Finland national speedway team

Finland
Association	Finnish Motorcycling Federation Suomen Moottoriliitto r.y.
FIM code	SML
Nation colour	White and Blue
SWC Wins	0

The Finnish national speedway team are one of the teams that compete in international team motorcycle speedway.

History

The Finnish speedway team comepeted in the inaugural Speedway World Team Cup in 1960, finishing fourth in the Scandinavian round at Odense, Denmark. The team consisted of Kalevi Lahtinen, Antti Pajari, Timo Laine, Valle Seliverstov and Aulis Lethonen. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

From 1960 to 1985, the team failed to progress from their qualifying group for the World Cup, due to the fact that they were drawn together in qualifying with two of the world's strongest speedway nations, Denmark and Sweden. The system changed in 1986 but it was not until the 1990 Speedway World Team Cup that the team progressed from qualifying to round two. ^[4] The team reached the final of the Speedway World Pairs Championship six times, in 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1987 and 1989. ^[5]

The team reached the World Cup race-off (the round before the final) in 2002 and 2003 but experienced an inert period for nearly two decades. However, an improvement ensued when Finland reached the final of the 2022 Speedway of Nations ^[6] and they won their first medal when they won the bronze at the 2023 European Pairs Speedway Championship. ^[7]

Major tournament finals

Speedway of Nations

Year	Venue	Standings (Pts)	Riders	Pts
2022	Vojens Vojens Speedway Center	1. Australia (30+6+7) 2. Great Britain (32+2) 3. Sweden (30+3) 4. Denmark (28) 5. Czech Republic (27) 6. Poland (26) 7. Finland (16)	Timo Lahti	14
			Jesse Mustonen	2
			Timi Salonen	0

World Pairs Championship

Year	Venue	Standings (Pts)	Riders	Pts
1977	Manchester Hyde Road	1. England (28) 2. Sweden (18) 3. West Germany (18) 4. Czechoslovakia (17) 5. New Zealand (17) 6. Finland (14) 7. Australia (12)	Ila Teromaa	7
			Kai Niemi	7
1979	Vojens Vojens Speedway Center	1. Denmark (25) 2. England (24) 3. Poland (20) 4. Australia (19) 5. United States (14) 6. New Zealand (12) 7. Finland (7)	Kai Niemi	7
			Ila Teromaa	0
1980	Krsko Matija Gubec Stadium	1. England (29) 2. Poland (22) 3. Denmark (21) 4. Sweden (18) 5. New Zealand (16) 6. Finland (14) 7. Yugoslavia (6)	Ila Teromaa	8
			Kai Niemi	6
1982	Sydney Liverpool Speedway	1. United States (30) 2. England (22) 3. Denmark (21) 4. Australia (16) 5. Finland (16) 6. New Zealand (13) 7. Czechoslovakia (8)	Kai Niemi	12
			Ari Koponen	4
1987	Pardubice Svítkov Stadion	1. Denmark (52) 2. England (44) 3. United States (36) 4. New Zealand (36) 5. Czechoslovakia (30) 6. Finland (19) 7. Australia (21) 8. Italy (19) 9. Poland (14)	Olli Tyrväinen	11
			Kai Niemi	8
1989	Leszno Alfred Smoczyk Stadium	1. Denmark (48) 2. Sweden (44) 3. England (37) 4. West Germany (36) 5. Finland (31) 6. Hungary (22) 7. Czechoslovakia (25) 8. Italy (15) 9. Poland (11)	Kai Niemi	18
			Olli Tyrväinen	13

International caps (as of 2022)

Since the advent of the Speedway Grand Prix era, international caps earned by riders is largely restricted to international competitions, whereas previously test matches between two teams were a regular occurrence. This means that the number of caps earned by a rider has decreased in the modern era. ^[8]

Rider	Caps
Aarnio, Tero	7
Hautamäki, Pekka	7
Helminen, Markku	3
Katajisto, Kalle	3
Kokko, Petri	3
Koponen, Ari	17
Lahti, Timo	3
Laukkanen, Kai	15
Mäkinen, Jari	1
Makinen, Rauli	2
Niemi, Kai	22
Nieminen, Kauko	18
Olin, Matti	7
Pajari, Antti	14
Pellinen, Mika	4
Reima, Tomi	13
Teromaa, Ila	8
Teromaa, Pepe	3
Tuoriniemi, Veijo	3
Tyrväinen, Olli	19
Ylinen, Vesa	14

References

1. Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 134. ISBN   0-904584-45-3.
2. Bott, Richard (1980). The Peter Collins Speedway Book No.4. Stanley Paul & Co Ltd. p. 99. ISBN   0-09-141751-1.
3. Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 27–28. ISBN   0-86215-017-5.
4. "FIM SPEEDWAY WORLD CUP/ SPEEDWAY OF NATIONS" (PDF). Motor Sport Top 20. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
5. Matthews/Morrison, Peter/Ian (1987). The Guinness Encyclopaedia of Sports Records and Results. Guinness Superlatives. p. 290. ISBN   0-85112-492-5.
6. "Speedway of Nations Preview". Speedway Star. 23 July 2022. p. 22.
7. "European Pairs Speedway Championship: Team Poland grabs the title at home". FIM Europe. 2 October 2023. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
8. "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 7 October 2023.

See also

• Motorcycle speedway