Mikael Max

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Mikael Max
Mikael Karlsson
Born (1973-08-21) 21 August 1973 (age 51)
Gullspång, Sweden
NationalitySwedish
Website mikaelmax.com
Career history
Sweden
1989–1998 Örnarna
1999–2002 Valsarna
2003–2005, 2015–2016 Dackarna
2006–2008 Piraterna
2006–2015Gnistorna
2010–2011 Lejonen
2013 Hammarby
2014 Indianerna
Great Britain
1993–1994, 1996–1999, 2001–2005 Wolverhampton Wolves
2006 Arena Essex Hammers
Poland
1995 Piła
2000–2002 Rybnik
2003 Warsaw
2005 2009–2010 Rzeszów
2006–2007 Ostrów
2008 Wrocław
2011 Gdańsk
2012 Daugavpils
Individual honours
1994 World Under-21 Champion
1992 Swedish U21 champion
Team honours
1994, 2000, 2003, 2004 Speedway World Cup
1996 Premier League
1996 Elite League KO Cup Winner
1997Premiership Winner
2002 Elite League
2005 Polish Div Two Champion
1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1999 Swedish Elitserien Champion
1992, 1996, 2002, 2003 Swedish Pairs Champion

Karl Mikael Karlsson (born 21 August 1973), [1] who later rode under the name Mikael Max, is a Swedish former international motorcycle speedway rider. [2] [3] He earned 21 caps for the Sweden national speedway team. [4]

Contents

Career

After first riding a speedway bike at the age of twelve, he moved up to 500cc bikes in 1989. [5] He represented Sweden at under-21 level in 1990, and made his full debut for Sweden in 1991. [5]

He won the Swedish U21 championship in 1992 [6] and finished runner-up to Joe Screen in the World Under-21 Championship in 1993. [7] He made amends the following season by winning the championship in 1994. [8] [5]

Karlsson made his British speedway debut in 1993 for Wolverhampton Wolves, going on to ride for the club until 2005, only missing the 1995 and 2000 seasons. In 2006, he rode for the Arena Essex Hammers. Max is his mother's maiden name and he raced as Mikael Max from 2003. [5] [9]

Max won four World team championships in 1994, 2000, 2003 and 2004. [10]

His two brothers, Peter Karlsson and Magnus Karlsson, are both speedway riders. [5] All three brothers represented Sweden in the 2007 Speedway World Cup, with Magnus riding at reserve. He won the Swedish Pairs Championship four times, twice with brother Peter, in 1992 and 1996, with Stefan Dannö in 2002 and with Stefan Andersson in 2003.

World Championship

Speedway Grand Prix results

YearPositionPointsBest FinishNotes
1995 16th1715th
1996 23rd0-Reserve in Swedish Grand Prix (did not ride)
1997 16th148th8th in Great Britain Grand Prix. Reserve in three others.
1999 14th459th
2000 13th397th
2001 7th592nd2nd in Sweden Grand Prix. 3rd in Poland Grand Prix.
2002 5th1223rd3rd in Norway Grand Prix. 3rd in Great Britain Grand Prix.
2003 13th525th
2004 16th499th
2005 28th017thReserve at Sweden Grand Prix

See also

References

  1. Oakes, P.(2006). Speedway Star Almanac. ISBN   0-9552376-1-0
  2. Montague, Trevor (2004). The A-Z of Sport. Little, Brown. p. 522. ISBN   0-316-72645-1.
  3. "Mikael Karl Max Szwecja". Polish Speedway Database. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  4. "Ultimate rider index, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Oakes, Peter (2004) British Speedway Who's Who, ISBN   0-948882-81-6, p. 150
  6. "Swedish Speedway Junior Championship". Speedway History. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  7. "Joe's king - thanks to pals" . Manchester Evening News. 16 August 1993. Retrieved 9 March 2024 via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. "Wolves' Karlsson trumphant as King of the Under-21s" . Birmingham Daily Post. 15 August 1994. Retrieved 10 March 2024 via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. "2008 Rider index" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  10. "There have been three international team competitions run by the F.I.M". International Speedway. Retrieved 26 March 2023.