1987 Individual Speedway World Championship

The 1987 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 42nd edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.

It was contested for the one and only time over two days in the Netherlands. The scores from both meetings were combined to produce the eventual winner.

With the chances of a surprise winner reduced due to two races being held it was the favourite Hans Nielsen that duly obliged with his second World crown. Nielsen had trailed after day one by 1 point to great rival Erik Gundersen and the American Sam Ermolenko. However, in trademark style Nielsen produced a 15-point maximum on day two to wrap up the World Title, with Gundersen claiming silver and Ermolenko bronze.

First round British preliminary round Top 32 riders to British semi-finals DateVenueWinner2nd3rd 5 AprilArlington Stadium, Eastbourne Andy Galvin Malcolm Holloway Martin Dugard 5 AprilMildenhall Stadium, Mildenhall Alan Mogridge Melvyn Taylor Martin Goodwin 11 April Loomer Road Stadium, Chesterton Nigel Crabtree Martin Yeates Doug Wyer 16 April Cleveland Park Stadium, Middlesbrough Gary Havelock Martin Dixon Les Collins 24 AprilEast of England Arena, Peterborough Andrew Silver Trevor Banks Ian Barney 4 May Brough Park, Newcastle Andrew Silver Ian Barney David Blackburn

Second round

British semi-finals Top 16 riders to British semi-finals 17 May Abbey Stadium, Swindon Top 8 to British final Pos. Rider Points1 Jeremy Doncaster152 Marvyn Cox123 Andy Grahame104 Simon Cross105 Alun Rossiter96 Kelvin Tatum97 Andrew Silver98 John Davis8+39 Steve Bastable8+210 Melvyn Taylor711 David Blackburn512 Richard Knight513 Malcolm Simmons514 Sean Wilson315 Andy Campbell216 Doug Wyer117 Matthew Cross (res)117 May Owlerton Stadium, Sheffield Top 8 to British final Pos. Rider Points1 Simon Wigg12+32 Neil Evitts12+23 Neil Collins12+14 Paul Thorp105 Andy Smith106 Chris Morton107 Gary Havelock98 Peter Carr99 Les Collins810 Ian Barney511 Kenny McKinna512 Trevor Banks413 Andy Galvin414 Carl Blackbird415 Sean Willmott316 Alan Grahame3

Third round Continental preliminary round DateVenueWinner2nd3rd 1 May Pfaffenhofen Speedwaybahn, Pfaffenhofen Bohumil Brhel Ryszard Francsyszyn Vladimir Voronkov 17 May Matija Gubec Stadium, Krško Valentino Furlanetto Lubomir Jedek Gianni Famari 17 May Anton Treffer Stadion, Neustadt Donau Antal Kocso Andrzej Huszcza Laszlo Bodi 17 May Speedway Stadium, Targovishte Grzegorz Dzikowski Josef Sereš Dariusz Baliński

Swedish qualification Top 8 in each heat to Swedish final

(3 May, Nässjö Motorstadion, Nässjö)PosRider Points 1 Jan Andersson 13+32 Per Jonsson 13+23 Mikael Blixt 124 Johan Staaf 115 Roland Dannö 116 Dennis Löfqvist 107 Tony Olsson 108 Claes Ivarsson 89 Thomas Ek 710 Pierre Brannefors 611 Jörgen Johansson 612 Lennart Bengtsson 613 Tony Gudbrand 214 Patrik Olsson 215 Leif Jonsson 216 Anders Kling 1

(3 May, Motorbanen Hagalund, Lindesberg)PosRider Points 1 Tommy Nilsson 132 Erik Stenlund 113 Niklas Karlsson 114 Conny Ivarsson 105 Patrik Karlsson 106 Bo Arrhén 97 Christer Rohlén 98 Lillebror Johansson 99 Kenneth Nyström 810 Mikael Ritterwall 811 Peter Nahlin 712 Börje Ring 413 Lars Andersson 414 Mikael Teurnberg 315 Mikael Messing 316 Anders Condé 1

British Final 31 May 1987 Brandon Stadium, Coventry Top 9 to Commonwealth Final plus 1 reserve

Australian Final 24 January 1987 Olympic Park, Mildura First 4 to Commonwealth Final Pos. Rider Total1 Steve Regeling 142 Steve Baker 123 Glyn Taylor 104 Ashley Norton 105 Craig Hodgson 106 Mick Poole 97 David Jackson 98 Tony Butler 89 Tony Rose 810 Stephen Davies 711 David Cheshire 612 Mark Fiora 413 Andy Barret 414 Nigel Adlerton 315 Chris Watson 216 Nigel Tramelling 2

New Zealand Final 21 February 1987 Western Springs Stadium, Auckland Top 3 riders + 1 reserve to Commonwealth Final Pos. Rider Total1 David Bargh 142 Mitch Shirra 133 Larry Ross 124 Alan Mason 105 Mike Fullerton 106 Richard Price97 Mark Long88 Chris Martin 89 Steve Rose 810 John Roberts 611 Mark Lyndon 612 Chris Monk 513 Les Chappell414 Don Hopewell315 Dave Cotton 2

Fourth round Continental quarter-finals Top 32 to Continental semi-finals DateVenueWinner2nd3rd 24 May Stadion Wiener Neustadt József Petrikovics Armando Castagna Toni Pilotto 31 May Hajdú Volán Stadion, Debrecen Mikhail Starostin Viktor Kuznetsov Zoltan Adorjan 31 May Rivne Speedway Stadium, Rivne Roman Matoušek Jiří Svoboda Valery Gordeev 31 May Slaný Speedway Stadium, Slaný Antonín Kasper, Jr. Gerd Riss Karl Maier

Commonwealth Final 14 June 1987 Hyde Road, Manchester First 11 to the Overseas Final

American Final 13 June 1987 Veterans Memorial Stadium, Long Beach Top 5 to Overseas Final Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total1 Sam Ermolenko 3,4,4,4,4 192 Kelly Moran 4,4,3,4,3183 John Cook 4,2,4,3,2 15+44 Robert Pfetzing 4,4,4,2,2 15+35 Mike Faria 2,4,3,4,215+26 Lance King 4,2,3,2,415+17 Rick Miller 3,3,2,4,315+08 Shawn Moran 3,0,4,3,4149 Bobby Schwartz 0,4,2,3,31210 Gary Hicks 2,1,1,3,41111 Steve Lucero 1,3,3,2,11012 John Sandona 1,3,2,0,3813 Jim Sisemore 2,0,1,2,3814 Brad Oxley 3,1,1,1,1715 Eddie Ingels 2,1,2,0,0516 Mark Dwyer 1,2,0,1,1517 Tuff McBridge 1,2,1,1,F 518 John Kehoe 0,1,0,0,1219 Gary Ford 0,0,0,1,0 120 Bart Bast 0,0,0,0,00

Swedish Finals Top 4 + 1 reserve (+ Jimmy Nilsen, seeded) to Nordic Final R1 (19 May, Grevby Motorstadion, Mariestad) R2 (20 May, Snälltorpet, Eskilstuna) R3 (21 May, Vetlanda Motorstadion, Vetlanda) Pos. Rider R1R2R3Total1 Jan Andersson 151414 432 Per Jonsson 141513 423 Roland Danno 91111 314 Tommy Nilsson 81210 305 Patrik Karlsson 10811 296 Conny Ivarsson 999 277 Christer Rohlen 7108 258 Niklas Karlsson 8310 219 Tony Olsson 695 2010 Dennis Löfqvist 763 1611 Jan Staan 355 1312 Bo Arhhen 282 1213 Claes Ivarsson 317 1114 Kenneth Nystrom 360 915 Erik Stenlund 62- 816 Lillebror Johansson 313 717 Mikael Blixt 61- 718 Pierre Brannefors -07 719 Mikael Rittewall --1 116 Jorgen Johansson --0 0

Finnish Final 2 riders selected for Nordic Final

Norway Final 2 riders selected for Nordic Final

Danish Final 17 May 1987 Slangerup Speedway Center, Slangerup First 6 + Jan O Pedersen (seeded) to the Nordic Final

Fifth round Continental semi-finals 13 June Alfred Smoczyk Stadium, Leszno Top 8 to Continental final Pos. Rider Points1 Roman Jankowski 142 Wojciech Zabialowicz 133 Zoltán Adorján 11+34 Vladimir Trofimov 11+25 Roman Matoušek 106 Michail Starostin 107 Sandor Tihanyi 98 Janusz Stachyra 89 Viktor Kuznetsov 710 Valerij Gordeev 611 Zdeněk Schneiderwind 612 Grzegorz Dzikowski 513 Gianni Famari 514 Giorgio Zaramella 315 Jiří Svoboda 216 Zdeněk Tesař 017 Josef Fejfar (res) 014 June Breitenthal Speedway Stadium, Krumbach Top 8 to Continental final Pos. Rider Points1 Gerd Riss 142 Armando Castagna 133 Antonín Kasper Jr. 11+34 Petr Vandírek 11+25 Armando Dal Chiele 106 Karl Maier 97 Jan Krzystyniak 98 Antal Kocso 89 Toni Pilotto 610 Ryszard Franczyszyn 611 Janos Balogh 512 Andrzej Huszcza 413 Zoltan Hajdu 414 Dariusz Stenka 415 József Petrikovics 316 Michael Datzmann 317 Bohumil Brhel 018 Heinrich Schatzer (res) 0

Overseas Final 5 July 1987 Odsal Stadium, Bradford First 10 to the Intercontinental Final plus 1 reserve

Nordic Final 14 June 1987 Norrköping Motorstadion, Norrköping First 7 to the Intercontinental Final plus 1 reserve

Sixth round Сontinental Final 26 July 1987 Santa Marina Stadium, Lonigo First 4 to the World Final plus 1 reserve

Intercontinental Final 27 July 1987 Vojens Speedway Center, Vojens First 11 to the World Final plus 1 reserve

World Final Scores accumulated from 2 days

Day 1 5 September 1987 Amsterdam, Olympic StadiumBamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. Referee: Roman Cheladze

Day 2 6 September 1987 Olympic Stadium, Amsterdam Referee: Roman Cheladze

Final standings Pos. Rider Scores Total1 Hans Nielsen 12+15272 Erik Gundersen 13+1124+33 Sam Ermolenko 13+1124+24 Jimmy Nilsen 9+13225 Per Jonsson 11+11226 Jeremy Doncaster 12+8207 Jan O. Pedersen 10+9198 John Cook 7+8159 Mitch Shirra 7+51210 Gerd Riss 4+81211 Simon Cross 7+31012 Antonín Kasper, Jr. 5+4913 Chris Morton 5+4914 Roman Jankowski 0+8815 Roman Matoušek 3+2516 Henny Kroeze 1+01R1 Peter Ravn 11R2 Vladimir Trofimov did not ride-

See also

References