1991 Individual Speedway World Championship

Diminutive Danish rider Jan O. Pedersen won his first and only World Championship with a 15-point maximum from his five rides, the last time a rider would have a perfect score in the Final. Local favourite Tony Rickardsson finished second with 12 points, with triple champion Hans Nielsen of Denmark finishing third on 11 points after defeating fellow Dane Tommy Knudsen in a run-off.

1991 Individual Speedway World Championship
Previous:	1990	Next:	1992

The 1991 Individual Speedway World Championship.

Defending champion Per Jonsson finished in ninth place with 7 points.

Overseas Qualification

Australian Qualification

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place	4th place
Northern Territory Championship
17 November 1990	Tennant Creek Speedway	Wayne Bridgeford	Glen Baxter	Trevor O'Brien
Queensland Championship
1 December 1990	Mac's Speedway	Troy Butler	Darren Winkler	Alan Rivett
Victorian Championship
23 December 1990	Olympic Park Speedway	Leigh Adams	Jason Lyons	Phil Crump
New South Wales Championship
26 December 1990	Newcastle Motordrome	Craig Boyce	Todd Wiltshire	Stephen Davies
Western Australian Championship
28 December 1990	Claremont Speedway	Glenn Doyle	David Cheshire	Michael Carter
South Australian Championship
29 December 1990	Riverview Speedway	Shane Parker	Damon Richardson	Brett Tomkins
Last Chance Qualifying
19 January 1991	Arunga Park Speedway	Shane Bowes	Scott Norman	Mark Lemon	Glyn Taylor
Australian Solo Championship
27 January 1991	Arunga Park Speedway	Craig Boyce	Glenn Doyle	Glyn Taylor	David Cheshire

Australian Final

• 27 January 1991
• Alice Springs, Arunga Park Speedway
• First 3 to Commonwealth final
• Leigh Adams seeded to Commonwealth Final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Craig Boyce	15
2	Glenn Doyle	14
3	Glyn Taylor	12
4	David Cheshire	10+3
5	Todd Wiltshire	10+2
6	Shane Bowes	10+1
7	Phil Crump*	9
8	Troy Butler	8
9	Shane Parker	8
10	Scott Norman	5
11	Damon Richardson	5
12	Mark Lemon	5
13	Wayne Bridgeford	3
14	Darren Winkler	2
15	Glen Baxter	2
16	Jason Lyons	2

* Phil Crump replaced injured Victorian Champion Leigh Adams

New Zealand Qualification

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
South Island Final
??	Ruapuna Speedway	Mark Lyndon	??	??
North Island Final
??	Gisborne Speedway	David Bargh	??	??
New Zealand Final
14 February	Awapundi Speedway	David Bargh	Chris Martin	Mark Thorpe

American Final

• March 2, 1991
• Long Beach, Veterans Memorial Stadium
• First 5 to Overseas final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Rick Miller	15
2	Sam Ermolenko	14
3	Ronnie Correy	13
4	Kelly Moran	11
5	Billy Hamill	10+3
6	Bobby Ott	10+2
7	Gary Hicks	9
8	Bobby Schwartz	7
9	Mike Faria	7
10	Greg Hancock	6
11	Lance King	5
12	Louis Kossuth	4
13	Steve Lucero	3
14	Brad Oxley	3
15	Andy Northrup	2
16	Josh Larsen (Res)	1
17	John Kehoe	0

Swedish Final

• May 14–15, June 2, 1991
• - 3 Rounds (Kumla, Västervik & Stockholm)
• First 5 to Nordic final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Scores	Total
1	Henrik Gustafsson	15+14+11	40
2	Per Jonsson	11+11+14	37
3	Tony Rickardsson	12+12+9	33
4	Jimmy Nilsen	13+12+8	33
5	Mikael Blixt	8+9+12	29
6	Erik Stenlund	11+6+10	27
7	Conny Ivarsson	3+11+12	26
8	Peter Karlsson	8+8+7	23
9	Stefan Dannö	10+5+4	19
10	Claes Ivarsson	4+3+11	18
11	Tony Olsson	2+7+6	15
12	Mikael Karlsson	5+5+5	15
13	Mikael Teurnberg	7+1+5	13
14	Peter Nahlin	3+9+1	13
15	Mikael Löfqvist	5+4+1	10
16	Mikael Ritterwall	3+3+2	8

British Final

• May 19, 1991
• Coventry, Brandon Stadium
• First 10 to Commonwealth final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Gary Havelock	15
2	Kelvin Tatum	13
3	Chris Louis	11
4	Paul Thorp	10
5	Jeremy Doncaster	10
6	Neil Collins	9
7	Andy Smith	8
8	Martin Dugard	8
9	Sean Wilson	7
10	Joe Screen	7
11	Mark Loram	5+3
12	John Davis	5+2
13	Alan Grahame	4
14	Richard Knight	3
15	David Mullett	3
16	Steve Schofield	0

Danish Final

• May 19, 1991
• - Fladbro, Fldbro Morotbane
• First 6 to Nordic final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Jan O. Pedersen	15
2	Tommy Knudsen	14
3	Hans Nielsen	12+3
4	John Jörgensen	12+2
5	Gert Handberg	10
6	Bo Petersen	9
7	Jan Jacobsen	8
8	Brian Karger	6
9	Jan Staechmann	6
10	Jens-Henry Nielsen	6
11	Allan Johansen	6
12	Tom Knudsen	5
13	Per Sörensen	4
14	Jan Petersen	3
15	Lars Munkedal	3
16	Lars-Henrik Jörgensen	1

Commonwealth Final

• June 2, 1991
• - King's Lynn, Norfolk Arena
• First 11 to Overseas final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Jeremy Doncaster	14
2	Leigh Adams	10+3
3	Joe Screen	10+2
4	Paul Thorp	10+1
5	Kelvin Tatum	9
6	Glenn Doyle	9
7	Neil Collins	8
8	Gary Havelock	8
9	Todd Wiltshire*	7
10	Andy Smith	7
11	Mitch Shirra	7
12	Chris Louis	6
13	Sean Wilson	5
14	Gary Allan	4
15	Martin Dugard	4
16	Craig Boyce	1

* Todd Wiltshire replaced Glyn Taylor

Overseas Final

• June 23, 1991
• - Bradford, Odsal Stadium
• First 9 to World Semi-final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Kelvin Tatum	13
2	Sam Ermolenko	12+3
3	Billy Hamill	12+2
4	Andy Smith	11
5	Paul Thorp	10
6	Ronnie Correy	9
7	Jeremy Doncaster	7
8	Mitch Shirra	7
9	Kelly Moran	7
10	Todd Wiltshire	6+3
11	Glenn Doyle	6+2
12	Joe Screen	5
13	Rick Miller	4
14	Gary Havelock	4
15	Leigh Adams	4
16	Neil Collins	3

Nordic Final

• June 23, 1991
• - Brovst, Nordjylland Speedway Center
• First 9 to World Semi-final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Hans Nielsen	13
2	Jan O. Pedersen	12
3	Jimmy Nilsen	11
4	Henrik Gustafsson	10
5	Per Jonsson	9
6	Lars Gunnestad	9
7	Gert Handberg	8
8	Tommy Knudsen	8
9	Mikael Blixt	8
10	Tony Rickardsson	7+3
11	Einar Kyllingstad	7+2
12	Vesa Ylinen	7+1
13	Bo Petersen	4
14	John Jörgensen	4
15	Juha Moksunen	1
16	Tor Einar Hielm	1

Continental Qualification

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Continental Semi-final
June 23, 1991	Landshut, Ellermühle Stadium	Armando Castagna	Roman Matousek	Gerd Riss
Continental Semi-final
June 23, 1991	Lonigo, Pista Speedway	Ryszard Dolomisiewicz	Zoltán Adorján	Róbert Nagy

World Semi-Final #1

• August 11, 1991
• - Rovno, Rivne Speedway
• First 8 to World final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Billy Hamill	12
2	Jimmy Nilsen	11
3	Per Jonsson	10+3
4	Paul Thorp	10+2
5	Roman Matousek	9
6	Armando Castagna	9
7	Jeremy Doncaster	9
8	Mitch Shirra	9
9	Mikael Blixt	8+3
10	Henrik Gustafsson	8+2
11	Vladimir Kalina	7
12	Lars Gunnestad	6
13	Zoltán Adorján	4
14	Petr Vandirek	4
15	Antonín Kasper, Jr. (Res)	2
16	Róbert Nagy	1
17	Rif Saitgareev	1

World Semi-Final #2

• August 18, 1991
• - Abensberg, Motorstadion
• First 8 to World final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Hans Nielsen	15
2	Jan O. Pedersen	14
3	Tommy Knudsen	12
4	Sam Ermolenko	11
5	Tony Rickardsson*	10
6	Ronnie Correy	8
7	Kelvin Tatum	8
8	Gerd Riss	8
9	Gert Handberg	7+3
10	Jozsef Petrikovics	7+2
11	Kelly Moran	6
12	Wojciech Zaluski	5
13	Václav Milík, Sr.	3
14	Zdenek Schneiderwind	3
15	Klaus Lausch	2
16	Michail Starostin	1

* First reserve Tony Rickardsson replaced injured qualifier Andy Smith

World final

• August 31, 1991
• Göteborg, Ullevi [1]

Classification

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	(15) Jan O Pedersen	15				3			3			3						3	3				15	1
2	(6) Tony Rickardsson	12		2				3			3							2			2		12	2
3	(1) Hans Nielsen	11+3	2				3				1				3				2				11	3
4	(2) Tommy Knudsen	11+2	3					1				1				3				3			11	4
5	(3) Jimmy Nilsen	10	0						2				2				3				3		10	5
6	(10) Paul Thorp	10			3			2						2			2		1				10	6
7	(16) Sam Ermolenko	9				2				3	2						0			2			9	7
8	(13) Kelvin Tatum	8				1	2							3		2					0		8	8
9	(4) Per Jonsson	7	1							2				0				1				3	7	9
10	(5) Ronnie Correy	6		3			0					0					1					2	6	10
11	(8) Armando Castagna	6		1						1			3			1			0				6	11
12	(12) Billy Hamill	6			2					-		2			1						1		2	12
13	(7) Mitch Shirra	4		0					0					1	2					1			4	13
14	(11) Jeremy Doncaster	2			1				1		0					0						0	2	14
15	(9) Roman Matousek	2			0		1						1					0		0			2	15
16	(14) Gerd Riss	1				0		0					0		0							1	1	16
	(17) Mikael Blixt	0								0													0
	(18) Gert Handberg	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

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Jan O. Pedersen	(3,3,3,3,3)	15
2	Tony Rickardsson	(2,3,3,2,2)	12
3	Hans Nielsen	(2,3,1,3,2)	11+3
4	Tommy Knudsen	(3,1,1,3,3)	11+2
5	Jimmy Nilsen	(0,2,2,3,3)	10
6	Paul Thorp	(3,2,2,2,1)	10
7	Sam Ermolenko	(2,3,2,0,2)	9
8	Kelvin Tatum	(1,2,3,2,0)	8
9	Per Jonsson	(1,2,0,1,3)	7
10	Ronnie Correy	(3,0,0,1,2)	6
11	Armando Castagna	(1,1,3,1,0)	6
12	Billy Hamill	(2,X,2,1,1)	6
13	Mitch Shirra	(0,0,1,2,1)	4
14	Roman Matousek	(0,1,1,0,0)	2
15	Jeremy Doncaster	(1,1,0,0,0)	2
16	Gerd Riss	(0,0,0,0,1)	1
R1	Mikael Blixt	(-,0,-,-,-)	0
R2	Gert Handberg	(-,-,-,-,-)	-

References

1. Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-2402-5

External links

• The finals at SVT's open archive (in Swedish)