1985 Individual Speedway World Championship

The 1985 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 40th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Odsal Stadium, the new home of international speedway in England after the demise of the Wembley Stadium and White City Stadium tracks, was chosen by the FIM to host the 1985 Final on 31 August 1985; the first time that the final had been held in England at a venue other than Wembley.^[4]

A crowd of around 30,000 attended the 1985 Final, which was won by defending champion Erik Gundersen of Denmark from fellow Dane Hans Nielsen and surprise third placing Sam Ermolenko of the United States. All three riders finished the meeting on 13 points and were forced into a run-off to decide the podium placings. The only English rider in the field, 21-year-old Kelvin Tatum, finished 8th with 8 points in his first World Final. He won his first race, but later admitted that he let the occasion get to him which affected his riding.^[5]

British Qualification[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Preliminary Round
11 April	Rye House	Mike Ferreira		Andrew Silver
17 April	Long Eaton	Trevor Banks	Dave Perks	Louis Carr
18 April	Middlesbrough	Steve Wilcock		Mike Spink
19 April	Peterborough	Carl Blackbird	Tim Hunt
19 April	Edinburgh	David Blackburn	Paul Thorp	Bobby Beaton
Semi-Finals
19 May	Halifax	Kenny Carter	John Davis	Neil Collins
22 May	Cradley Heath	Andy Grahame	Kelvin Tatum	Simon Cross
Final
6 June	Coventry	Kenny Carter	John Davis	Kelvin Tatum

British Final[]

June 6, 1985
Coventry, Brandon Stadium
First 7 to Overseas 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) Kenny Carter	15	3					3				3				3				3			15	1
	(12) John Davis	14			3					3		2			3						3		14	2
	(8) Kelvin Tatum	12		3						1			3			2			3				12	3
4	(9) Phil Collins	11			1		3						2					3		2			11	4
5	(6) Chris Morton	9		1				2			3							2			1		9	5
6	(16) Neil Collins	9				1				2	2						3			1			9	6
7	(3) Andy Smith	7	2						1				0				2				2		7	7
8	(5) Les Collins	6		2			0					0					1					3	6	8	3
9	(13) Simon Cross	6				0	2							3		1					0		6	9	2
10	(14) Neil Evitts	6				3		0					1		0							2	6	10	1
11	(10) Peter Collins	5			2			1						1			E		1				5	11
12	(15) Tim Hunt	5				2			F			1						0	2				5	12
13	(11) Andy Grahame	4			0				3		0					0						1	4	13
14	(1) Dave Jessup	4	1				1				1				1				0				4	14
15	(7) Andy Campbell	4		0					2					0	2					0			4	15
16	(4) Alan Grahame	3	0							F				2				1				E	3	16
R1	(R1) Steve Bastable	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2) Mark Courtney	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

Swedish Qualification[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Semi-Finals
4 May	Stockholm	Tommy Nilsson		Erik Stenlund
4 May	Malilla	Per Jonsson		Mikael Blixt
5 May	Mariestad	Jimmy Nilsen		Richard Hellsen
Final
20 May	Örebro	Erik Stenlund	Tommy Nilsson	Richard Hellsen
21 May	Gislaved	Tommy Nillson	Jimmy Nilsen	Pierre Brannefors
22 May	Linköping	Per Jonsson	Tommy Nilsson	Richard Hellsen

Australian Qualification[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Northern Territory Final
3 November 84	Tennant Creek
Queensland Final
24 November 84	Ayr	Steve Regeling		Steve Koppe
South Australian Final
1 December 84	Murray Bridge	Mark Fiora	Steve Baker
Western Australian Final
7 December 84	Perth
New South Wales Final
16 December 84	Napier	Billy Sanders	Gary Guglielmi
Victorian Final
23 December 84	Mildura	Phil Crump	Rod Hunter
Australian Final
5 January	Ayr	Billy Sanders	Phil Crump

Australian Final[]

January 5, 1985
Ayr
First 2 to Overseas final

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Billy Sanders	(3,3,3,3,3)	15
2	Phil Crump	(X,3,2,2,3)	11
3		(2,2,2,2,3)	11
4	Mark Fiora	(2,2,3,2,2)	11
5	Steve Regeling	(1,3,0,3,3)	10
6		(3,1,3,1,2)	10
7	Gary Guglielmi	(3,3,X,2,X)	8
8	Rod Hunter	(1,1,3,1,2)	8
9	Steve Koppe	(3,2,1,X,1)	7
10		(0,0,2,2,2)	6
11		(1,2,2,0,1)	6
12	Steve Baker	(2,0,1,1,0)	4
13		(2,1,0,0,F)	3
14		(1,1,F,X,X)	2
15		(0,0,1,1,0)	2
16		(0,X,X,0,0)	0
R1		(3,1)	4
18		(1)	1

Intercontinental Round[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Norwegian Final
1 May		Einar Kyllingstad
Danish Final
5 May	Brovst	Hans Nielsen	Erik Gundersen	Preben Eriksen
American Final
8 June	Long Beach	John Cook	Sam Ermolenko	Shawn Moran
Nordic Final
9 June		Tommy Knudsen	Jan Andersson	Erik Gundersen
Overseas Final
14 July	Bradford	Shawn Moran	Kenny Carter	Lance King
Intercontinental Final
3 August	Vetlanda	Shawn Moran	Lance King	Hans Nielsen

Norwegian Final[]

May 1, 1985
First to Nordic final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Einar Kyllingstad	15
2		14
3		11
4		11
5		10
6		10
7		9
8	Arnt Forland	9
9		7
10		7
11		4
12		3
13		3
14		3
15		3
16		1

Danish Final[]

May 5, 1985
Brovst
First 7 to Nordic final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Hans Nielsen	15
2	Erik Gundersen	13+3
3	Preben Eriksen	13+2
4	Tommy Knudsen	11
5	Finn Rune Jensen	10
6	Jan O. Pedersen	10
7	John Jørgensen	10
8	Jens Rasmussen	9
9		6
10		6
11	Bo Petersen	6
12		3
13		2
14		2
15	Per Sorensen	2
16		1
R1		1

American Final[]

June 8, 1985
Long Beach, Veterans Memorial Stadium
First 5 to Overseas 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
	(12) John Cook	15			3					3		3			3						3		15	1
	(3) Sam Ermolenko	13	3						3				2				3				2		13	2
	(8) Shawn Moran	12		2						2			3			3			2				12	3
4	(14) Lance King	11				3		3					1		2							2	11	4	3
5	(13) Rick Miller	11				2	3							3		2					1		11	5	2
6	(5) Bobby Schwartz	11		3			2					1					2					3	11	6	1
7	(15) Kelly Moran	11				1			2			2						3	3				11	7	F
8	(10)	7			1			2						2			1		1				7	8
9	(9) Brad Oxley	7			2		0						0					2		3			7	9
10	(6)	5		1				1			3							0			F		5	10
11	(4)	5	1							1				1				1				1	5	11
12	(1) Mike Faria	3	2				1				F				X				0				3	12
13	(7)	3		0					1					0	1					1			3	13
14	(11)	3			X				0		2					1						0	3	14
15	(2)	2	0					0				0				0				2			2	15
16	(16)	1				0				X	1						0			0			1	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

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

Nordic Final[]

June 9, 1985
First 6 to Intercontinental final plus 1 reserve
Kai Niemi, Ari Koponen and seeded direct to the 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
	(3) Tommy Knudsen	15	3						3				3				3				3		15	1
	(14) Jan Andersson	12				2		2					2		3							3	12	2
	(15) Erik Gundersen	11				3			0			3						2	3				11	3
4	(10) Hans Nielsen	10			E			3						3			2		2				10	4
5	(1) Kai Niemi	10	2				3				3				1				1				10	5
6	(11) Jan O. Pedersen	10			2				2		2					2						2	10	6
7	(12) John Jørgensen	8			3					1		2			0						2		8	7	3
8	(4)	8	1							3				E				3				1	8	8	2
9	(8) Preben Eriksen	7		2						2			E			3			0				7	9
10	(7) Richard Hellsen	7		1					1					1	2					2			7	10
11	(13) Per Jonsson	6				1	2							2		0					1		6	11
12	(2) Einar Kyllingstad	5	0					0				1				1				3			5	12
13	(5) Finn Rune Jensen	5		3			1					0					1					0	5	13
14	(6) Ari Koponen	3		0				1			1							1			0		3	14
15	(9) Erik Stenlund	2			X		0						1					0		1			2	15
16	(16)	0				0				0	0						E			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

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

Overseas Final[]

July 14, 1985
Bradford, Odsal Stadium
First 10 to the Intercontinental Final plus 1 reserve
David Bargh seeded direct to Overseas Final by the New Zealand Auto Cycle Union

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
	(3) Shawn Moran	14	3						3				3				3				2		14	1	3
	(2) Kenny Carter	14	2					3				3				3				3			14	2	2
	(4) Lance King	12	0							3				3				3				3	12	3
4	(1) Andy Smith	11	1				2				3				2				3				11	4
5	(7) John Davis	11		2					2					2	3					2			11	5
6	(6) Kelvin Tatum	10		3				0			2							2			3		10	6
7	(14) John Cook	8				3		1					2		0							2	8	7
8	(8) Phil Crump	8		1						2			1			2			2				8	8
9	(10) Sam Ermolenko	7			3			2						0			1		1				7	9
10	(13) Phil Collins	6				1	3							1		1					0		6	10	3
11	(12) Chris Morton	6			2					0		2			1						1		6	11	2
12	(15) Neil Collins	5				2			1			1						1	0				5	12
13	(16)	5				F				1	1						2			1			5	13
14	(11) David Bargh	2			1				0		0					0						1	2	14
15	(9) Rick Miller	1			0		1						0					E		0			1	15
16	(5) Les Collins	0		0			0					0					0					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

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

Intercontinental Final[]

August 3, 1985
Vetlanda, Vetlanda Speedway
First 11 plus one reserve to the 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
	(2) Shawn Moran	14	3					3				3				3				2			14	1
	(11) Lance King	12			3				2		2					2						3	12	2	3
	(9) Hans Nielsen	12			1		2						3					3		3			12	3	2
4	(1) Jan Andersson	11	2				3				1				3				2				11	4
5	(12) Kai Niemi	10			2					3		0			2						3		10	5
6	(15) Tommy Knudsen	9				3			F			1						2	3				9	6
7	(5) Sam Ermolenko	9		3			1					2					2					1	9	7
8	(3) Kelvin Tatum	8	0						3				2				1				2		8	8
9	(7) John Cook	8		2					1					3	1					1			8	9
10	(16) Erik Gundersen	7				0				1	3						3			0			7	10
11	(4) Jan O. Pedersen	6	1							2				1				0				2	6	11
12	(13) Phil Collins	5				1	0							2		1					1		5	12
13	(10) John Davis	3			0			2						0			0		1				3	13
14	(14) Kenny Carter	2				2		F					-		-							-	2	14
15	(8) Phil Crump	2		1						0			1			0			F				2	15
16	(6) Andy Smith	2		F				1			0							1			0		2	16
R1	(R1) John Jørgensen	0											0									0	0	R1
R2	(R2) Chris Morton	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

Continental Round[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Preliminary Round
21 April	Diedenbergen	Klaus Lausch
21 April	Targovishte
21 April	Toruń		Wojciech Żabiałowicz	Antonín Kasper Jr.
21 April	Miskolc	Viktor Kuznetsov
Quarter-Finals
1 May	Lonigo	Armando Castagna		Valentino Furlanetto
1 May	Krsko	Antonín Kasper Jr.	Armando Dal Chiele
1 May	Bremen	Klaus Lausch	Václav Verner	Zdenek Schneiderwind
5 May	Wiener Neustadt	Zoltan Adorjan	Sandor Tihanyi	Andrzej Huszcza
Semi-Finals
9 June	Debrecen	Zoltan Adorjan	Viktor Kuznetsov	Sandor Tihanyi
9 June	Žarnovica	Egon Muller	Klaus Lausch	Armando Castagna
Final
21 July	Pocking	Egon Muller	Armando Castagna	Zoltan Adorjan

Continental Final[]

July 21, 1985
Pocking,
First 5 plus one reserve to the 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
	(15) Egon Muller	14				2			3			3						3	3				14	1
	(11) Armando Castagna	13			3				2		3					3						2	13	2
	(14) Zoltan Adorjan	12				3		2					3		1							3	12	3
4	(10) Viktor Kuznetsov	11			0			3						3			3		2				11	4	3
5	(12) Karl Maier	11			2					2		2			3						2		11	5	2
6	(3)	11	3						1				2				2				3		11	6	1
7	(8) Antonín Kasper Jr.	10		3						3			1			2			1				10	7
8	(1) Petr Vandirek	8	2				2				2				2				0				8	8
9	(9) Sandor Tihanyi	7			1		3						0					2		1			7	9
10	(5) Aleš Dryml Sr.	6		2			1					1					1					1	6	10
11	(16) Klaus Lausch	5				X				1	1						0			3			5	11
12	(7)	5		1					E					2	0					2			5	12
13	(13)	3				1	X							1		1					0		3	13
14	(6) Václav Verner	2		0				1			0							1			X		2	14
15	(4)	1	1							X				0				0				X	1	15
16	(2)	0	X					0				0				0				0			0	16
R1	(R1) Andrzej Huszcza	1																			1		1	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

World Final[]

31 August 1985
Bradford, Odsal Stadium^[6]
Referee: () Torrie Kittlesen

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) Erik Gundersen	13				1		3					3		3							3	13	1	3
	(15) Hans Nielsen	13				3			3			3						1	3				13	2	2
	(13) Sam Ermolenko	13				2	3							3		2					3		13	3	1
4	(8) Kai Niemi	10		2						3			2			3			0				10	4
5	(5) Shawn Moran	10		3			1					1					3					2	10	5
6	(9) Tommy Knudsen	10			2		2						1					2		3			10	6
7	(6) John Cook	9		0				2			3							3			1		9	7
8	(1) Kelvin Tatum	8	3				0				1				2				2				8	8
9	(10) Jan O. Pedersen	7			3			1						1			1		1				7	9
10	(12) Jan Andersson	7			1					1		2			1						2		7	10
11	(11) Lance King	6			0				2		2					1						1	6	11
12	(3) Egon Muller	5	2						1				E				2				0		5	12
13	(4) Armando Castagna	4	0							2				2				0				0	4	13
14	(16) Zoltan Adorjan	2				0				0	0						0			2			2	14
15	(2) Viktor Kuznetsov	2	1					0				0				0				1			2	15
16	(7) Karl Maier	1		1					0					0	0					0			1	16
R1	(R1)	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2) Phil Collins	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[]

^ "WORLD FINALS 1936-1994" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
^ "HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK". Speedway.org. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
^ "WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX". British Speedway. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
^ "World Championship 1936-1994". Edinburgh Speedway. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
^ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
^ Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-2402-5

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

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

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

[4] "World Championship 1936-1994". Edinburgh Speedway. Retrieved 10 July 2021.

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

[6] 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