1981 Speedway World Pairs Championship

The 1981 Speedway World Pairs Championship was the twelfth FIM Speedway World Pairs Championship.[1] The final took place in Chorzów, Poland. The championship was won by United States first time (23 points). American pair beat New Zealand (22 points) and Poland (21 points).[2][3][4]

The win by American's Bruce Penhall and Bobby Schwartz was the first time an American team or riders had won a World Championship in speedway since Jack Milne had won the 1937 World Final at the Wembley Stadium in London, England. Later in 1981 Penhall would go on to win the Individual World Final at Wembley.

Preliminary round

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Pos. Team Rider Points
1st  Norway21+3 Rolf Gramstad 17
Ingvar Hauverstad 4
2nd  Yugoslavia21+2 Stefan Kekec 15
Vlado Kocuvan 6
3rd  Austria20 Adi Funk 9
Herbert Szerecz 11
4  Netherlands19 Henny Kroeze 6
Frits Koppe 13
5  Hungary18 Zoltán Adorján 16
Isztvan Sziracky 2
6  Bulgaria13 Angel Jeftimov 8
Nikolaj Manev 5
7   Switzerland11 M.Gerard 8
F.Ender 3

Semifinal 1

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Placing Pair / Rider Name Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
1 West Germany West Germany 23 +3 6 13 23
(7) Egon Müller 13 0 3 3 2 2 3 3
(8) Georg Gilgenreiner 10 2 1 2 0 3 2
2 England England 23 +2 9 18 23
(13) Chris Morton 12 2 3 2 3 0 2
(14) Dave Jessup 11 3 1 3 1 3 0 2
3 New Zealand New Zealand 23 +1 10 14 23
(3) Ivan Mauger 15 3 3 1 2 3 3 1
(4) Larry Ross 8 2 2 0 1 2 1
4 Sweden Sweden 20 5 14 20
(5) Jan Andersson 10 3 0 3 2 2 0
(6) Richard Hellsén 10 1 1 1 3 1 3
5 Finland Finland 17 5 9 17
(9) Kai Niemi 10 3 2 1 E 3 1
(10) Ari Koponen 7 E 0 0 3 2 2
6 Norway Norway 11 5 9 11
(11) Rolf Gramstad 8 2 2 2 E 1 1
(12) Audun Ove Olsen 3 1 0 1 1 0 0
7 Netherlands Nederlands 9 2 7 9
(1) Henny Kroeze 7 1 E 2 3 E 1
(2) Frits Koppe 2 E 1 0 0 1 E
Placing Pair / Rider Name Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

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

Semifinal 2

[edit]
Placing Pair / Rider Name Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
1 Denmark Denmark 29 10 20 29
(9) Ole Olsen 17 3 3 2 3 3 3
(10) Hans Nielsen 12 2 2 3 2 2 1
2 United States USA 22 +3 8 14 22
(3) Bruce Penhall 13 3 1 3 1 2 3 3
(4) Bobby Schwartz 9 2 2 2 0 1 2
3 Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia 22 +2 8 15 22
(5) Aleš Dryml Sr. 15 3 3 3 2 2 2 2
(6) Jan Verner 7 2 0 1 1 3 0
4 Australia Australia 22 +1 6 14 22
(11) Billy Sanders 11 0 3 3 0 3 2 1
(12) John Titman 11 1 2 2 3 0 3
5 Italy Italy 14 2 8 14
(7) Giuseppe Marzotto 7 0 0 1 2 3 1
(8) Mauro Ferraccioli 7 1 1 0 3 2 0
6 Austria Austria 9 4 7 9
(1) Adi Funk 8 1 3 2 0 1 1
(2) Walter Grübmüller 1 0 0 0 1 0 0
7 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Yugoslavia 8 4 6 8
(13) Stefan Kekec 7 2 1 1 1 1 1
(14) Vlado Kocuvan 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Placing Pair / Rider Name Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

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

[edit]
Placing Pair / Rider Name Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21
1  United States 23 8 16 23
(1) Bruce Penhall 14 3 E 3 3 3 2
(2) Bobby Schwartz 9 2 3 0 2 1 1
2  New Zealand 22 5 12 22
(3) Ivan Mauger 12 0 1 3 2 3 3
(4) Larry Ross 10 1 3 2 0 2 2
3  Poland 21 9 15 21
(7) Zenon Plech 15 3 3 1 3 3 2
(8) Edward Jancarz 6 1 2 0 2 0 1
4  Czechoslovakia 18 4 11 18
(5) Aleš Dryml Sr. 12 2 0 2 3 3 2
(6) Jan Verner 6 0 2 1 1 2 0
5  Denmark 17 10 13 17
(11) Ole Olsen 10 3 3 1 2 1 0
(12) Hans Nielsen 7 2 2 0 0 0 3
6  England 17 2 11 17
(9) Dave Jessup 7 E 0 3 3 0 1
(10) Chris Morton 10 1 1 2 1 2 3
7  West Germany 3 3 3 3
(13) Egon Müller 2 2 X - - - -
(14) Georg Gilgenreiner 1 1 F - - - -
Placing Pair / Rider Name Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 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

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "World Pairs Championship 1968-1993". Edinburgh Speedway. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Zapomniane turnieje: Mistrzostwa Świata Par(część 2)" (in Polish). SportoweFakty.pl. 16 July 2009. Archived from the original on 3 October 2009. Retrieved 16 July 2009.
  3. ^ Świat Żużla, No 3 (59) 2004, page 44, ISSN 1429-3285
  4. ^ Matthews/Morrison, Peter/Ian (1987). The Guinness Encyclopaedia of Sports Records and Results. Guinness Superlatives. p. 290. ISBN 0-85112-492-5.