9	Tommy Johansson	7
10	Preben Eriksen	6
11	Rolf Gramstad	5
12	Bernt Persson	5
13		4
14	Audun Ove Olsen	2
15	Reidar Eide	1
16	Bengt Jansson	0

Commonwealth Final[]

• June 29, 1980
• London, Wimbledon 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
	(2) Dave Jessup	14	3					2				3				3				3			14	1
	(14) John Louis	13				2		3					2		3							3	13	2
	(3) Ivan Mauger	12	2						3				1				3				3		12	3
4	(8) John Davis	11		1						2			3			2			3				11	4
5	(9) Billy Sanders	10			3		3						0					3		1			10	5
6	(4) Chris Morton	11	0							3				3				3				2	11	6
7	(5) Michael Lee	9		3			2					2					1					1	9	7
8	(7) Mitch Shirra	9		2					2					1	2					2			9	8
9	(10) Peter Collins	7			1			0						3			2		1				7	9
10	(15) Gordon Kennett	6				3			1			1						1	0				6	10	3
11	(1) Larry Ross	6	1				1				1				1				2				6	11	E
12	(12) Phil Collins	5			2					1		0			0						2		5	12
13	(6) John Titman	4		0				1			3							0			E		4	13
14	(11) Melvyn Taylor	3			F				0		2					1						0	3	14
15	(13) Phil Crump	2				1	0							0		0					1		2	15
16	(16) Reg Wilson	0				0				0	0						0			0			0	16
R1	(R1) Phil Herne	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2) Bobby Beaton	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 Final[]

• August 3, 1980
• London, White City Stadium
• First 10 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
	(1) Chris Morton	12	2				1				3				3				3				12	1	3
	(5) Bruce Penhall	12		3			3					1					3					2	12	2	2
	(15) Billy Sanders	11				1			3			3						2	2				11	3	3
4	(3) Kai Niemi	11	3						2				2				1				3		11	4	2
5	(16) Finn Thomsen	10				2				2	1						2			3			10	5
6	(8) Dave Jessup	9		2						3			E			3			1				9	6
7	(13) Michael Lee	9				3	0							3		1					2		9	7
8	(9) John Davis	9			1		2						3					1		2			9	8
9	(4) Hans Nielsen	8	1							1				X				3				3	8	9
10	(2) Peter Collins	7	0					3				2				2				0			7	10
11	(7) Ole Olsen	6		1					1					2	1					1			6	11
12	(11) Scott Autrey	6			3				0		2					0						1	6	12
13	(14) Ivan Mauger	5				0		2					1		2							0	5	13
14	(12) John Louis	3			2					0		0			0						1		3	14
15	(6) Mitch Shirra	1		0				1			0							0			0		1	15
16	(10)	0			0			0						X			E		-				0	16
R1	(R1) Gordon Kennett	0																	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

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

Continental Round[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Preliminary Round
19 April	Landshut	Egon Muller		Edward Jancarz
20 April	Bydgoszcz	Zdeněk Kudrna	Jerzy Rembas
20 April	Treviso	Milan Špinka	Václav Verner
20 April	Žarnovica	Petr Ondrašík	Jan Hadek
Quarter-Finals
3 May	Slany	Mikhail Starostin	Jiří Štancl	Jan Verner
4 May	Prelog	Henny Kroeze	Václav Verner	Milan Špinka
4 May	Wiener Neustadt	Zdeněk Kudrna	Jerzy Rembas
Semi-Finals
25 May	Norden	Jiří Štancl	Edward Jancarz	Petr Ondraš��k
27 May	Targovishte	Zdeněk Kudrna	Václav Verner	Aleš Dryml Sr.
Final
27 July	Lonigo	Zenon Plech	Jiří Štancl	Aleš Dryml Sr.

Continental Final[]

• July 27, 1980
• Lonigo,
• 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
	(16) Zenon Plech	14				3				3	3						3			2			14	1	3
	(13) Jiří Štancl	14				2	3							3		3					3		14	2	2
	(7) Aleš Dryml Sr.	12		1					3					2	3					3			12	3
4	(1) Egon Müller	11	3				1				2				2				3				11	4
5	(5) Petr Ondrašík	11		2			2					2					2					3	11	5
6	(6) Václav Verner	9		3				1			1							2			2		9	6
7	(4) Mikhail Starostin	7	2							2				F				3				E	7	7
8	(8) Jerzy Rembas	7		X						1			3			1			2				7	8
9	(14) Georg Hack	7				1		2					2		F							2	7	9
10	(11) Milan Špinka	6			3				2		0					0						1	6	10
11	(10) Zdeněk Kudrna	6			X			3						1			1		1				6	11
12	(2) Andrzej Huszcza	6	F					E				3				2				1			6	12
13	(3)	3	1						0				1				0				1		3	13
14	(12) Wojciech Żabiałowicz	2			1					0		0			1						F		2	14
15	(15)	2				0			1			1						E	F				2	15
16	(9) Edward Jancarz	0			F		-						-					-					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

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

World Final[]

• 5 September 1980
• Göteborg, Ullevi^[7]
• Referee: () Torrie Kittlesen
• Attendance: 35,000 (approx)

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) Michael Lee	14			2		3						3					3		3			14	1
	(10) Dave Jessup	12			3			2						2			2		3				12	2	3
	(13) Billy Sanders	12				3	1							3		2					3		12	3	2
4	(5) Jan Andersson	11		3			0					2					3					3	11	4
5	(1) Bruce Penhall	9	3				2				1				1				2				9	5
6	(2) John Davis	9	2					1				1				3				2			9	6
7	(11) Peter Collins	8			1				3		3					1						0	8	7
8	(12) Kai Niemi	8			0					1		3			2						2		8	8
9	(7) Chris Morton	8		2					1					1	3					1			8	9
10	(14) Finn Thomsen	7				2		3					1		0							1	7	10
11	(4) Hans Nielsen	7	1							2				0				2				2	7	11
12	(8) Aleš Dryml Sr.	5		0						3			2			0			0				5	12
13	(15) Jiří Štancl	5				1			2			0						1	1				5	13
14	(6) Egon Muller	4		1				0			2							E			1		4	14
15	(16) Zenon Plech	1				E				0	0						1			0			1	15
16	(3) Petr Ondrašík	0	0						0				0				0				0		0	16
R1	(R1) Ole Olsen	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2) Václav Verner	0																					0	R2
R3	(R3) Hans Danielsson	0																					0	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

References[]