1979 Individual Speedway World Championship

1979 Individual Speedway World Championship
Previous:	1978	Next:	1980

The 1979 Individual Speedway World Championship.

In his 14th straight World Final appearance (dating back to 1966), New Zealand's Ivan Mauger won his 6th Speedway World Championship, breaking the previous record of 5 wins held by himself and legendary Swede Ove Fundin. Mauger scored 14 points to defeat local favourite Zenon Plech (13) and young English tearaway Michael Lee (11), with Lee the only rider to defeat Mauger on the day. Lee also had to defeat Kelly Moran (USA), Billy Sanders (Australia) and defending champion Ole Olsen in a runoff for third after all four riders finished on 11 points.

This would prove to be the last appearance for Ivan Mauger as a rider in a World Final.

British Qualification

Similar to the previous season, the British qualifying rounds for the World Championship doubled up as qualifying rounds for the Grand Prix. Therefore, many non-British riders such as Scott Autrey and Ivan Mauger rode in these meetings scoring points towards the Grand Prix qualification - but their scores didn't count towards World Championship qualification.

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Preliminary Round
8 April	Rye House	Mike Lanham	Dave Perks	John McNeill
8 April	Mildenhall	Mick Hines	Geoff Bouchard	Alan Emerson
17 April	Crayford	Mike Sampson	Colin Richardson	Bernie Leigh
17 April	Berwick	Steve Finch	Eric Broadbelt	Derek Richardson
23 April	Boston	Steve Lomas	Malcolm Corradine	John Jackson
Qualifying Round
28 April	Swindon	Phil Crump	Jan Andersson	Scott Autrey
28 April	Halifax	Ivan Mauger	Ian Cartwright	Reg Wilson
28 April	Coventry	Mitch Shirra	Alan Molyneux	John Davis
30 April	Reading	Jan Andersson	John Davis	Bruce Penhall
30 April	Exeter	Scott Autrey	Phil Crump	Colin Richardson
30 April	Birmingham	Peter Collins	Billy Sanders	Alan Grahame
2 May	Poole	Ole Olsen	Dave Morton	Malcolm Simmons
2 May	Hull	Ivan Mauger	Bobby Beaton	Kenny Carter
3 May	Wimbledon	Colin Richardson	Hans Nielsen	Bruce Penhall
3 May	Sheffield	Doug Wyer	Craig Pendlebury	Les Collins
4 May	Hackney	John Davis	Mitch Shirra	Ole Olsen
4 May	Wolverhampton	Kenny Carter	Jim McMillan	Bruce Cribb
4 May	Eastbourne	Roger Johns	Kai Niemi	Malcolm Simmons
5 May	Kings Lynn	Michael Lee	Gordon Kennett	Mike Lanham
5 May	Cradley Heath	Bruce Penhall	Scott Autrey	Steve Bastable
5 May	Belle Vue	Doug Wyer	Larry Ross	Bobby Beaton
8 May	Leicester	Michael Lee	John Titman	Ila Teromaa
10 May	Ipswich	Steve Bastable	John Louis	Andy Grahame
Semi-Finals
22 May	Leicester	Peter Collins	Gordon Kennett	Doug Wyer
23 May	Poole	Dave Morton	Dave Jessup	John Louis
Final
20 June	Coventry	Peter Collins	Michael Lee	Dave Jessup	result

British Final

June 20, 1979
Coventry, Brandon Stadium
First 10 to Commonwealth Final plus 1 reserve

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
	(9) Peter Collins	15			3		3						3					3		3			15	1
	(8) Michael Lee	14		3						3			2			3			3				14	2
	(7) Dave Jessup	12		2					3					2	3					2			12	3
4	(16) John Davis	11				3				2	3						2			1			11	4
5	(10) Doug Wyer	10			1			2						3			3		1				10	5
6	(11) Malcolm Simmons	10			2				2		1					2						3	10	6
7	(12) Roger Johns	8			F					1		3			1						3		8	7
8	(1) Gordon Kennett	7	3				E				0				2				2				7	8
9	(13) Alan Molyneyx	7				2	1							1		1					2		7	9
10	(2) John Louis	6	2					3				1				0				0			6	10	3
11	(6) Chris Morton	6		0				1			2							2			1		6	11	2
12	(5) Reg Wilson	6		1			2					0					1					2	6	12
13	(15) Jim McMillan	4				0			1			2						1	0				4	13
14	(14) Alan Grahame	3				1		0					1		0							1	3	14
15	(4) Mike Lanham	1	1							0				0				0				0	1	15
16	(3) Ian Turner	0	E						0				0				0				0		0	16
R1	(R1) Craig Pendlebury	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2) Ian Cartwright	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

Swedish Qualification

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Semi-Finals
6 May	Motala	Jan Andersson	Stefan Salmonsson	Soren Sjosten
6 May	Mariestad	Bernt Persson	Hans Danielsson	Bengt Jansson
6 May	Malilla	Bo Wirebrand	Tommy Nilsson	Tommy Johansson
Final
29 May	Kumla	Jan Andersson	Anders Michanek	Bernt Persson

Swedish Final

May 29, 1979
Kumla
First 5 to Scandinavian Final + 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Jan Andersson	15
2	Anders Michanek	12
3	Bernt Persson	11
4	Richard Hellsen	11
5	Ake Fridell	11
6	Lars Ake Andersson	10
7	Bo Wirebrand	9
8	Uno Johansson	8
9	Stefan Salmonsson	7
10	Bengt Jansson	5
11	Hans Danielsson	5
12	Soren Sjosten	4
13	Tommy Nilsson	3
14	Lennart Bengsson (res)	3
15	Gert Carlsson	2
16	Kent Eriksson	1
17	Soren Karlsson	0

New Zealand Final

21 January 1979
Christchurch
First 8 to Austral-Asian Final

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Larry Ross	3,3,3,3,3	15
2	Mitch Shirra	3,3,2,2,2	12
3	Ivan Mauger	2,3,E,3,3	11
4	Roger Wright	2,0,3,3,3	11
5	John Goodall	1,3,3,1,2	10
6	David Bargh	3,0,1,3,2	9
7	Tony Briggs	1,2,1,2,3	9
8	Graeme Stapleton	2,2,2,1,2	9
9	Mike Fullerton	3,1,3,0,1	8
10	James Moore	1,2,0,2,1	6
11	Colin Tucker	0,2,1,2,0	5
12	Patrick Pawson	0,1,2,1,0	4
13	Robin Adlington	0,1,2,0,1	4
14	Max Brown	1,1,0,0,0	2
15	John Brown	0,0,0,0,1	1
16	William Aulsford	ns	0
R1	Paul Fewings	2,1,0	3
R2	Gary Forscutt	0,1	1

Intercontinental Round

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
American Final
29 December 1978	Santa Ana	Bobby Schwartz	Mike Bast	Kelly Moran
Australian Final
27 January	Mildura	Phil Crump	Danny Kennedy	John Boulger
Austral-Asian Final
23 February	Adelaide	Billy Sanders	Steve Koppe	John Titman
Danish Final
6 May	Fjelsted	Bo Petersen	Finn Thomsen	Michael Lochman
Scandinawian Final
5 July	Norrköping	Jan Andersson	Hans Nielsen	Finn Thomsen
Commonwealth Final
1 July	White City	Michael Lee	Billy Sanders	Dave Jessup
Intercontinental Final
5 August	White City	Michael Lee	Peter Collins	Finn Thomsen

American Final

December 29, 1978
Santa Ana, Santa Ana Speedway
First 2 to Intercontinental final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Bobby Schwartz	12+3
2	Mike Bast	12+2
3	Kelly Moran	12+1
4	Steve Gresham	12+0
5	Mike Faria	10
6	Steve McConnell	9
7	Bruce Penhall	7
8	Bill Cordy	7
9	John Cook	6
10	Rich McMurray	6
11	Gary Hutchinson	6
12	Dave Robinson	5
13	Duane Yarrow	5
14	Dave Faria	4
15	Denny Pyeatt	3
16	Mark Blom	2

Australian Final

February 11, 1978
Mildura
First 8 to Austral-Asian Final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Phil Crump	15
2	Danny Kenneddy	13
3	John Boulger	11
4	John Titman	10
5	Steve Koppe	10
6	Billy Sanders	10
7	Gary Guglielmi	9
8	Glyn Taylor	9
9	Rob Maxfield	6
10	Phil Bass	5
11	Glen McDonald	5
12	Mike Farrell	4
13	John Langfield	4
14	David Shields	2
15	Ross Townson	2
16	Kym Amundson	2
R1	Tim Nunan
R2	John Williams

Australasian Final

February 23, 1979
Adelaide, Rowley Park Speedway
Referee: Sam Bass
First 6 to Commonwealth final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Billy Sanders	13
2	Steve Koppe	12
3	John Titman	11+3
4	Phil Crump	11+2
5	Ivan Mauger	11+1
6	Larry Ross	10+3
7	Mitch Shirra	10+2
8	Gary Guglielmi	8
9	John Goodall	8
10	Danny Kennedy	6
11	John Boulger	6
12	Glyn Taylor	6
13	Tony Briggs (Res)	4
14	Graeme Stapleton	2
15	David Bargh (Res)	2
16	Roger Wright	0

Danish Final

May 6, 1979
Fjelsted
First 5 to Scandinavian 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	21
	(5) Bo Petersen	14		3			2					3					3					3	14	1	3
	(12) Finn Thomsen	14			3					3		2			3						3		14	2	2
	(6) Michael Lochmann	12		2				2			3							3			2		12	3	3
4	(1) Hans Nielsen	12	3				3				2				1				3				12	4	2
5	(14) Finn Rune Jensen	11				3		3					3		0							2	11	5
6	(7) Bent Rasmussen	10		F					2					3	2					3			10	6
7	(15) Jens Henry Nielsen	10				2			3			1						2	2				10	7
8	(10) Steen Mastrup	8			2			1						2			2		1				8	8
9	(3) Helge Hansen	5	2						1				1				1				0		5	9
10	(13) Svend Lund	5				0	1							E		3					1		5	10
11	(4) Gunnar Svendsen	5	1							1				1				1				1	5	11
12	(2) Finn Londal Jensen	4	0					0				0				2				2			4	12
13	(16) Alf Busk	4				1				2	1						F			-			4	13
14	(8) Kai Kristiansen	3		1						0			2			F			-				3	14
15	(9) Kristian Praestbro	1			1		E						-					-		-			1	15
16	(11) Ernst Bogh	0																					0	16
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

gate A - inside	gate B	gate C	gate D - outside

Scandinavian Final

June 5, 1979
Norrköping
First 5 to Intercontinental final plus 1 reserve

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
	(1) Jan Andersen	13	3				2				3				3				2				13	1	3
	(13) Hans Nielsen	13				2	3							3		3					2		13	2	2
	(8) Finn Thomsen	12		3						3			3			2			1				12	3	3
4	(10) Ole Olsen	12			3			3						2			1		3				12	4	2
5	(3) Kai Niemi	9	0						3				0				3				3		9	5	3
6	(5) Ila Teromaa	9		2			1					3					0					3	9	6	2
7	(16) Bo Petersen	8				3				0	X						2			3			8	7
8	(6) Bernt Persson	8		1				1			2							3			1		8	8
9	(4) Anders Michanek	7	1							2				1				2				1	7	9
10	(14) Michael Lochmann	6				X		2					2		2							E	6	10
11	(2) Reidar Eide	6	2					0				1				1				2			6	11
12	(11) Rolf Gramstad	5			0				2		1					F						2	5	12
13	(15) Ake Fridell	4				1			0			2						1	0				4	13
14	(9) Richard Hellsen	3			2		0						1					-		-			3	14
15	(7) Olli Turkia	2		0					1					0	1					F			2	15
16	(12) Audun Ove Olsen	2			1					1		0			0						0		2	16
R1	(R1) Lars Ake Andersson	1																		1			1	R1
R2	(R2) Soren Karlsson	0															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

gate A - inside	gate B	gate C	gate D - outside

Commonwealth Final

July 1, 1979
London, White City Stadium
First 9 to Intercontinental final plus 1 reserve

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
	(16) Michael Lee	14				3				3	2						3			3			14	1	3
	(11) Billy Sanders	14			3				3		3					2						3	14	2	2
	(13) Dave Jessup	12				2	2							2		3					3		12	3
4	(15) Larry Ross	11				1			2			3						3	2				11	4
5	(5) Ivan Mauger	11		3			3					2					1					2	11	5
6	(10) Peter Collins	10			2			2						3			2		1				10	6
7	(8) John Titman	9		2						1			2			1			3				9	7
8	(6) Gordon Kennett	8		F				3			1							2			2		8	8
9	(9) John Davis	7			1		1						3					F		2			7	9
10	(14) Malcolm Simmons	6				0		1					1		3							1	6	10
11	(4) Doug Wyer	5	3							2				F				-				-	5	11
12	(7) John Louis	4		1					0					1	2					F			4	12
13	(1) Phil Crump	2	2				0				-				-				-				2	13
14	(3) Roger Johns	2	1						1				E				0				-		2	14
15	(12) Steve Koppe	2			0					0		1			1						0		2	15
16	(2) Alan Molyneux	1	E					E				0				E				1			1	16
R1	(R1) Sean Wilmott	0									0												0	R1
R2	(R2) Chris Morton	1																1				0	1	R2
R3	(R3) Mitch Shirra	1													0				0		1		1	R3
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

gate A - inside	gate B	gate C	gate D - outside

Intercontinental Final

August 8, 1979
London, White City Stadium
First 9 to World Final plus 1 reserve

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
	(14) Michael Lee	14				3		3					3		2							3	14	1	3
	(7) Peter Collins	14		3					3					2	3					3			14	2	2
	(9) Finn Thomsen	10			2		3						1					3		1			10	3	3
4	(8) Ivan Mauger	10		1						3			2			2			2				10	4	2
5	(13) Dave Jessup	10				2	2							3		3					0		10	5	1
6	(4) Ole Olsen	9	3							1				1				2				2	9	6
7	(2) Billy Sanders	8	2					0				3				1				2			8	7
8	(3) Kelly Moran	8	1						2				0				3				2		8	8
9	(10) John Titman	8			1			2						0			2		3				8	9
10	(6) Larry Ross	7		0				1			3							0			3		7	10
11	(15) Kai Niemi	6				1			1			2						1	1				6	11
12	(5) Gordon Kennett	5		2			1					1					1					0	5	12
13	(12) John Davis	4			3					0		0			0						1		4	13
14	(16) Hans Nielsen	2				0				2	0						0			0			2	14
15	(11) Bobby Schwartz	2			F				0		1					0						1	2	15
16	(1) Jan Andersson	1	0				0				T				1				0				1	16
R1	(R1) Malcolm Simmons	2									2												2	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	21

gate A - inside	gate B	gate C	gate D - outside

Continental Round

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Preliminary Round
22 April	Žarnovica	Jiří Štancl	Petr Kučera	Jiří Jirout
22 April	Wiener Neustadt	Laszlo Meszaroš	Ladislav Hradecky	Karl Maier
22 April	Giavera del Montello	Waldemar Bacik	Jan Hadek	Nikolaj Manev
22 April	Diedenbergen	Henny Kroeze	Andrew Curworth	Walter Grubmuller
Quarter-Finals
6 May	Debrecen	Mikhail Starostin	Jan Verner	Tibor Danka
6 May	Abensberg	Jiří Štancl	Vaclav Verner	Anatoly Maksimow
7 May	Osijek	Petr Ondrašík	Valery Gordeev	Henny Kroeze
7 May	Slany	Aleš Dryml, Sr.	Zdeněk Kudrna	Istvan Sziracky
Semi-Finals
27 May	Krumbach	Jan Verner	Henny Kroeze	Valery Gordeev
27 May	Lonigo	Aleš Dryml, Sr.	Viktor Kuznetsov	Jiří Štancl
Final
8 July	Pocking	Christoph Betzl	Mikhail Starostin	Zdeněk Kudrna

Continental Final

July 8, 1979
Pocking
First 4 to World final plus 1 reserve
Polish riders Zenon Plech, Edward Jancarz and Robert Slabon seeded 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	21
	(9) Christoph Betzl	14			3		3						3					3		2			14	1
	(3) Mikhail Starostin	13	3						3				1				3				3		13	2
	(5) Zdeněk Kudrna	12		3			1					3					2					3	12	3	3
4	(14) Alois Wiesbock	12				3		3					2		3							1	12	4	2
5	(13) Petr Ondrašík	11				1	2							3		3					2		11	5
6	(16) Valery Gordeev	10				2				1	3						1			3			10	6
7	(11) Vaclav Verner	9			2				1		2					2						2	9	7
8	(10) Jiří Štancl	7			1			1						2			0		3				7	8
9	(12) Viktor Kuznetsov	7			0					2		2			2						1		7	9
10	(15) Anatoly Maksimov	6				X			2			0						2	2				6	10
11	(2) Karl Maier	6	2					2				1				X				1			6	11
12	(4) Georg Hack	4	1							3				X				-				X	4	12
13	(7) Jan Hadek	4		2					0					1	1					X			4	13
14	(1) László Mészáros	2	X				0				1				0				1				2	14
15	(8) Jan Verner	0		X						X			X			X			X				0	15
16	(6) Aleš Dryml, Sr.	0		X				-			-							-			-		0	16
R1	(R1) Janosz Szoke	1						0			0							1			0		1	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	21

gate A - inside	gate B	gate C	gate D - outside

World Final

September 2, 1979
Chorzów, Silesian Stadium^[1]

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
	(15) Ivan Mauger	14				3			3			2						3	3				14	1
	(7) Zenon Plech	13		3					1					3	3					3			13	2
	(5) Michael Lee	11+3		2			3					3					0					3	11	3
4	(3) Kelly Moran	11+2	1						2				3				2				3		11	4
5	(4) Billy Sanders	11+1	3							3				1				2				2	11	5
6	(10) Ole Olsen	11+0			3			3						2			1		2				11	6
7	(11) Zdeněk Kudrna	8			2				0		3					3						0	8	7
8	(16) Dave Jessup	8				E				1	2						3			2			8	8
9	(12) Edward Jancarz	7			1					2		1			2						1		7	9
10	(13) Finn Thomsen	6				2	E							0		2					2		6	10
11	(1) Peter Collins	6	2				2				1				1				E				6	11
12	(14) John Titman	5				1		2					2		0							1	6	12
13	(2) Michail Starostin	3	0					1				0				1				1			3	13
14	(6) Christoph Betzl	2		1				0			0							1			0		2	14
15	(8) Robert Slabon	2		0						0			1			0			1				2	15
16	(9) Alois Wiesböck	1			0		1						0					0		0			1	16
	(17) Petr Ondrašík	0																					0
	(18) Larry Ross	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

gate A - inside	gate B	gate C	gate D - outside

References

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

Individual Speedway World Championship and Speedway Grand Prix seasons

Speedway World Championship	1936 1937 1938 1939 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994

Speedway Grand Prix (SGP)	1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

See also	Medalists Medal Classification Grands Prix SGP riders Super Prix SGP Statistics

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