1976 Individual Speedway World Championship

1976 Individual Speedway World Championship
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The 1976 Individual Speedway World Championship.

England's Peter Collins became the first British World Speedway Champion since Peter Craven had won in 1962. Fellow Englishman Malcolm Simmons finished second with Australia's Phil Crump finishing third. 1976 was the first time since 1952 that no rider from New Zealand or Sweden finished on the podium in the World Final.^[1]

British Qualification

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Preliminary Round
3 April	Berwick	Taffy Owen	Tom Owen	Graham Jones
10 April	Canterbury	Reg Luckhurst	Ted Hubbard	Graham Banks
11 April	Mildenhall	Kevin Jolly	Andy Cusworth	Laurie Etheridge
13 April	Weymouth	Tony Featherstone	Bob Coles	Barney Kennett
22 April	Sheffield	Trevor Geer	Alan Grahame	Paul Tyrer
23 April	Wolverhampton	Alan Molyneux	Brian Havelock	Bob Coles
24 April	Swindon	Dave Perks	Steve Bastable	Tom Owen
24 April	Cradley Heath	Bobby McNeil	Mick Hines	Mick Bell
Quarter-Finals
3 May	Birmingham	Peter Collins	Chris Pusey	Alan Molyneux
5 May	Poole	Dave Jessup	Dave Morton	Arthur Price
8 May	Belle Vue	Alan Grahame	John Davis	Michael Lee
8 May	King's Lynn	Malcolm Simmons	Chris Morton	Doug Wyer
Semi-Finals
18 May	Leicester	Malcolm Simmons	Bob Kilby	John Louis
19 May	White City	Peter Collins	Jim McMillan	Doug Wyer
Final
June 2	Coventry	Malcolm Simmons	Chris Morton	Doug Wyer	result

British Final

• June 2, 1976
•  GBR Coventry, Brandon Stadium
• First 5 to Intercontinental Final

Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos
	(9) Malcolm Simmons	15			3		3						3					3		3			15	1
	(3) Chris Morton	13	2						3				2				3				3		13	2
	(6) Doug Wyer	13		3				3			3							2			2		13	3
4	(12) Peter Collins	12			2					3		3			3						1		12	4
5	(5) John Louis	11		2			2					2					2					3	11	5
6	(7) Dave Jessup	10		1					2					3	2					2			10	6
7	(2) Jim McMillan	8	3					1				1				3				0			8	7
8	(15) Terry Betts	7				3			1			0						0	3				7	8
9	(13) Ray Wilson	5				2	1							0		2					0		5	9
10	(11) Bob Kilby	5			1				0		2					1						1	5	10
11	(16) John Davis	5				0				2	1						1			1			5	11
12	(10) Dave Morton	4			0			2						2			0		0				4	12
13	(14) George Hunter	4				1		0					0		1							2	4	13
14	(1) Mike Lanham	3	1				0				0				0				2				3	14
15	(4) Reg Wilson	3	0							1				1				1				0	3	15
16	(8) Chris Pusey	2		0						0			1			0			1				2	16
R1	(R1) John Harrhy	0																					0	R1
Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos

m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fell • ns - non-starter • nc - non-classify

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

Swedish Qualification

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Semi-Finals
6 May	Kumla	Bernt Persson	Tommy Nilsson	Soren Sjosten
9 May	Malilla	Lars Jansson	Bo Wirebrand	Per-Loke Gerhardsson
9 May	Lindesberg	Tommy Jansson	Hasse Holmqvist	Christer Sjosten
Final
20 May	Stockholm	Abandoned after the fatal crash of Tommy Jansson
25 May	Linkoping	Bernt Persson	Anders Michanek	Soren Karlsson

Swedish Final

• May 25, 1976
•  SWE Linkoping
• First 8 to Nordic Final

Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos
1	(9) Bernt Persson	14			3		3						2					3		3			14	1
2	(14) Anders Michanek	11				X		3					3		3							2	11	2
3	(2) Soren Karlsson	11	3					2				3				2				1			11	3
4	(3) Bengt Jansson	11	2						3				1				3				2		11	4
5	(10) Jan Simensen	10			2			0						3			2		3				10	5
6	(16) Tommy Nilsson	10				3				1	3						1			2			10	6
7	(13) Soren Sjosten	10				2	1							1		3					3		10	7
8	(4) Christer Sjosten	8	F							3				2				0				3	8	8
9	(5) Cal-Erik Claesson	8		3			2					2					0					1	8	9
10	(6) Lars-Like Andersson	6		2				1			2							1			0		6	10
11	(1) Eddie Davidsson	6	1				0				1				2				2				6	11
12	(15) Richard Hellsen	5				0			1			1						2	1				5	12
13	(8) Sven Nilsson	2		0						2			0			0			0				2	13
14	(7) Per-Olof Dovhjort	1		1					-					0	-					0			1	14
15	(11) Bo Wirebrand	1			1				-		0					-						-	1	15
16	(12) Kenneth Selmolsson	1			0					0		0			0						1		1	16
	(17) Bengt Larsson	1							0							1							1
	(18) Gunnar Malmqvist	3							2						1							0	3
Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos

m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fell • ns - non-starter • nc - non-classify

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

New Zealand Qualification

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
South Island Final
6 December, '75	Invercargill	Larry Ross	Grahame Stapleton	Denis Sincock
North Island Final
10 January	Palmerston North	Colin Farquharson	Colin Tucker	Roy Trigg
New Zealand Final
14 February	Christchurch	Ivan Mauger	Barry Briggs	Larry Ross

Australian Qualification

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
New South Wales Round
22 November '75	Liverpool	Billy Sanders	Phil Herne	Mitch Shirra
28 November '75	Newcastle	Phil Herne	Terry Southerland	Mitch Shirra
29 November '75	Sydney	Mitch Shirra	Phil Herne	Billy Sanders
Queensland Qualification
6 December '75	Brisbane	Mike Farrell	Ron Henderson	Darryl McLean
Southern Territory Qualification
9 January	Adelaide	John Boulger	Ray Snider	Robin Amundson
Victoria Qualification
17 January	Melbourne	Denny Kennedy	Rob Jones	John Dewhurst
Northern District
23 January	Adelaide	Phil Crump	John Boulger	Kym Amundson
31 January	Sydney	Billy Sanders	Mike Farrell	John Langfield
7 February	Brisbane	Mike Farrell	John Titman	Garry Middleton
Southern Zone Final
13 February	Aucland	Phil Crump	John Langfield	Phil Herne

Australian Final

• February 13, 1976
• Adelaide
• First 8 to Austral-Asian Final

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Phil Crump		15
2	John Langfield		13
3	Phil Herne		12
4	John Boulger		12
5	Mitch Shirra		10
6	John Titman		9
7	Ticky Day		9
8	Billy Sanders		8
9	Mick McKeon		8
10	Mike Farrell		6
11	Robin Amundson		5
12	Robert Maxfield		4
13	Ron Henderson		3
14	Rod Chessell		3
15	Ray Snider		2
16	Dene Davies		1
17	Paul Scanlon		0

Intercontinental Round

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Australasian Final
21 February	Aucland	John Boulger	Billy Sanders	Phil Crump
Norwegian Final
25 April	Skien	Reidar Eide	Dag Lovaas	Edgar Stangeland
Danish Final
25 April	Vojens	Finn Thomsen	Kurt Bogh	Jan Henningsen
Nordic Final
2 June	Norrkoping	Ole Olsen	Anders Michanek	Bengt Jansson
American Final
? June	Santa Monica	Scott Autrey	Mike Curosco	Steve Gresham
Interconinental Final
26 June	Wembley	Peter Collins	Ivan Mauger	Phil Crump

Australasian Final

• February 21, 1976
• Auckland
• First 4 to Intercontinental Final

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	John Boulger	3,3,2,3,3	14
2	Billy Sanders	2,3,3,3,2	13
3	Phil Crump	3,3,3,X,3	12
4	Ivan Mauger	3,2,X,3,3	11+3
5	Phil Herne	3,2,1,2,3	11+2
6	Mitch Shirra	2,3,2,3,1	11+1
7	Barry Briggs	X,1,3,2,2	8
8	John Titman	X,2,2,2,2	8
9	Ricky Day	1,1,3,0,1	6
10	Colin Tucker	2,2,1,0,0	5
11	Colin Farqhuarson	1,E,1,2,1	5
12	John Langfield	X,1,2,1,0	4
13	Larry Ross	2,1,0,1,E	4
14	Graeme Stapleton	0,0,E,1,2	3
15	Roy Trigg	1,0,0,0,1	2
16	Paul Fewlings	0,0,1,0,0	1
R1	Dennis Sincock		1
R2	Robin Adlington		1

Norwegian Final

• April 25, 1976
• Skien
• First 3 to Nordic Final

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Reidar Eide		15
2	Dag Lovaas		14
3	Edgard Stangeland		13
4	Audun Olsen		11
5	Oyvind Berg		11
6	Jan Gravningen		10
7	Kjell Gimre		9
8	Helge Langli		9
9	Tormod Langli		6
10	Tom Godal		5
11	Ingve Madland		4
12	Stein Pedersen		4
13	Askild Malmin		3
14	Jorn Flatha		2
15	Sigvard Pedersen		2
16	Per Hetland		1

Danish Final

• April 25, 1976
• Vojens

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Finn Thomsen		15
2	Kurt Bogh		12+3
3	Jan Henningsen		12+2
4	Leif Rasmusen		12+1
5	Finn Rune Jensen		11
6	Gunnar Svensen		10
7	Bent Noregaard		10
8	Michael Lohman		8
9	Kristian Praestbro		8
10	Jens Erik Krause		4
11	Knud Ellegaard		4
12	Ernst Boegh		4
13	Erling Rasmussen		3
14	Gotfried Andreasen		3
15	Jorgen Johansen		2
16	Kaj Kristensen		2

Nordic Final

• June 2, 1976
•  SWE Norrkoping

Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	21
	(4) Ole Olsen	14	3							3				3				3				2	14	1
	(14) Anders Michanek	13				3		3					3		3							1	13	2
	(10) Bengt Jansson	12			3			2						1			3		3				12	3
4	(12) Dag Lovaas	11			2					2		3			1						3		11	4
5	(7) Bernt Persson	10		3					0					2	2					3			10	5
6	(5) Soren Sjosten	10		2			1					2					2					3	10	6
7	(6) Soren Karlsson	8		1				0			3							2			2		8	7	3
8	(13) Edgar Stangeland	8				2	3							0		2					1		8	8	2
9	(2) Ila Teromaa	8	2					1				0				3				2			8	9	1
10	(3) Finn Thomsen	6	0						3				2				1				0		6	10
11	(1) Reidar Eide	6	1				2				2				0				1				6	11
12	(15) Tommy Nilsson	5				0			2			1						0	2				5	12
13	(11) Markku Helminen	4			1				1		1					1						0	4	13
14	(9) Karl Erik Claesson	2			0		0						0					1		1			2	14
15	(8) Jan Simensen	1		0						1			-			0			0				1	15
16	(16) Christer Sjosten	1				1				0	0						0			0			1	16
R1	(R1) Lars Ake Andersson	1											1										1	R1
R2	(R2) Thomas Pettersson	0																					0	R2
Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	21

m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fell • ns - non-starter • nc - non-classify

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

American Final

• , 1976
• Santa Monica
• First to Interconinental Final

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Scott Autrey
2	Mike Curosco
3	Steve Gresham

Interconinental Final

• June 26, 1976
•  GBR London, Wembley Stadium
• First 8 to World Final

Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos
1	(11) Peter Collins	12+3			0				3		3					3						3	12	1
2	(9) Ivan Mauger	12+2			1		3						2					3		3			12	2
3	(1) Phil Crump	11+3	3				1				2				2				3				11	3
4	(7) Malcolm Simmons	11+2		3					0					3	3					2			11	4
5	(8) Chris Morton	10		2						2			3			1			2				10	5
6	(5) Doug Wyer	10		1			2					3					2					2	10	6
7	(10) Scott Autrey	9			2			2						1			3		1				9	7
8	(6) John Louis	8+3		0				3			0							2			3		8	8
9	(16) Anders Michanek	8+2				3				3	1						0			1			8	9
10	(12) John Boulger	7			3					1		2			1						T		7	10
11	(3) Billy Sanders	7	2						2				1				1				1		7	11
12	(13) Ole Olsen	6				X	E							2		2					2		6	12
13	(15) Bengt Jansson	4				2			1			1						X	0				4	13
14	(4) Bernt Persson	3	1							0				0				1				1	3	14
15	(2) Dag Lovaas	1	0					1				0				0				0			1	15
16	(14) Soren Sjosten	1				1		0					E		-							-	1	16
	(17) Trevor Geer	0													0							0	0
	(18) Barry Thomas	0																			0		0
Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos

m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fell • ns - non-starter • nc - non-classify

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

Continental Round

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Preliminary Round
25 April	Lonigo	Hans Wassermann	Evzen Erban	Karel Vobornik
25 April	Wiener Neustadt	George Gilgenreiner	Alois Wiesbock	Hubert Fischbaher
Quarter-Finals
15 May	Ostrava	Mikhail Starostin	Vladimir Gordeev	Viktor Trofimov
15 May	Prelog	Giuseppe Marzotto	Viktor Kuznetsov	Angel Eftimov
16 May	Pocking	Egon Muller	Christoph Betzl	Valery Gordeev
16 May	Debrecen	Vaclav Hejl	Paolo Noro	Vaclav Verner
Semi-Finals
30 May	Gdańsk	Viktor Kuznetsov	Giuseppe Marzotto	Vladimir Gordeev
30 May	Krumbach	Egon Muller	Valery Gordeev	Cristoph Betzl
Final
June 20	Leningrad	Egon Muller	Jiří Štancl	Valery Gordeev

Continental Final

• June 20, 1976
•  USSR Leningrad

Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos
	(6) Egon Muller	9		3				3			3												9	1
	(4) Jiří Štancl	8	3							3				2									8	2
	(9) Valery Gordeev	7			1		3						3										7	3
4	(7) Vladimir Gordeev	7		1					3					3									7	4
5	(11) Grigory Khlynovsky	6			2				2		2												6	5
6	(14) Georgy Ivanov	6				3		1					2										6	6
7	(12) Jan Hadek	6			3					1		2											6	7
8	(15) Viktor Kuznetsov	4				0			1			3											4	8
9	(13) Nikolay Kornev	4				2	2							0									4	9
10	(5) Vladimir Smirnov	4		2			1					1											4	10
11	(16) Viktor Trofimov	4				1				2	1												4	11
12	(10) Giuseppe Marzotto	3			0			2						1									3	12
13	(2) Hans Wasserman	2	2					0				0											2	13
14	(8) Christoph Betzl	1		0						0			1										1	14
15	(3) Jan Klokocka	1	1						0				0										1	15
16	(1) Mikhail Starostin	0	0				0				0												0	16
R1	(R1) Sergey Dyuzhev	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2) Josef Minarik	0																					0	R2
Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos

m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fell • ns - non-starter • nc - non-classify

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

World Final

• September 5, 1976
•  POL Chorzów, Silesian Stadium

Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos
	(11) Peter Collins	14			3				3		3					3						2	14	1
	(15) Malcolm Simmons	13				2			2			3						3	3				13	2
	(13) Phil Crump	12				3	3							2		1					3		12	3
4	(5) Ivan Mauger	11		3			E					2					3					3	11	4
5	(9) Zenon Plech	11			1		2						3					2		3			11	5
6	(7) John Louis	9		2					1					1	3					2			9	6
7	(10) Doug Wyer	8			0			3						3			1		1				8	7
8	(1) Egon Müller	8	3				1				2				2				F				8	8
9	(2) Scott Autrey	7	2					2				1				2				0			7	9
10	(12) Jiří Štancl	6			2					2		0			1						1		6	10
11	(16) Chris Morton	6				1				1	1						2			1			6	11
12	(6) Edward Jancarz	5		1				1			0							1			2		5	12
13	(4) Marek Cieślak	4	0							3				0				E				1	4	13
14	(3) Jerzy Rembas	3	1						0				2				0				0		3	14
15	(8) Valery Gordeev	1		0						0			1			0			X				1	15
16	(14) Vladimir Gordeev	0				0		0					0		0							0	0	16
R1	(R1) Anders Michanek	2																	2				2	R1
R2	(R2) Grigory Khlinovsky	0																					0	R2
Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos

m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fell • ns - non-starter • nc - non-classify

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

References

1. 1976 Individual Speedway World Championship