The 1961 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 16th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.
The final was held outside of Wembley and England for the first time when on the 15 September Ove Fundin retained his title in his home country of Sweden. It was the first time a rider had won three titles and Sweden produced a clean sweep of podium places with Björn Knutson and Göte Nordin finishing second and third.
First round Qualification results.
Norwegian qualifying 25 June 1960 Idda Idrettsplassen, Kristiansand Top 5 to Nordic qualification 1961 Pos. Rider Points1 Aage Hansen 152 Oystein Mellerud 13+33 Sverre Harrfledt13+24 Rolf Westerberg125 Oddvar Kristiansen 96 Gunnar Skvetne 87 Jon Odegaard 88 Arne Kristiansen 79 Bjarne Sörenbye 710 Fred Roger Steen 711 Reidar Bakken 612 Egil H. Kruke 413 Egil Bratvold414 Ole Rostad 315 Reidar Eide 216 Egil Otto Tobiasen1 Finnish qualifying 25 September 1960 Eteläpuisto, Tampere First 5 (+seeded riders) to Nordic qualification 1961 Pos. Rider Points1 Kalevi Lahtinen 152 Olavi Turunen 133 Timo Laine 114 Yrjö Vuorio 115 Antti Pajari 106 Antero Salasto 107 Ilkka Helminen 88 Esko Koponen 79 Pertti Petersohn 610 Martti Assinen 611 Raimo Orastie 512 Nils Staaf 513 Jan Ulfingman 414 Valle Seliverstov 415 Heikki Yli Orvola 316 Osmo Hokkanen 2
Swedish qualifying Top 15 to Nordic qualifying DateVenueWinner2nd3rd30 April Vetlanda Motorstadion, Vetlanda Ove FundinRune SörmanderGöran Norlen1 May Gamla Speedway Track, Visby Ove FundinBjörn Knutson Arne Carlsson4 May Nya Ullevi, Gothenburg Sören SjöstenRune SörmanderEvert Andersson Pos. Rider Points1 Ove Fundin 302 Rune Sörmander 263 Björn Knutson 224 Evert Andersson 215 Arne Carlsson 216 Göran Norlén 197 Per-Tage Svensson 198 Sören Sjösten 199 Bert Lindarw 1910 Joel Jansson 1811 Leif Larsson 1812 Göte Nordin 1713 Bernt Nilsson 1614 Åke Andersson 1515 Curt Eldh 15Pos. Rider Points16 Olle Segerström 1317 Inge Gustafsson 918 Göran Carlsson 719 Kjell Lutteman 720 Thore Kindstrand 621 Thorvald Karlsson 522 Curt Nyqvist 423 Kjell Svensson 324 Bo Magnusson 125 Per-Åke Lundgren 126 Hans Hallberg 027 Bengt Brannefors 028 Olle Andersson IV 0
British & Commonwealth qualifying Top 64 riders to British & Commonwealth 2nd Round DateVenueWinner2nd3rd 22 MayCounty Ground, Exeter Eric Hockaday Jim Lightfoot Pete Lansdale 24 MayWimborne Road, Poole Maury Mattingley Tony Lewis Ken Middleditch 25 MayCleveland Park Stadium, Middlesbrough Dick Campbell Peter Vandenberg Geoff Mudge 26 MayMonmore Green Stadium, Wolverhampton Graham Warren Harry Edwards Eric Hockaday 26 MayRayleigh Weir Stadium, Rayleigh Johnny Fitzpatrick Gil Goldfinch Ken Adams 26 MayPennycross Stadium, Plymouth Jack Scott Tony Lewis Chris Julian 27 May Old Meadowbank, Edinburgh Jim Lightfoot Doug Templeton Dick Campbell 27 MayDudley Wood Stadium, Dudley Harry Bastable Ivor Brown Peter Vandenberg 1 JuneOwlerton Stadium, Sheffield Clive Featherby Clive Cox George Hunter 3 JuneHanley Greyhound Stadium, HanleyMaury Mattingley Ken Adams Stan Stevens
Continental qualifying Top 32 to Continental semi-finals DateVenueWinner2nd3rd 28 May Gwardia Sports Club Stadium, Poznań Bohumír Bartoněk Bedřich Slaný Stanisław Tkocz 28 May Pavlovičky Stadion, Liberec Bronislaw Idzikowski Farid Szajnurov Igor Plekhanov 28 May Matija Gubec Stadium, Krško Konstanty Pociejkewicz Bohumil Rednek Henryk Żyto 28 MayAbensberger Stadion, Abensberg Josef Hofmeister Marian Kaiser Antonín Kasper Sr.
Second round British & Commonwealth 2nd round Top 32 riders to British & Commonwealth semi-finals DateVenueWinner2nd3rd 3 JulyWimbledon Stadium, London Ronnie Moore Ron How Jim Tebby 4 JulyBanister Court Stadium, Southampton Peter Craven Barry Briggs Ray Cresp 5 JulyNew Cross Stadium, London Bob Andrews Split Waterman Ken McKinlay 6 JulyOxford Stadium, Oxford Jack Young Ronnie Genz Mike Broadbanks 6 JulyFoxhall Stadium, Ipswich Peter Moore Johnny Chamberlain Ray Cresp 7 JulyLeicester Stadium, Leicester Ronnie Moore Ken McKinlay Danny Dunton 8 JulyAbbey Stadium, Swindon Cyril Maidment Tadeusz Teodorowicz Neil Street 8 JulyBrandon Stadium, Coventry Peter Moore Bob Duckworth Bob Andrews 8 JulyThe Firs Stadium, Norwich Billy Bales Mike Broadbanks Split Waterman 8 JulyHyde Road, Manchester Peter Craven Gerald Jackson Eric Williams
Nordic Qualifying 26 May Dælenenga idrettspark, Oslo Top 8 to Nordic final Pos. Rider Points1 Ove Fundin 152 Björn Knutson 143 Aage Hansen 134 Arne Carlsson 125 Bernt Nilsson 116 Göran Norlén 117 Leif Larsson 8 Joel Jansson 79 Reidar Kristoffersen 610 Kurt W Petersen 611 Sverre Harrfeldt 512 Torbjörn Nygaard 513 Paul Wissing 214 Nils Paulsen 215 Gunnar Skjetne 216 Jon Ödegaard 128 May Helsinki Velodrome, Helsinki Top 8 to Nordic final Pos. Rider Points1 Per-Tage Svensson 142 Rune Sörmander 133 Arne Pander 124 Evert Andersson 115 Göte Nordin 116 Kalevi Lahtinen 107 Sören Sjösten 98 Rolf Westerberg 89 Timo Laine 710 Yrjö Vuorio 711 Antti Pajari 612 Åke Andersson 313 Curt Eldh 314 Bert Lindarw 315 Olavi Turunen 216 Esko Koponen 1
Continental semi-finals 17 June Linzer Stadion, Linz Top 8 to Continental final Pos. Rider Points1 Josef Hofmeister 152 Antonín Kasper Sr. 133 Marian Kaiser 124 Konstanty Pociejkewicz 115 Stanislaw Rurarz 106 Bernard Kacperak 107 Henryk Zyto 88 Kazimierz Bentke 89 Valent Medved 710 Pawel Waloszek 611 Jan Malinowski 612 Bohumil Rendek 513 Zdeněk Dominik 414 Jaroslav Volf Jr. 415 Johan Hartl 116 Jaroslav Volf Sr. 018 June Army Stadium, Warsaw Top 8 to Continental final Pos. Rider Points1 Stanislaw Tkocz 142 Mieczyslaw Polukard 133 Florian Kapala 134 Joachim Maj 125 Bronislaw Idzikowski 116 Igor Plekhanov 117 Bohumír Bartoněk 108 Bedřich Slaný 89 Stefan Kepa 710 Adolf Słaboń 411 Milan Špinka 412 Libor Dušánek 413 Jan Kusiak 214 Miloslav Ráliš 215 Stanislav Kubíček 216 Farid Szajnurov 2
Third round British & Commonwealth Semi finals Top 16 to British final DateVenueWinner2nd3rd 31 JulyWimbledon Stadium, London Ronnie Moore Barry Briggs Bob Andrews 1 AugustBanister Court Stadium, Southampton Ron How Peter Craven Cyril Maidment 5 AugustHyde Road, Manchester Ronnie Moore Doug Davies Nigel Boocock 5 AugustThe Firs Stadium, Norwich Barry Briggs Peter Craven Billy Bales Pos. Rider Points1 Ronnie Moore 292 Barry Briggs 293 Peter Craven 284 Cyril Maidment 245 Peter Moore 226 Bob Andrews 217 Ken McKinlay 218 Mike Broadbank 219 Ron How 2010 Nigel Boocock 1911 Jack Scott 1912 Doug Davies 1813 Neil Street 1814 Jack Young 1815 Ronnie Genz 1816 Ray Cresp 17Pos. Rider Points17 Johnny Chamberlain 1618 Chum Taylor 1619 Billy Bales 1520 Split Waterman 1521 Jimmy Squibb 922 Tadeusz Teodorowicz 823 Dick Fisher 824 Jack Biggs 7 25 Jack Geran 726 Eric Williams 727 Jim Tebby 528 Alby Golden 529 Tony Lewis 430 Ian Williams 431 Nick Nicholls 432 Bob Duckworth 0
Nordic Final 11 June 1961 Gislaved Motorbana, Gislaved First 8 to European Final Pos. Rider Total1 Ove Fundin 142 Arne Pander 133 Björn Knutson 134 Per Tage Svensson 125 Evert Andersson 106 Göte Nordin 107 Leif Larsson 88 Rune Sörmander 89 Göran Norlén 710 Arne Carlsson 711 Soren Sjosten 612 Joel Jansson 513 Bernt Nilsson 314 Timo Laine 215 Rolf Westerberg 116 Curt Eldh 2R1 Aage Hansen dnrR1 Kalevi Lahtinen dnr
Continental Final 23 July 1961 Slaný Speedway Stadium, Slaný First 7 to European Final, Josef Bössner seeded to European final
Fourth round European Final 26 August 1961 Praterstadion, Vienna First 7 to World Final plus 1 reserve
British Final 2 September 1961 Wembley Stadium, London First 9 to World final plus 1 reserve
World Final 15 September 1961 Malmö Stadion, MalmöBamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing.
References