1973 Individual Speedway World Championship

The 1973 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 28th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.

The 1973 World Final was won by Polish rider Jerzy Szczakiel following a run-off in with defending champion Ivan Mauger after both riders had finished on 13 points. On the second lap of the run-off, Mauger fell in turn 3 after trying a risky passing move leaving Szczakiel to win easily. Another Polish rider, Zenon Plech finished third. Rank outsider Szczakiel, who had finished last with no points scored in his only other World Final appearance in Sweden in 1971, rode the meeting of his life and was only beaten in his final two rides before defeating Mauger in the run-off.

The final, held at the Silesian Stadium in Chorzów, Poland, is believed to have been held in front of the largest crowd in world speedway history, estimated to be around 130,000, though some reports put the size of the crowd as anywhere from 90,000 to 120,000.Katowice 1973 The previous record for a final was 95,000 during the 1938 Individual Speedway World Championship at Wembley.

Format changes The format of the Championship changed for the 1973 event. This time the Polish riders were allowed five places in the World Final to be held in Poland. All other nations had to go through the European Final route to provide the remaining 11 riders for the World Final.

First round British/Commonwealth preliminaries Riders progress to British/Commonwealth qualifiers DateVenueWinner2nd3rd 29 AprilArlington Stadium, Eastbourne Gordon Kennett Paul Gachet Bobby McNeil 29 AprilBoston Sports Stadium, Boston Graeme Stapleton John Dews Russ Osborne 2 MayOdsal Stadium, Bradford Neil Street Billy Sanders Rick France 7 MayEarle Street, Crewe Mitch Graham Arthur Price Les Owen 7 MayBirchfield Ladbroke Stadium, Birmingham Jim Ryman Bob Paulson Ted Howgego

Second round Norwegian qualifying 10 September 1972 Gamle Stadion, Sandefjord Top 12 to Nordic qualification 1973 Pos. Rider Points1 Ulf Lövaas 142 Dag Lövaas 123 Odd Fossengen 114 Helge Langli 115 Svein Kaasa 96 Oyvind S. Berg 97 Edgar Stangeland 98 Reidar Eide 99 Tormod Langli 810 Hans Erik Fuglerud 711 Johnny Larsen 712 Per Hetland 513 Svein Lökken 314 Kjell Gimre 315 Jan Jacobsen 216 Öyvind Rökeberg 0 Finnish qualifying (top 10) (3 rounds) First (+1 seeded riders) to Nordic qualification 1973 R1 (? '72, Kärpänen Speedway, Lahti) R2 (26 Aug '72, Kärpänen Speedway, Lahti) R3 (? '72, Eteläpuisto, Tampere) Pos. Rider Points Total (best 2)1 Matti Olin 8+8+0162 Hannu Känkänen 4+6+8143 Kalevi Lahtinen 6+0+6124 Heikki Ahonen 1+3+475 Kari Vuoristo 3+2+056 Pekka Paljakka 0+4+047 Matti Touru 0+0+338 Tapio Leppasalko 2+1+039 Jouko Naskali 0+0+2210 Timo Naskali 0+0+11

Swedish qualifying Top 8 in each heat to Nordic qualification

(1 May, Gamla Galgberget, Visby)PosRider Points 1 Lars Jansson 142 Bernt Persson 123 Christer Löfqvist 104 Jan Simensen 95 Sven Nilsson 96 Kenneth Selmosson 97 Bo Wirebrand 98 Karl-Erik Claesson 99 Conny Samuelsson 810 Håkan Karlsson 711 Sören Karlsson 612 Bengt Olsson 613 Anders Lövgren 414 Peter Smith 315 Lars Larsson 316 Leif Mellberg2

(1 May, Målilla (Motorbana), Målilla)PosRider Points 1 Sören Sjösten 142 Bengt Jansson 133 Anders Michanek 114 Stefan Johansson 115 Tommy Johansson 106 Leif Johansson 107 Bengt Larsson 78 Stefan Salmonsson 79 Anders Jansson 610 Sigvard Johansson 611 Roy Dantanus 512 Lars-Inge Hultberg 513 Tomas Johansson 514 Therje Henriksson 415 Steve Johansson 416 Åke Andersson 217 Bertil Andersson 0

(5 May, Motorbanen Hagalund, Lindesberg)PosRider Points 1 Hasse Holmqvist 142 Tommy Jansson 123 Tomas Pettersson 104 Stephan Johansson 105 Leif Enecrona 96 Tommy Nilsson 97 Göte Nordin 98 Christer Sjösten 89 Rolf Johansson 710 Åke Dovhed 611 Käll Haage 612 Lennart Johansson 513 Willy Karlsson 414 Per-Åke Gerhardsson 415 Börje Klingberg 316 Hans Johansson 3

Continental qualifying Rider progress to Continental quarter-finals DateVenueWinner2nd3rd 29 April Mladost Stadum, Prelog Zdenek Majstr Evzen Erban Jozef Haider 6 May Motodrom Halbemond, Norden Jan Hadek Jiri Dominik Henny Kroeze

British/Commonwealth qualifiers Top riders progress to British/Commonwealth semi-finals DateVenueWinner2nd3rd 12 MayKing's Lynn Stadium, King's Lynn John Louis Terry Betts Malcolm Simmons 14 May Reading Stadium, Reading Martin Ashby Mick Bell Geoff Curtis 16 MayWimborne Road, Poole Pete Smith Ray Wilson Terry Betts 17 MayOwlerton Stadium, Sheffield Jim McMillan Arnie Haley Doug Wyer 18 MayMonmore Green, Wolverhampton George Hunter Ray Wilson Gary Peterson 18 MayHackney Wick Stadium, London Terry Betts Bob Valentine Barry Thomas 19 MayThe Shay, Halifax John Boulger Eric Boocock Bill Andrew 19 MayDudley Wood Stadium, Dudley John Louis Bruce Cribb Colin Gooddy 19 MayAbbey Stadium, Swindon Jim McMillan Doug Wyer Tony Davey 19 MayHyde Road, Manchester Ivan Mauger Chris Pusey Eric Broadbelt 21 MayCounty Ground Stadium, Exeter Ivan Mauger Martin Ashby Bob Coles 22 MayLeicester Stadium, Leicester John Boulger Ray Wilson Bob Kilby 23 MaySomerton Park, Newport Eric Boocock Roy Trigg Gary Peterson 24 MayWimbledon Stadium, London Peter Collins Norman Hunter Ian Turner 24 MayOxford Stadium, Oxford Bob Kilby Malcolm Ballard Eric Boocock 25 MayCliftonhill, Coatbridge Mick Bell John Boulger Chris Julian 26 MayBrandon Stadium, Coventry Nigel Boocock Ray Wilson Bob Kilby 29 MayFoxhall Stadium, Ipswich Ivan Mauger Tony Davey Mick Bell

Third round Continental quarter-finals Top 32 to Continental semi-finals DateVenueWinner2nd3rd 10 May Svítkov Stadium, Pardubice Vladimir Zapleshny Jiří Štancl Miloslav Verner 20 May Borsod Volán Stadion, Miskolc Grigory Khlinovsky Viktor Trofimov Aleksandr Pavlov 20 May Breitenthal Stadium, Krumbach Milan Špinka Vladimir Paznikov Jan Holub I 20 May Matija Gubec Stadium, Krško Anatoly Kuzmin Vladimir Gordeev Petr Ondrašík

British/Commonwealth semi-finals 5 June Leicester Stadium, Leicester Top 8 to British/Commonwealth final

Pos. Rider Points1 Ivan Mauger 142 John Louis 133 Chris Pusey 124 Jim Mcmillan105 Rick France96 Peter Collins97 Bob Valentine88 Tony Davey89 Garry Middleton810 Alan Wilkinson711 Doug Wyer 712 Arnie Haley613 Bob Humphreys614 Eric Broadbelt215 Bob Kilby116 Nigel Boocock 07 June Wimbledon Stadium, London Top 8 to British final Pos. Rider Points1 John Boulger 142 Martin Ashby133 Eric Boocock104 Malcolm Simmons105 Ray Wilson106 Terry Betts107 Mick Bell98 Pete Smith99 Roy Trigg710 Gary Peterson511 Barry Thomas 512 Malcolm Ballard513 Geoff Maloney414 George Hunter315 Bruce Cribb316 Bill Andrew1

Nordic qualification Top 5 from each meeting to Nordic final

(17 May, Gubbängens IP, Stockholm)PosRider Points 1 Bengt Jansson 152 Anders Michanek143 Göte Nordin134 Dag Lövaas125 Lars Jansson116 Karl-Erik Claesson97 Kenneth Selmosson88 Sören Sjösten89 Arne Andreasen710 Erik Tillgaard611 Sven Nilsson412 Hans Fuglerud413 Svein Lökken414 Jörn Mogensen315 Rolf Johansson (res)116 Heikki Ahonen117 Öystein Mellerud0

(27 May, Grenland Arena, Skien)PosRider Points 1 Bernt Persson 152 Tommy Jansson 133 Odd Fossengen 124 Öyvind Berg 125 Tommy Johansson 116 Leif Enecrona 117 Tomas Pettersson 8 8 Krause Kjaer 89 Bengt Larsson 710 Ulf Lövaas 711 Helge Langli 512 Preben Bollerup 413 Stefan Johansson 314 Stefan Salmonsson 3

(27 May, Selskov Stadium, Hillerod)PosRider Points 1 Ole Olsen 152 Christer Löfqvist 143 Jan Simensen 134 Hasse Holmqvist 115 Christer Sjösten 116 Edgar Stangeland 117 Bo Wirebrand 78 Jan Terje Gravningen 79 Stephan Johansson 7 10 Kurt Bögh 611 Tommy Nilsson 612 Bent Nörregaard-Jensen 413 Leif Johansson 3 14 Tormod Langli 2 15 Per Herland 116 Matti Olin 1

Fourth round Continental semi-finals 2 June Rodenbach Motodrom, Rodenbach Top 8 to Continental final Pos. Rider Points1 Grigory Khlinovsky 132 Valerij Gordeev 133 Václav Verner 124 Milan Špinka 125 Vladimir Paznikov 126 Viktor Trofimov 77 Alexander Pavlov 78 Josef Angermüller 79 Oleg Dziadyk 710 Jan Klokocka 711 Manfred Poschenreider 612 Jan Holub I 613 Georgij Ivanov 414 Miroslav Rosulek 315 Vladimir Tchistiakov (res)116 Yury Dubinin 017 Petr Safarik 018 Otto Barth (res)02 June Slaný Speedway Stadium, Slaný Top 8 to Continental final Pos. Rider Points1 Vladimir Gordeev 152 Jiří Štancl 133 Anatolij Kuzmin 124 Vladimir Zaplechny 115 Zdeněk Majstr 116 Karel Vobornik 107 Miroslav Verner 108 Petr Ondrašík 89 Petr Kucera 610 Nikolai Aksjonov 511 Gregorij Markatanov 412 Henny Kroeze 413 Nikolaj Kornev 414 Gerhard Uhlenbrock 315 Josef Bössner 216 Pal Pereny 1

British/Commonwealth Final 21 June 1973 Owlerton Stadium, Sheffield First 8 to British-Nordic Final

Nordic Final 6 June 1973 Norrköping Motorstadion, Norrköping First 8 to British-Nordic Final

Fifth round British/Commonwealth/Nordic Final 1 August 1973 Brandon Stadium, Coventry First 8 to European Final

Continental Final 23 June 1973 Leningrad Speedway Stadium, Leningrad First 8 to European Final plus 1 reserve

Sixth round Polish qualifiers The top five finishers in the Golden Helmet, during the 1973 Polish speedway season gained nominations for the World final.

European Final 19 August 1973 Abensberger Stadion, Abensberg First 11 to World Final plus 1 reserve

World Final

Final Controversy The Final was surrounded by controversy, with decisions made by Georg Traunspurger, the referee assigned to the meeting by the FIM, seeming to favour the Polish riders. One of his decisions was to have 2nd reserve Andrzej Wyglenda of Poland race in Heat 16 in front of 1st reserve Tommy Jansson of Sweden (after Bernt Persson of Sweden was unable to ride), making it four Polish riders in the race. In the race, second placed Edward Jancarz, who led for the first three laps, seemed to let Zenon Plech take the lead in the final turn, allowing Plech, who had more points at that stage of the meeting, to collect another three points for the win.

His most controversial decision was to exclude Soviet rider Grigory Khlinovsky from heat 19. Khlinovsky had attempted to pass on the inside of Zenon Plech for the lead going into the back straight of the last lap. As he was passed by the Russian, Plech lost control of his bike and fell. Despite protests from riders and the Soviet officials Khlinovsky was excluded and England's Peter Collins, who was in 3rd place at the time of the crash, was awarded the heat win, Plech, who didn't actually finish the race, was awarded 2nd. The result of the two points he gained for second place allowed Plech to finish a clear third in the championship. Had Khlinovsky been the winner of the heat, he would have ended on 13 points, which would have put him in the run-off for the title with Szczakiel and Mauger.YouTube

British television commentator Dave Lanning called the ruling "The craziest piece of speedway regulations in the history of World Championship racing", before adding that "It seems to me that the authorities here in Katowice are making up the rules to suit themselves to get their boys a world title."

Final result 2 September 1973 Silesian Stadium, ChorzówBamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. Referee: Georg Traunspurger

References