1989 Speedway World Team Cup

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 1989 Speedway World Team Cup was the 30th edition of the FIM Speedway World Team Cup to determine the team world champions.[1][2]

The final was staged at Odsal Stadium, Bradford, England. The English team dominated the meeting, following near tragedy for Denmark. Jeremy Doncaster, Kelvin Tatum, Paul Thorp and Simon Wigg defeated Denmark, Sweden and the USA in a single meeting final. The Danish run of sixth consecutive titles finally came to an end and England once more went top of the all time list, with nine titles.[3][4]

The World Cup Final saw the end of the career of three time World Champion Erik Gundersen of Denmark. In the first race of the meeting, Gundersen won the start from gate 4 and headed the field into the first turn. His engine suddenly seized causing his bike to lock up he was knocked off by the rider behind. As he lay on the race track he was hit in the head by another rider's rear wheel. After the accident he was not expected to live and he remained in coma for a period of time but he eventually regained consciousness.[5] Gundersen had to learn to walk again and raised a large amount of money for the Bradford Royal Infirmary which saved his life and he later became manager of the Danish Speedway Team. None of the riders involved in the accident - Gundersen, Simon Cross (Eng), Jimmy Nilsen (SWE) and Lance King (USA), took any further part in the final and Denmark were clearly affected by the accident.

Qualification[]

Group D[]

  • Venues: Shumen, Bulgaria and Sandes, Holland
1st 2nd 3rd 4th
Norway 45+47=92
24
Lars Gunnestad 23
18
Tor Einar Hielm 15
Einar Kyllingstad 12 		Bulgaria 37+37=74
25
19
17
7
6 		Netherlands 22+16=38
13
9
8
4
4 		New Zealand
Qualified - not started

Norway to Group C.

Group C[]

  • Venues : Lonigo, Italy and Wiener Neustadt, Austria
1st 2nd 3rd 4th
Italy 47+30=77
Armando Dal Chiele 22
Valentino Furlanetto 21
13
Armando Castagna 10
Andrea Maida 9
2 		Norway 31+40=71
Lars Gunnestad 25
Einar Kyllingstad 22
Arnt Förland 10
8
4
2 		Finland 18+29=47
Olli Tyrväinen 20
9
Kai Niemi 7
6
4
1 		Austria 24+21=45
12
11
10
6
6
0

Italy to Group B.

Group B[]

  • Venues : Nyiregyhaza, Hungary and Rzeszów, Poland
1st 2nd 3rd 4th
Australia 48+49=97
Troy Butler 26
24
Mick Poole 21
Craig Boyce 20
Leigh Adams 6 		Hungary 44+17=61
Zoltán Adorján 19
Antal Kocso 15
Sándor Tihanyi 13
József Petrikovics 12
2 		Poland 9+38=47
14
Roman Jankowski 13
Piotr Świst 9
8
Sławomir Drabik 2
Ryszard Dołomisiewicz 1 		Italy 19+15=34
Armando Castagna 12
Valentino Furlanetto 10
Armando Dal Chiele 6
4
Andrea Maida 1
1

Australia to Group A.

Group A[]

  • Venues : Diedenbergen, Germany and Prague, Czechoslovakia
1st 2nd 3rd 4th
Sweden 38+40=78
Per Jonsson 23
Jimmy Nilsen 21
Erik Stenlund 18
Tony Olsson 13
Mikael Blixt 3 		Germany 39+24=63
Gerd Riss 19
Klaus Lausch 18
Karl Maier 16
4
4
Tommy Dunker 2 		Czechoslovakia 27+34=61
Bohumil Brhel 17
Antonín Kasper Jr. 16
Roman Matoušek 12
Zdeněk Tesař 9
Zdenek Schneiderwind 7
Jan Holub II 0 		Australia 16+22=38
Craig Boyce 12
10
Mick Poole 8
Troy Butler 6
Leigh Adams 2
0
Todd Wiltshire 0

Sweden to Final.

World final[]

Venue : Bradford, England[]

1st 2nd 3rd 4th
England 48
Jeremy Doncaster 13
Kelvin Tatum 12
Paul Thorp 12
Simon Wigg 11
Simon Cross 0 		Denmark 34
Hans Nielsen 11
Gert Handberg 9
John Jørgensen 7
Brian Karger 7
Erik Gundersen 0 		Sweden 30
Mikael Blixt 10
Per Jonsson 8
Tony Olsson 7
Erik Stenlund 5
Jimmy Nilsen 0 		USA 8
Kelly Moran 6
Greg Hancock 2
Ronnie Correy 0
Rick Miller 0
Lance King 0

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "FIM SPEEDWAY WORLD CUP/ SPEEDWAY OF NATIONS" (PDF). Motor Sport Top 20. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  2. ^ "1989 WORLD TEAM CUP". International Speedway. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  3. ^ "World Team Cup 1960-1990". Edinburgh Speedway. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  4. ^ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  5. ^ Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-2402-5
Retrieved from ""