1968 Individual Speedway World Championship

1968 Individual Speedway World Championship

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1969

The 1968 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 23rd edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]}

Ivan Mauger won his first World title. Fellow countryman Barry Briggs finished second and Pole Edward Jancarz took the bronze medal. ^{[7] [8]}

Format changes

The format of the Championship changed again for the 1968 event. It reverted to the 1966 system whereby six riders from the Swedish section would qualify for the World Final direct to be held in Sweden. All other nations had to go through various events to establish the other ten riders to qualify for the final.

First round

Qualification results. ^{[9] [10]}

British/Commonwealth qualifying

• Top 32 to British/Commonwealth semi-finals

Date	Venue	Winner	2nd	3rd
25 May	King's Lynn Stadium, King's Lynn	Malcolm Simmons	Terry Betts	Ray Wilson
25 May	The Shay, Halifax	Jim Airey	Dave Younghusband	Greg Kentwell
25 May	Brandon Stadium, Coventry	Nigel Boocock	Norman Hunter	Dave Hemus
25 May	Hyde Road, Manchester	Ivan Mauger	Tommy Roper	Charlie Monk
27 May	Brough Park, Newcastle	Ivan Mauger	Barry Briggs	Bert Harkins
27 May	County Ground Stadium, Exeter	Martin Ashby	Jimmy Squibb	Eric Boocock
28 May	West Ham Stadium, London	Norman Hunter	Nigel Boocock	Ivan Mauger
28 May	Leicester Stadium, Leicester	Bill Andrew	Bob Kilby	John Boulger
29 May	Wimborne Road, Poole	John Boulger	Bill Andrew	Geoff Mudge
30 May	Oxford Stadium, Oxford	Colin Gooddy	Terry Betts	Ronnie Genz
30 May	Wimbledon Stadium, London	Martin Ashby	Nigel Boocock	Trevor Hedge
30 May	Owlerton Stadium, Sheffield	Charlie Monk	Colin Pratt	John Dews
31 May	Monmore Green, Wolverhampton	James Bond	Jim Airey	Peter Vandenberg
31 May	Hackney Wick Stadium, London	Barry Briggs	Colin Pratt	Les McGillivray
31 May	Somerton Park, Newport	Cyril Francis	Chris Julian	Eric Boothroyd
31 May	White City, Glasgow	Bob Kilby	Bert Harkins	Jim McMillan
1 June	Dudley Wood Stadium, Dudley	Bill Andrew	Trevor Hedge	Reg Luckhurst
1 June	Abeey Stadium, Swindon	Barry Briggs	Bob Kilby	Mike Broadbanks
1 June	Cliftonhill, Coatbridge	Martin Ashby	Ray Wilson	Colin Pratt

Continental qualifying

• Top 32 to Continantal semi-finals

Date	Venue	Winner	2nd	3rd
4 May	Meissen Speedway Stadium, Meissen	Boris Samorodov	Jan Holub I	Antoni Woryna
5 May	Stadion Automoto Drustvo Svetozarevo	Gennady Kurilenko	Joachim Maj	Yuri Chekranov
5 May	Borsod Volán Stadion, Miskolc	Konstanty Pociejkewicz	Henryk Glucklich	Viktor Trofimov
5 May	Abensberger Stadion, Abensberg	Jan Mucha	Igor Plekhanov	Luboš Tomíček Sr.

Second round

Norwegian qualifying (top 8) 1 October 1967 (elimination format) Sandnes Idrettspark, Sandnes Top 8 to Nordic final 1968 Pos. Rider time/note 1 Reidar Eide 1.21.1 2 Oyvind S. Berg 1.22.6 3 Odd Fossengen 1.24.0 4 Sverre Harrfeldt 1.24.0 5 Einar Egedius sf 1.24.5 6 Sven Svensrud sf 1.28.2 7 Ulf Lovaas sf fell 8 Thorbjorn Nygaard sf fell

Finnish qualifying (top 8) (2 rounds) ? & 30 Aug 1967 Eteläpuisto, Tampere & Kärpänen Speedway, Lahti Top 3 to Nordic final 1968 Pos. Rider Points Total 1 Matti Olin 6+8 14+3 2 Kalevi Lahtinen 8+6 14+2 3 Veikko Metsahuone 4+3 7 4 Jouko Naskali 0+4 4 5 Reijo Tolviander 3+1 4 6 Reima Lohkovouri 0+2 2 7 Olavi Turunen 2+0 2 8 Timo Sinkkonen 1+0 1

British/Commonwealth semi-finals

27 June Owlerton Stadium, Sheffield Top 8 to British final Pos. Rider Points 1 Barry Briggs 14 2 Bill Andrew 13 3 Norman Hunter 13 4 Nigel Boocock 11 5 Mike Broadbank 10 6 Peter Vandenberg 10 7 Dave Younghusband 9 8 Jim McMillan 9 Jim Airey 7 10 Colin Pratt 6 11 Bob Andrews 6 12 Tommy Roper 5 13 Arnie Haley 3 14 Chris Julian 3 15 Jimmy Squibb 2 16 Bert Harkins 1

2 July Wimborne Road, Poole Top 8 to British final Pos. Rider Points 1 Ivan Mauger 14 2 Martin Ashby 14 3 Terry Betts 12 4 Charlie Monk 10 5 Ray Wilson 10 6 Eric Boocock 9 7 Trevor Hedge 9 8 Geoff Mudge 9 9 Reg Luckhurst 8 10 James Bond 7 11 Colin Gooddy 7 12 John Boulger 3 13 Wayne Briggs 3 14 Greg Kentwell 3 15 Eric Boothroyd 1 16 Bob Kilby 1

Third round

British/Commonwealth Final

• 11 July 1968
• Wimbledon Stadium, London
• First 10 to British-Nordic 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
	(12) Ivan Mauger	15			3					3		3			3						3		15	1
	(14) Barry Briggs	14				3		3					3		2							3	14	2
	(5) Eric Boocock	13		3			3					2					3					2	13	3
4	(11) Martin Ashby	10			1				3		2					3						1	10	4
5	(6) Trevor Hedge	10		2				2			3							3			0		10	5
6	(10) Nigel Boocock	9			2			1						1			2		3				9	6
7	(13) Norman Hunter	9				1	2							3		2					1		9	7
8	(4) Jim McMillan	8	3							1				2				2				0	8	8
9	(1) Terry Betts	7	2				1				1				1				2				7	9
10	(3) Dave Younghusband	6	1						0				2				1				2		6	10
11	(15) Geoff Mudge	6				2			1			1						1	1				6	11
12	(8) Charlie Monk	5		1						2			1			1			0				5	12
13	(16) Mike Broadbanks	3				0				0	E						0			3			3	13
14	(2) Ray Wilson	2	0					0				0				0				2			2	14
15	(9) Peter Vandenberg	1			0		0						0					0		1			1	15
16	(7) Bill Andrew	0		F					-					-	-					-			0	16
R1	(R1) Reg Luckhurst	2							2						F								2	R1
R2	(R2) Jim Airey	0												X						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

Nordic Final

• 2 June 1968
• Selskov Stadium, Hillerød
• First 6 to British-Nordic 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
	(10) Reidar Eide	14			3			3						3			2		3				14	1
	(1) Øyvind S. Berg	13	3				3				2				3				2				13	2
	(11) Odd Fossengen	12			1				3		3					3						2	12	3
4	(5) Sverre Harrfeldt	11		3			1					1					3					3	11	4
5	(2) Ole Olsen	11	2					2				2				2				3			11	5
6	(9) Godtfred Andreasen	11			2		2						2					3		2			11	6
7	(3) Per J.Aulie	9	1						2				3				0				3		9	7
8	(16) Ole Todnem	9				3				3	1						1			1			9	8
9	(15) Kurt Bøgh	7				F			1			3						2	1				7	9
10	(13) Preben Moller Christensen	6				2	0							2		0					2		6	10
11	(8) Jens Ring	6		2						2			1			1			0				6	11
12	(14) Helgie Langlie	3				F		0					-		2							1	3	12
13	(4) Matti Olin	3	0							1				1				1				0	3	13
14	(6) Eidar Egedius	2		1				1			E							F			-		2	14
15	(7) Timo Laine	1		0					0					0	1					0			1	15
16	(12) Jouko Naskali	0			0					0		0			0						0		0	16
R1	(R1) Per Ehlert	1																			1		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

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 semi-finals

26 May Mšeno Speedway Stadium, Mšeno Top 8 to Continental final Pos. Rider Points 1 Luboš Tomíček Sr. 15 2 Konstanty Pociejkewicz 12 3 Jerzy Trzeszkowski 11 4 Pawel Waloszek 11 5 Igor Plechanov 11 6 Jan Mucha 10 7 Vladimir Smirnov 10 8 Jan Pytko 9 9 Miloslav Verner 7 10 Gabdrachman Kadyrov 6 11 Henryk Glücklich 5 12 Boris Zechanovitsch 5 13 Miroslav Šmíd 2 14 Antonín Kasper Sr. 2 15 Hans Jürgen Fritz (res) 2 16 Barnabas Gyepes 1 17 Jaroslav Volf (res) 1 18 Viktor Trofimov 0

26 May Rybnik Municipal Stadium, Rybnik Top 8 to Continental final Pos. Rider Points 1 Antoni Woryna 13 2 Joachim Maj 13 3 Andrzej Wyglenda 12 4 Boris Samorodov 10 5 Gennadij Kurilenko 10 6 Jerzy Padewski 9 7 Jan Holub I 8 8 Edward Jancarz 8 9 Gerhard Uhlenbrock 8 10 Jurij Chekranov 6 11 Jochen Dinse 5 12 Farid Szajnurov 5 13 Jürgen Hehlert 4 14 Antonín Šváb Sr. 4 15 Stanislaw Tkocz 3 16 Frantisek Ledecky 1

Fourth round

Swedish Qualifying

28 April, Gamla Motorstadion, Målilla Top 8 to Swedish final Pos. Rider Points 1 Ove Fundin 14 2 Bengt Jansson 13 3 Anders Michanek 11 4 Gunnar Malmqvist 11 5 Per-Olof Söderman 10 6 Bernt Persson 9 7 Tommy Johansson 9 8 Bengt Svensson 9 9 Conny Samuelsson 8 10 Leif Larsson 6 11 Sven-Inge Svensson 6 12 Sören Enander 6 13 Allan Dahlöf 4 14 Runo Wedin 3 15 Jan Holmqvist 3 16 Bo Magnusson

1 May, Gamla Speedway Track, Visby Top 8 to Swedish final Pos. Rider Points 1 Sören Sjösten 14 2 Torbjörn Harrysson 14 3 Olle Nygren 12 4 Göte Nordin 12 5 Bengt Larsson 10 6 Christer Löfqvist 9 7 Bo Josefsson 9 8 Therje Henriksson 9 9 Hasse Holmqvist 6 10 Sven Sigurd 4 11 Jan Svensson 4 12 Lars Jansson 4 13 Karl-Erik Andersson 3 14 Bengt Brannefors 3 15 Åke Andersson 3 16 Sixten Karlberg 2 17 Jan Stridh 2

British/Commonwealth/Nordic Final

• 6 August 1968
• West Ham Stadium, London
• First 8 to European 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
	(11) Ivan Mauger	15			3				3		3					3						3	15	1
	(5) Nigel Boocock	13		3			3					3					2					2	13	2	3
	(16) Reidar Eide	13				2				3	2						3			3			13	3	2
4	(7) Martin Ashby	11		2					2					3	3					1			11	4
5	(15) Sverre Harrfeldt	10				3			0			1						3	3				10	5
6	(9) Terry Betts	10			2		1						3					2		2			10	6
7	(1) Trevor Hedge	9	3				2				1				2				1				9	7
8	(3) Eric Boocock	7	2						1				2				1				1		7	8
9	(13) Norman Hunter	6				1	0							1		1					3		6	9
10	(12) Barry Briggs	6			1					F		2			1						2		6	10
11	(10) Odd Fossengen	5			0			3						2			0		0				5	11
12	(8) Jim McMillan	5		0						2			1			0			2				5	12
13	(6) Øyvind S. Berg	4		1				2			0							1			0		4	13
14	(2) Ole Olsen	4	1					1				0				2				F			4	14
15	(4) Dave Younghusband	1	0							1				0				0				F	1	15
16	(14) Godtfred Andreasen	0				0		0					0		-							-	0	16
R1	(R1) Per J.Aulle	1													0							1	1	R1
R2	(R2) Geoff Mudge	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

Continental Final

• 21 June 1968
• Stroitel Stadium, Ufa
• First 8 to European 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
	(2) Gennady Kurilenko	12	3					1				3				3				2			12	1
	(6) Paweł Waloszek	10		2				3			3							2			0		10	2
	(16) Vladimir Smirnov	10				3				0	2						2			3			10	3
4	(15) Edward Jancarz	10				2			1			1						3	3				10	4
5	(13) Jerzy Trzeszkowski	10				1	3							3		2					1		10	5
6	(12) Antoni Woryna	9			2					2		2			1						2		9	6
7	(11) Igor Plekhanov	8			3				3		0					0						2	8	7	3
8	(3) Konstanty Pociejkewicz	8	2						0				F				3				3		8	8	2
9	(7) Jerzy Padewski	8		3					2					0	3					F			8	9	1
10	(9) Jan Holub I	7			1		1						3					1		1			7	10
11	(1) Andrzej Wyglenda	7	1				2				1				2				1				7	11
12	(8) Zygmunt Pytko	6		0						3			2			1			0				6	12
13	(10) Boris Samorodov	6			0			2						1			1		2				6	13
14	(5) Jan Mucha	4		1			0					0					0					3	4	14
15	(4) Joachim Maj	4	0							1				2				0				1	4	15
16	(14) Luboš Tomíček Sr.	1				0		0					1		0							0	1	16
R1	(R1) Gerhard Ulenbrock	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2) Václav Verner	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

Fifth round

Swedish Final

• Top 6 to World final, 1 reserve

Date	Venue	Winner	2nd	3rd
27 May	Malmö Stadion, Malmö	Gunnar Malmqvist	Anders Michanek	Hasse Holmqvist
28 May	Ullevi, Göteborg	Bernt Persson	Gunnar Malmqvist	Torbjörn Harrysson
30 May	Ryd Motorstadion, Linköping	Ove Fundin	Bengt Jansson	Gunnar Malmqvist

Pos. Rider Points 1 Gunnar Malmqvist 38 2 Ove Fundin 35 3 Torbjörn Harrysson 31 4 Bernt Persson 30 5 Anders Michanek 29 6 Hasse Holmqvist 28 7 Bengt Jansson 27 8 Bengt Larsson 25 9 Sören Sjösten 23

Pos. Rider Points 10 Therje Henriksson 22 11 Bo Josefsson 15 12 Bengt Svensson 15 13 Christer Löfqvist 14 14 Olle Nygren 10 15 Tommy Johansson 9 16 Per Olof Söderman 8 17 Conny Samuelsson 2 18 Runo Wedin 1

European Final

• 25 August 1968
• Olympic Stadium, Wrocław
• First 10 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
	(3) Paweł Waloszek	13	3						2				3				2				3		13	1
	(5) Antoni Woryna	11		3			3					3					X					2	11	2
	(16) Jerzy Trzeszkowski	11				2				2	2						3			2			11	3
4	(11) Ivan Mauger	10			1				3		1					2						3	10	4
5	(8) Barry Briggs	9		1						3			1			3			1				9	5
6	(1) Gennady Kurilenko	9	2				2				3				0				2				9	6
7	(14) Reidar Eide	8				3		1					0		3							1	8	7
8	(10) Edward Jancarz	8			3			3						2			F		-				8	8
9	(12) Nigel Boocock	7			2					1		0			2						2		7	9
10	(2) Martin Ashby	6	1					2				1				1				1			6	10	3
11	(9) Igor Plekhanov	6			0		0						2					3		1			6	11	2
12	(6) Vladimir Smirnov	5		2				0			E							2			1		5	12
13	(4) Trevor Hedge	3	0							0				3				0				0	3	13
14	(7) Terry Betts	2		0					0					1	1					0			2	14
15	(13) Sverre Harrfeldt	2				1	1							F		-					-		2	15
16	(15) Konstanty Pociejkewicz	0				0			-			-						-	-				0	16
R1	(R1) Jerzy Padewski	7							1			2						1	3				7	R1
R2	(R2) Václav Verner	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

World Final

• 6 September 1968
• Ullevi, Göteborg ^[11]

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
	(6) Ivan Mauger	15		3				3			3							3			3		15	1
	(5) Barry Briggs	12		2			2					3					3					2	12	2
	(7) Edward Jancarz	11		1					3					1	3					3			11	3	3
4	(9) Gennady Kurilenko	11			2		3						3					1		2			11	4	2
5	(4) Paweł Waloszek	10	F							2				3				2				3	10	5
6	(12) Torbjörn Harrysson	10			3					3		2			1						1		10	6
7	(1) Anders Michanek	9	3				1				2				2				1				9	7
8	(10) Hasse Holmqvist	9			1			2						2			2		2				9	8
9	(15) Ove Fundin	7				3			0			1						0	3				7	9
10	(11) Gunnar Malmqvist	7			0				2		1					3						1	7	10
11	(2) Martin Ashby	5	2					1				0				2				0			5	11
12	(16) Antoni Woryna	5				2				1	R						1			1			5	12
14	(8) Reidar Eide	3		0						0			2			1			F				3	14
13	(3) Jerzy Trzeszkowski	4	1						1				0				0				2		4	13
15	(14) Bernt Persson	1				E		0					1		0							0	1	15
16	(13) Nigel Boocock	1				1	0							0		X					E		1	16
R1	(R1) Igor Plekhanov	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2) Bengt Jansson	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

References

1. Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 20–21. ISBN   0-86215-017-5.
2. "World Championship 1936-1994". Edinburgh Speedway. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
3. "WORLD FINALS 1936-1994" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
4. "HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK". Speedway.org. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
5. "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
6. "WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL – RIDER INDEX". British Speedway. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
7. "Sports in Brief". The Times. 7 September 1968. Retrieved 9 July 2021– via Gale Primary Sources.
8. "Boocock last in Sweden" . Coventry Evening Telegraph. 7 September 1968. Retrieved 9 July 2021– via British Newspaper Archive.
9. "1968 World Championship". Metal Speedway. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
10. "1968 World Championship". Speedway.org. Retrieved 20 January 2024.
11. Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN   0-7524-2402-5