Ikaros Smederna

Ikaros Smederna
Club information
Track address Smedstadion
Tommy Janssons väg
Eskilstuna
Country Sweden Sweden
Founded 1951
League Elitserien
Website Official site
Club facts
Colours Red, Black and White
Track size 335 metres
Track record time 58.0
Track record date 2013
Track record holder Kenni Larsen
Major team honours
League champions1973, 1977
Pairs champions1972

Ikaros Smederna is a motorcycle speedway club based in Eskilstuna, Sweden. The club competes in the highest speedway league in Sweden, Elitserien and race its home matches at Smedstadion outside Eskilstuna. Ikaros Smederna was formerly known as just Smederna but after making a sponsorship deal with company Ikaros in the fall of 2008 the club changed its name. However, this did not have the wanted effect on the club economy and in July 2009 the club went bankrupt and withdrew from Elitserien to restart in Division 1. Smederna has won two Swedish team championships, in 1973 and 1977, and was the home club of three individual world champions, Billy Hamill, Mark Loram and Nicki Pedersen.

History

In 1948 the speedway team Griparna (English: the Griffins) started to race in the Swedish leagues. The team was co-run by motorcycle sport clubs SMK Södermanland, Nyköpings MS and Eskilstuna MK and was based in Nyköping, however some of their home matches took place in Eskilstuna. 1951 the team changed name to Smederna (English: the Blacksmiths) and started to race all home matches in Eskilstuna. Until 1953 the home track had been Tunavallens B-plan which was not an actual speedway arena. But that year Smederna moved to the new speedway arena Snälltorpet. But Smederna would only race at Snälltorpet for a few years before closing the team down in 1955.

After eight years SMK Södermanland decided take up speedway again and in 1963 Smederna started in the third and lowest division in Swedish speedway. In 1967 the club advanced to the second division and in 1971 to the first and highest division. In the seventies Smederna would have its first and biggest time of glory with a couple of team championship medals. In 1973 Smederna managed to win the club’s first championship and in the following three years the team was participating in the medal fight with a silver medal in 1975 as highest result. In the spring of 1976 Smederna and the whole town of Eskilstuna was hit by a big tragedy when local superstar Tommy Jansson crashed to death in a world championships qualification at Gubbängen, Stockholm. It was a big blow for the speedway sport in the city and there was a big decrease in the attendance figures. In spite of the tragedy Smederna continued to be one of Sweden’s best speedway clubs for a couple of years with the gold medal in 1977 as best result.

In the eighties the interest for speedway decreased in Eskilstuna as well as in Sweden. Smederna had some internal problems in the beginning of the decade ending up with the club splitting up in two separate clubs, Smederna and Tuna Rebels. Smederna struggled to keep its place in the highest division (since 1982 called Elitserien)and was relegated to the second division in 1985 to 1986, 1988 to 1989 and 1992. In 1993 Smederna had once again advanced to Elitserien and this time the team finished on second place which was the best result in ten years. Smederna now managed to maintain their place in the upper tier for 17 consecutive seasons. In 2002 the club moved to a new home track, Smedstadion, outside of Eskilstuna and in the first season Smederna had problems to make advantage of the new track but already in the following season Smederna won all but one of their home matches. The loss came in the Swedish team championship final against Kaparna. Smederna had to once again settle for a silver medal.

In the recent years Smederna has struggled with financial problems which forced the club to downsize the squad and release a few top riders like Nicki Pedersen, Billy Hamill and Scott Nicholls. In the fall of 2008 Smederna decided to sell the team name to Swedish company Ikaros. As it turned out, this sponsorship deal was not enough to save the club. In July 2009 the club went bankrupt and immediately withdrew from the Elitserien league. The following year the team made a restart in the league system by entering the Division 1, still under the name of Ikaros Smederna, and won the league quite easy. For the next two years the club raced in the Allsvenskan league and in the season of 2013 Ikaros Smederna made a return to the Swedish top tier, only four years after the bankruptcy.

Swedish team championships

2015 Team

Guest Riders

Former top riders

Nation Name Years Honours while riding for Smederna
Sweden Olle Segerström 1951-1954
Sweden Bernt Persson 1964, 1966-1968, 1977-1983 Swedish Champion 1977
Sweden Tommy Jansson 1969-1976 Swedish Champion 1974
Sweden Göte Nordin 1972-1973
Sweden Bengt Jansson 1973-1978
Finland Olli Tyrväinen 1985-1997
Sweden Peter Nahlin 1986-1996, 2001-2004 World Junior Champion 1988
United States Billy Hamill 1991, 1993-2006 World Champion 1996
England Mark Loram 1999-2000 World Champion 2000
England Scott Nicholls 1998-2006
Denmark Nicki Pedersen 2002-2005 World Champion 2003
Poland Krzysztof Kasprzak 2003-2009 World Junior Champion 2005
Poland Wiesław Jaguś 2006-2009

External links

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