1954 Individual Speedway World Championship

In the 1954 Individual Speedway World Championship was the ninth edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.

Ronnie Moore a 21-year-old New Zealander won his first World Championship with a 15-point maximum in front of a 90,000 attendance. He defeated his main rival Olle Nygren in the final heat. Nygren then lost the silver medal ride off to Wembley's teenager Brian Crutcher. Moore's success was made all the more remarkable because he rode the meeting while still recovering from a broken leg. Moore's win made him New Zealand's first ever World Champion in all forms of motor racing.

Qualification Qualification started on 1 May.

Stage 1 Norwegian round 27 September 1953 Lerkendal Stadion, Trondheim Top 2 (+2 seeded) to Nordic final 1954 Pos. Rider Points1 Basse Hveem 152 Reidar Kristoffersen 143 Sverre Gjömesli 134 Odd Johansen 95 Erling Simonsen 96 Anders Röhme 87 Oddvar Gundersgaard 88 Rolf Solberg 79 Rolf Westerberg 710 Nils Kristian Paulsen 611 Arne Kristiansen 612 Gunnar Dyrseth 513 Aage Hansen 514 Tore Meiner 515 Gunnar Hamsaeter 216 Aage W. Jensen 1

Swedish round Top 16 to Swedish final 1 May 1954 Dagsbergsfältet, Norrköping Pos. Rider Points1 Rune Sörmander 152 Ove Fundin 123 Bertil Carlsson II 104 Curt Fredlund 95 Georg Duneborn 96 Rune Stenström 97 Per Olof Söderman 88 Dan Forsberg 89 Lars Pettersson 710 Bert Lindarw 611 Olle Heyman612 Bernt Nilsson613 Gunnar Johansson 514 Gunnar Karlsson 415 Ove Bodin 316 Ulf Ericsson 21 May 1954 Grevby Motorstadion, Mariestad Pos. Rider Points1 Olle Nygren 112 Olle Segerström 113 Allan Nilsson 114 Thorsten Carlsson 105 Sune Karlsson 106 Joel Jansson 107 Harry Lindgren 108 Evert Hägg 8+39 Göte Olsson 8+210 Sven Fahlén 711 Stig Pramberg 712 Birger Forsberg 513 Gunnar Hellqvist 414 Per-Tage Svensson 215 Göran Norlén 216 Jan Johnsson 2

Stage 2 Swedish final 9 May 1954 Örebro Motorstadion Adolfsberg, Örebro Top 8 to Nordic final, 3 to Continental qualification Pos. Rider Points1 Olle Nygren 142 Göte Olsson 123 Ove Fundin124 Rune Sörmander 115 Dan Forsberg 106 Joel Jansson 107 Sune Karlsson 108 Georg Duneborn 89 Per Olof Söderman 810 Olle Segerström 711 Rune Stenström 612 Thorsten Carlsson 413 Allan Nilsson214 Bertil Carlsson II 215 Evert Hägg 216 Harry Lindgren 1

Continental Qualification 23 May 1954 Altes Stadion Abensberg, Abensberg 8 to Continental semifinal Pos. Rider Points1 Kjell Carlsson 14+32 Josef Kamper 14+23 Josef Hofmeister 14+14 Fritz Dirtl 115 Albin Siegl 116 Thei Bisschops 97 Karl Killmeyer 98 Josef Seidl79 Sven Skoglund 510 Franz Aigner 511 Fred Aberl 412 Nicola Snjaric413 Leopold Killmeyer314 Sebastian Wiesent 315 Karl Kiendl 316 Valentin Medved 0

Stage 3 Nordic Final 3 June 1954 Dælenenga idrettspark, Oslo First 8 to Continental final Pos. Rider Points1 Olle Nygren 152 Rune Sörmander 143 Georg Duneborn 124 Sune Karlsson 105 Dan Forsberg 106 Ove Fundin 97 Göte Olsson 98 Joel Jansson 99 Reidar Kristoffersen 710 Kiehn Berthelsen 611 Leif Bech 612 Aage Hansen 513 Werner Lorentzen 414 Simo Ylänen 215 Kaukko Jousanen 116 Erling Simonsen 1

Continental semi-final 13 June 1954 Niederrheinstadion, Oberhausen 8 to Continental final Pos. Rider Points1 Kjell Carlsson 142 Albin Siegl 123 Bill Kitchen 114 Sven Skoglund 115 Josef Hofmeister 106 Olle Segerström 87 Jack Parker 88 Josef Seidl 89 Karl Killmeyer 710 Jan Kesselmans 711 Per Olof Söderman 512 Hans van der Sluis 513 Tonny Kroeze 414 Thei Bisschops 415 Gerrit Kops 216 H. van Rijswijk 1

Stage 4 British round Top 24 to Championship Round DateVenueWinner1 July Foxhall Stadium Tommy Miller1 July Oxford Stadium Peter Robinson5 July County Ground Stadium Goog Hoskin5 July Wimborne Road Ken Middleditch6 July Banister Court Stadium Charlie May8 July Pennycross Stadium Brian McKeown9 July Knowle Stadium Dick Bradley9 July Leicester Stadium Ken McKinlay9 July The Stadium, Motherwell Derek Close10 July Brandon Stadium Ernie Brecknell10 July Old Meadowbank Ken McKinlay10 July Rayleigh Weir Stadium Peter Clark10 July Abbey Stadium Bob Roger

Continental Final 20 June 1954 Ryd Motorstadion, Linköping First 8 to Championship Round Pos. Rider Points1 Ove Fundin 142 Rune Sörmander 143 Sune Karlsson 124 Olle Nygren 105 Kjell Carlsson 96 Fritz Dirtl 97 Joel Jansson 98 Olle Segerström 99 Bill Kitchen 810 Dan Forsberg 711 Göte Olsson 612 Fred Lang 413 Georg Duneborn 314 Sven Skoglund 315 Thorsten Carlsson 216 Josef Kamper 117 Per Olof Söderman 1

Stage 5 Championship Round Top 16 qualify for World final, 17th & 18th reserves for World final DateVenueWinner14 August Hyde Road Stadium Peter Craven14 August Perry Barr Stadium Jack Young16 August Wimbledon Stadium Barry Briggs18 August Harringay Stadium Split Waterman21 August The Firs Stadium Aub Lawson26 August Wembley Stadium Edie Rigg31 August West Ham Stadium Jack Young1 September Odsal Stadium Arthur Forrest

Scores Top 16 qualify for World final, 17th-18th reserves for World final Pos. Rider Total pts1 Jack Young 292 Peter Craven 283 Eddie Rigg 284 Ove Fundin 265 Brian Crutcher 266 Ronnie Moore 267 Geoff Mardon268 Aub Lawson 269 Arthur Forrest 2610 Jack Biggs 2411 Fred Brand 2412 Split Waterman 2313 Barry Briggs 2314 Tommy Price 2315 Olle Nygren 2216 Trevor Redmond 2217 Alan Hunt 2218 Freddie Williams2119 Gerry Hussey2120 Eric Williams1921 Ron Johnston1822 Arthur Wright1723 Dick Campbell1724 Dick Bradley1725 Rune Sörmander 1626 Cyril Roger1627 Derick Close1628 Sune Karlsson1529 Harry Edwards1530 Bert Roger1531 Tommy Miller1432 Alan Smith 14Pos. Rider Total pts33 Cyril Brine 1434 John Fitzpatrick 1335 Don Perry1336 Ken Sharples1337 Ken McKinlay1238 Alan Quinn1239 Fred Rogers1240 Ian Williams 1241 Bob Roger1142 Peter Robinson1143 Ken Middleditch1144 Jack Geran1045 Kjell Carlsson946 Ron Mountford947 Dent Oliver948 Joel Jansson849 Eric Boothroyd850 Charlie May851 Brian McKeown852 Jim Lightfoot 953 Pete Lansdale854 Olle Segerström755 Fritz Dirtl 756 Bob Oakley757 Junior Bainbridge 758 Wally Green659 Phil Clarke660 Billy Bales561 Les McGillivray462 Jimmy Squibb463 Dick Seers 464 Ernie Brecknell2

World final 16 September 1954 London, Wembley StadiumBamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing.

Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total1 Ronnie Moore (3,3,3,3,3)152 Brian Crutcher (3,2,2,3,3)13+33 Olle Nygren (2,3,3,3,2)13+24 Jack Young(3,1,3,3,1)115 Split Waterman (2,1,3,1,2) 96 Barry Briggs (1,2,2,2,2) 97 Eddie Rigg (0,3,2,2,0) 78 Fred Brand (3,1,0,2,1) 79 Jack Biggs (1,3,1,1,1) 710 Arthur Forrest (0,1,0,2,3) 511 Tommy Price (1,0,2,0,2) 512 Geoff Mardon (2,2,1,0,0) 513 Trevor Redmond (0,2,1,1,1) 514 Aub Lawson (2,0,0,2,0) 415 Peter Craven(F,0,0,0,3) 316 Ove Fundin(1,0,1,0,F) 2R1 Alan Hunt did not ride –R2 Freddie Williams did not ride –

Classification

References