The 1981 Speedway World Team Cup was the 22nd edition of the FIM Speedway World Team Cup to determine the team world champions.

The final took place at the Olching Speedwaybahn in Olching, West Germany. Denmark won their second title. Ominously for the rest of the world the team contained a youthful Hans Nielsen and Erik Gundersen.

Qualification stage 1 Day Venue Winner Stage 1 17 May Reading England 17 May Brokstedt West Germany 17 May Debrecen USSR 28 May Tampere Denmark 26 June Badia Polesine USSR

Commonwealth round 17 May Smallmead Stadium, Reading Referee: C. Ringstrom Att: 7,000

* England & USA to Intercontinental Final

Scandinavian round 28 May Eteläpuisto, Tampere

1st2nd3rd4th - 37Hans Nielsen - 11Bo Petersen - 10Erik Gundersen - 8Tommy Knudsen - 8 - 30Jan Andersson - 10Hans Danielsson - 8Richard Hellsen - 6Tommy Nilsson - 6 - 19Ari Koponen - 5Kai Niemi - 5Olli Tyrväinen - 4Pekka Hautamaki - 3Veijo Tuoriniemi - 2 - 10Rolf Gramstad - 8Dag Haaland - 2Jorn Haugvalstad - 0Yngve Madland - 0Roy Otto - 0 * Denmark & Sweden to Intercontinental Final

Continental round 17 May Holsteinring, Brokstedt

* West Germany & Netherlands to Continental Semi-Final

17 May Gázvezeték Street Sports Complex, Debrecen

* Soviet Union & Hungary to Continental Semi-Final

Semifinal 28 June 28 Stadio Ottorino Verzaro, Badia Polesine

1st2nd3rd4th - 33Mikhail Starostin - 10Viktor Kuznetsov - 9Anatoly Maksimov - 9Grigory Khlinovsky - 5 - 32Karl Maier - 11Georg Hack - 10Frits Bauer - 4Georg Gilgenreiner - 3Egon Müller - 3 - 18Istvan Sziraczki - 9Ferenc Farkash - 4Laszlo Meszaros - 2Janos Oresko - 2Zoltán Adorján - 1 - 13Henny Kroeze - 5Frits Koppe - 4Rudi Muts - 2Henk Steman - 2 * Soviet Union & West Germany to Continental Final

Qualification stage 2 Day Venue Winner Stage 2 26 June King's Lynn Denmark 7 July Leningrad West Germany

Continental Final 11 July Leningrad Speedway Stadium, Leningrad

* West Germany & Soviet Union to World Final

Intercontinental Final 28 July Norfolk Arena, King's Lynn Referee: Sam Bass

* Denmark & England to World Final

World Final 16 August Olching Speedwaybahn, Olching Referee: C. Bergstrom

See also 1981 Individual Speedway World Championship 1981 Speedway World Pairs Championship

References