1991 Individual Speedway World Championship

The 1991 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 46th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Diminutive Danish rider Jan O. Pedersen won his first and only World Championship with a 15-point maximum from his five rides, the last time a rider would have a perfect score in the Final.^[4] Local favourite Tony Rickardsson finished second with 12 points, with triple champion Hans Nielsen of Denmark finishing third on 11 points after defeating fellow Dane Tommy Knudsen in a run-off. Defending champion Per Jonsson finished in ninth place with 7 points.^[5]

Overseas Qualification[]

Australian Qualification[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place	4th place
Northern Territory Championship
17 November 1990	Tennant Creek Speedway
Queensland Championship
1 December 1990		Troy Butler		Alan Rivett
Victorian Championship
23 December 1990		Leigh Adams	Jason Lyons	Phil Crump
New South Wales Championship
26 December 1990	Newcastle Motordrome	Craig Boyce	Todd Wiltshire
Western Australian Championship
28 December 1990	Claremont Speedway	Glenn Doyle
South Australian Championship
29 December 1990	Riverview Speedway	Shane Parker
Last Chance Qualifying
19 January 1991	Arunga Park Speedway	Shane Bowes		Mark Lemon	Glyn Taylor
Australian Solo Championship
27 January 1991	Arunga Park Speedway	Craig Boyce	Glenn Doyle	Glyn Taylor

Australian Final[]

27 January 1991
Alice Springs, Arunga Park Speedway
First 3 to Commonwealth final
Leigh Adams seeded to Commonwealth Final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Craig Boyce	15
2	Glenn Doyle	14
3	Glyn Taylor	12
4		10+3
5	Todd Wiltshire	10+2
6	Shane Bowes	10+1
7	Phil Crump*	9
8	Troy Butler	8
9	Shane Parker	8
10		5
11		5
12	Mark Lemon	5
13		3
14		2
15		2
16	Jason Lyons	2

* Phil Crump replaced injured Victorian Champion Leigh Adams

New Zealand Qualification[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
South Island Final
??	Ruapuna Speedway		??	??
North Island Final
??	Gisborne Speedway	David Bargh	??	??
New Zealand Final
14 February		David Bargh		Mark Thorpe

American Final[]

March 2, 1991
Long Beach, Veterans Memorial Stadium
First 5 to Overseas final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Rick Miller	15
2	Sam Ermolenko	14
3	Ronnie Correy	13
4	Kelly Moran	11
5	Billy Hamill	10+3
6	Bobby Ott	10+2
7	Gary Hicks	9
8	Bobby Schwartz	7
9	Mike Faria	7
10	Greg Hancock	6
11	Lance King	5
12		4
13	Steve Lucero	3
14	Brad Oxley	3
15		2
16	Josh Larsen (Res)	1
17		0

Swedish Final[]

May 14–15, June 2, 1991
- 3 Rounds (Kumla, Västervik & Stockholm)
First 5 to Nordic final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Scores	Total
1	Henrik Gustafsson	15+14+11	40
2	Per Jonsson	11+11+14	37
3	Tony Rickardsson	12+12+9	33
4	Jimmy Nilsen	13+12+8	33
5	Mikael Blixt	8+9+12	29
6	Erik Stenlund	11+6+10	27
7	Conny Ivarsson	3+11+12	26
8	Peter Karlsson	8+8+7	23
9	Stefan Dannö	10+5+4	19
10	Claes Ivarsson	4+3+11	18
11	Tony Olsson	2+7+6	15
12	Mikael Karlsson	5+5+5	15
13		7+1+5	13
14	Peter Nahlin	3+9+1	13
15		5+4+1	10
16		3+3+2	8

British Final[]

May 19, 1991
Coventry, Brandon Stadium
First 10 to Commonwealth final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Gary Havelock	15
2	Kelvin Tatum	13
3	Chris Louis	11
4	Paul Thorp	10
5	Jeremy Doncaster	10
6	Neil Collins	9
7	Andy Smith	8
8	Martin Dugard	8
9	Sean Wilson	7
10	Joe Screen	7
11	Mark Loram	5+3
12	John Davis	5+2
13	Alan Grahame	4
14	Richard Knight	3
15	Dave Mullett	3
16	Steve Schofield	0

Danish Final[]

May 19, 1991
- ,
First 6 to Nordic final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Jan O. Pedersen	15
2	Tommy Knudsen	14
3	Hans Nielsen	12+3
4	John Jörgensen	12+2
5	Gert Handberg	10
6	Bo Petersen	9
7		8
8	Brian Karger	6
9	Jan Staechmann	6
10		6
11		6
12		5
13	Per Sorensen	4
14		3
15		3
16		1

Commonwealth Final[]

June 2, 1991
- King's Lynn, Norfolk Arena
First 11 to Overseas final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Jeremy Doncaster	14
2	Leigh Adams	10+3
3	Joe Screen	10+2
4	Paul Thorp	10+1
5	Kelvin Tatum	9
6	Glenn Doyle	9
7	Neil Collins	8
8	Gary Havelock	8
9	Todd Wiltshire*	7
10	Andy Smith	7
11	Mitch Shirra	7
12	Chris Louis	6
13	Sean Wilson	5
14	Gary Allan	4
15	Martin Dugard	4
16	Craig Boyce	1

* Todd Wiltshire replaced Glyn Taylor

Overseas Final[]

June 23, 1991
- Bradford, Odsal Stadium
First 9 to World Semi-final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Kelvin Tatum	13
2	Sam Ermolenko	12+3
3	Billy Hamill	12+2
4	Andy Smith	11
5	Paul Thorp	10
6	Ronnie Correy	9
7	Jeremy Doncaster	7
8	Mitch Shirra	7
9	Kelly Moran	7
10	Todd Wiltshire	6+3
11	Glenn Doyle	6+2
12	Joe Screen	5
13	Rick Miller	4
14	Gary Havelock	4
15	Leigh Adams	4
16	Neil Collins	3

Nordic Final[]

June 23, 1991
- Brovst,
First 9 to World Semi-final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Hans Nielsen	13
2	Jan O. Pedersen	12
3	Jimmy Nilsen	11
4	Henrik Gustafsson	10
5	Per Jonsson	9
6	Lars Gunnestad	9
7	Gert Handberg	8
8	Tommy Knudsen	8
9	Mikael Blixt	8
10	Tony Rickardsson	7+3
11	Einar Kyllingstad	7+2
12		7+1
13	Bo Petersen	4
14	John Jörgensen	4
15		1
16	Tor Einar Hielm	1

Continental Qualification[]

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Continental Semi-final
June 23, 1991	Landshut,	Armando Castagna	Roman Matoušek	Gerd Riss
Continental Semi-final
June 23, 1991	Lonigo,	Ryszard Dołomisiewicz	Zoltán Adorján	Róbert Nagy

World Semi-Final #1[]

August 11, 1991
- Rovno,
First 8 to World final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Billy Hamill	12
2	Jimmy Nilsen	11
3	Per Jonsson	10+3
4	Paul Thorp	10+2
5	Roman Matoušek	9
6	Armando Castagna	9
7	Jeremy Doncaster	9
8	Mitch Shirra	9
9	Mikael Blixt	8+3
10	Henrik Gustafsson	8+2
11		7
12	Lars Gunnestad	6
13	Zoltán Adorján	4
14	Petr Vandirek	4
15	Antonín Kasper, Jr. (Res)	2
16	Róbert Nagy	1
17	Rif Saitgareev	1

World Semi-Final #2[]

August 18, 1991
- Abensberg,
First 8 to World final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Hans Nielsen	15
2	Jan O. Pedersen	14
3	Tommy Knudsen	12
4	Sam Ermolenko	11
5	Tony Rickardsson*	10
6	Ronnie Correy	8
7	Kelvin Tatum	8
8	Gerd Riss	8
9	Gert Handberg	7+3
10		7+2
11	Kelly Moran	6
12		5
13	Václav Milík, Sr.	3
14	Zdenek Schneiderwind	3
15	Klaus Lausch	2
16	Mikhail Starostin	1

* First reserve Tony Rickardsson replaced injured qualifier Andy Smith

World final[]

August 31, 1991
Göteborg, Ullevi^[6]

Classification[]

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	(15) Jan O. Pedersen	15				3			3			3						3	3				15	1
2	(6) Tony Rickardsson	12		2				3			3							2			2		12	2
3	(1) Hans Nielsen	11+3	2				3				1				3				2				11	3
4	(2) Tommy Knudsen	11+2	3					1				1				3				3			11	4
5	(3) Jimmy Nilsen	10	0						2				2				3				3		10	5
6	(10) Paul Thorp	10			3			2						2			2		1				10	6
7	(16) Sam Ermolenko	9				2				3	2						0			2			9	7
8	(13) Kelvin Tatum	8				1	2							3		2					0		8	8
9	(4) Per Jonsson	7	1							2				0				1				3	7	9
10	(5) Ronnie Correy	6		3			0					0					1					2	6	10
11	(8) Armando Castagna	6		1						1			3			1			0				6	11
12	(12) Billy Hamill	6			2					-		2			1						1		2	12
13	(7) Mitch Shirra	4		0					0					1	2					1			4	13
14	(11) Jeremy Doncaster	2			1				1		0					0						0	2	14
15	(9) Roman Matoušek	2			0		1						1					0		0			2	15
16	(14) Gerd Riss	1				0		0					0		0							1	1	16
	(17) Mikael Blixt	0								0													0
	(18) Gert Handberg	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

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

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Jan O. Pedersen	(3,3,3,3,3)	15
2	Tony Rickardsson	(2,3,3,2,2)	12
3	Hans Nielsen	(2,3,1,3,2)	11+3
4	Tommy Knudsen	(3,1,1,3,3)	11+2
5	Jimmy Nilsen	(0,2,2,3,3)	10
6	Paul Thorp	(3,2,2,2,1)	10
7	Sam Ermolenko	(2,3,2,0,2)	9
8	Kelvin Tatum	(1,2,3,2,0)	8
9	Per Jonsson	(1,2,0,1,3)	7
10	Ronnie Correy	(3,0,0,1,2)	6
11	Armando Castagna	(1,1,3,1,0)	6
12	Billy Hamill	(2,X,2,1,1)	6
13	Mitch Shirra	(0,0,1,2,1)	4
14	Roman Matoušek	(0,1,1,0,0)	2
15	Jeremy Doncaster	(1,1,0,0,0)	2
16	Gerd Riss	(0,0,0,0,1)	1
R1	Mikael Blixt	(-,0,-,-,-)	0
R2	Gert Handberg	(-,-,-,-,-)	-

References[]

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

External links[]

The finals at SVT's open archive (in Swedish)

[1] "World Championship 1936-1994". Edinburgh Speedway. 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] "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 10 July 2021.

[5] "WORLD FINALS 1936-1994" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. 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