Kai Niemi

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Kai Niemi
Born (1955-09-15) 15 September 1955 (age 68)
Pori, Finland
NationalityFinnish
Career history
Great Britain
1976-1978 White City Rebels
1979-1981 Eastbourne Eagles
1981 Birmingham Brummies
1982-1983 Wimbledon Dons
1984-1985 Ipswich Witches
1986 Swindon Robins
1989 Coventry Bees
Sweden
1987-1988 Örnarna
Individual honours
1977, 1978, 1979
1980, 1981, 1982
1984, 1988, 1990		 Finland National Champion
1982 London Riders' Champion
Team honours
1977, 1984 British League Champion
1984 British League KO Cup winner

Kai Juhani Niemi (born 15 September 1955 in Pori, Finland) [1] is a former international motorcycle speedway rider. He was the champion of Finland on a record nine occasions [2] and earned 22 international caps for the Finland national speedway team. [3]

Contents

Career

He reached four World Championship finals, finishing a career best fourth in 1985 at the Odsal Stadium in Bradford, England. The performance in 1985 from a rider from the minor nations of speedway came as a surprise to many and he was level on points with three other riders leading into the last set of heats but was unable to score in heat 17, which resulted in a fourth place finish. [4]

Niemi won the Finnish National Championship a record nine times during his career (1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1988 and 1990). [2]

Niemi rode for the White City Rebels in the British League from 1976 to 1978, winning the league championship with the team in 1977. He continued riding in Britain until 1986 for other teams including: Eastbourne Eagles (1979–81), Birmingham Brummies (1981), Wimbledon Dons (1982–83), Ipswich Witches (1984-85) and the Swindon Robins (1986). [3]

In 1982, he won the London Riders' Championship with Wimbledon. [5] [6] He also won the British League Knockout Cup in 1984 with Ipswich.

Niemi also rode for Finland in the World Pairs Final on five occasions with a best finish of 5th in Australia in 1982 with his brother-in-law Ari Koponen, and again in 1989 in Poland with Olli Tyrväinen. He also represented Finland in the World Team Cup, though the Fins never progressed past the Semi-final stage during his career.

In 1989 Niemi rode in 42 matches for Coventry Bees with an average of 5.06. Kai was bought in as a replacement for David Clarke, who left Coventry to join Cradley Heath Heathens.

World Final appearances

Individual World Championship

World Pairs Championship

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References

  1. ↑ Oakes, P & Rising, P (1986). 1986 Speedway Yearbook. ISBN   0-948882-00-X
  2. 1 2 "Speedway Individual Finnish Championship". Speedway Sanomat. Retrieved 18 February 2023.
  3. 1 2 "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 18 February 2024.
  4. ↑ "Timelines, Take a Moment". Speedway Star pages 47. 3 September 2022.
  5. ↑ Jacobs, Norman (2001). Speedway in London. ISBN   0-7524-2221-9
  6. ↑ Belton, Brian (2003). Hammerin' Round. ISBN   0-7524-2438-6
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