New Zealand | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
World Championships | |||||
| |||||
|
The New Zealand national speedway team are one of the teams in international motorcycle speedway. The team were champions of the world having won the sports premier team competition in 1979. [1] [2]
The New Zealand team competed in the inaugural Speedway World Team Cup in 1960 and the following World Cup in 1961. However, in 1962 their leading riders rode for the British team. [3] This format continued until 1974, when New Zealand reverted to the competing as their own nation. The team were arguably denied the opportunity of winning the World Cup, because they had two of the all-time greats in Ivan Mauger and Barry Briggs within their ranks. New Zealand riders were part of the British teams that won the World Cup in 1968, 1971 and 1972. [4]
The team became the world champions after winning the 1979 Speedway World Team Cup at White City, with a team consisting of Ivan Mauger, Larry Ross, Mitch Shirra, Bruce Cribb and reserve Roger Abel. [5]
Despite the World Cup success, the team began to experience a decline in the number and quality of riders from New Zealand and this led to the team failing to field a team in various years of the Speedway World Team Cup. The situation did not improve for the rebranded Speedway World Cup in 2001 or the Speedway of Nations introduced in 2018.
Additionally, they won the defunct Speedway World Pairs Championship twice, in 1969 and 1970.
Year | Venue | Standings (Pts) | Riders | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|
1979 | London White City Stadium | 1. New Zealand (35) 2. Denmark (31) 3. Czechoslovakia (19) 4. Poland (11) | Larry Ross | 11 |
Mitch Shirra | 10 | |||
Ivan Mauger | 13 | |||
Bruce Cribb | 5 |
Year | Venue | Standings (Pts) | Riders | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|
1969 | Stockholm Gubbängens IP | 1. New Zealand (28) 2. Sweden (27) 3. England (21) 4. Denmark (15) 5. Czechoslovakia (12) 6. East Germany (9) 7. Bulgaria (9) | Ivan Mauger | 18 |
Bob Andrews | 10 | |||
1970 | Malmö Malmö Stadion | 1. New Zealand (28) 2. Sweden (25) 3. England (19) 4. Scotland (18) 5. Czechoslovakia (11) 6. Yugoslavia (7) 7. Denmark (nc) | Ronnie Moore | 16 |
Ivan Mauger | 12 | |||
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. [6]
Rider | Caps |
---|---|
Abel, Roger | 1 |
Adlington, Robin | 8 |
Allan, Gary | 2 |
Allan, Goog | 2 |
Anderson, Cliff | 1 |
Anderson, Bob | 2 |
Andrew, Bill | 15 |
Andrews, Bob | 27 |
Bargh, Dave | 8 |
Black, Tom | 1 |
Bock, Kevin | 1 |
Boyle, Frank | 4 |
Briggs, Barry | 49 |
Briggs, Tony | 4 |
Briggs, Wayne | 5 |
Brown, Allan | 6 |
Max Brown | 1 |
Brown, Wayne | 3 |
Campbell, Dick | 6 |
Church, Paul | 2 |
Clark, Peter | 12 |
Clements, Brian | 2 |
Coombes, Graham | 1 |
Cribb, Bruce | 22 |
Duckworth, Bob | 8 |
Dunn, Maury | 16 |
Dykes, Peter | 5 |
Farquharson, Colin | 4 |
Gifford, Dave | 19 |
Goodall, John | 7 |
Holland, Mick | 3 |
Johnston, Ron | 16 |
Lawrie, John | 1 |
McKee, Colin | 5 |
McKeown, Brian | 3 |
Mardon, Geoff | 10 |
Martin, Chris | 2 |
Mason, Alan | 4 |
Mauger, Ivan | 43 |
Mauger, Kym | 5 |
Millen, Jack | 2 |
Moore, Ronnie | 50 |
Neil, Merv | 15 |
New, Charlie | 2 |
Ovenden, Bruce | 1 |
Peterson, Gary | 21 |
Redmond, Trevor | 17 |
Rivett, Alan | 1 |
Ross, Larry | 26 |
Shearer, Terry | 2 |
Shirra, Mitch | 17 |
Shuter, Frank | 14 |
Smith, Graeme | 2 |
Stapleton, Graeme | 20 |
Subritzky, Bryce | 28 |
Sweetman, Tommy* | 1 |
Thorpe, Mark | 2 |
Timmo, Rick | 19 |
Tucker, Colin | 2 |
Whitaker, Dave | 4 |
Wright, Roger | 8 |
Riders marked with an asterisk represented New Zealand but were not New Zealanders.
Ivan Gerald Mauger was a New Zealand motorcycle speedway rider. He won a record six World Championships (Finals), a feat equalled only with the inclusion of the Speedway GP Championships by Tony Rickardsson of Sweden. In 2010, Mauger was named an FIM Legend for his motorcycling achievements.
The British Speedway Championship is an annual motorcycle speedway competition open to British national speedway riders. The winner of the event becomes the British Speedway Champion.
The Great Britain national speedway team is one of the major teams in international motorcycle speedway. The team is managed by former Great Britain riders Oliver Allen and Simon Stead, and captained by the Tai Woffinden.
The Sweden national speedway team are one of the major teams in international motorcycle speedway.
The Australia national speedway team is one of the leading teams in international motorcycle speedway, with the country regarded as the birthplace of the sport in the 1920s. The team are five times champions of the world having won the sports premier team competition in 1976, 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2022.
The United States national speedway team are an international motorcycle speedway team governed by the American Motorcyclist Association. They compete in the major international speedway competitions, including the Speedway World Cup and Speedway of Nations and the former events the Speedway World Team Cup and the Speedway World Pairs Championship.
The Russia national speedway team are one of the major international motorcycle speedway nations.
The Denmark national speedway team are one of the major teams in international motorcycle speedway.
The Poland national speedway team is the national motorcycle speedway team of Poland and is controlled by the Polish Motor Union (PZM). They are one of the most successful speedway nations of all time.
Larry Ross is a former motorcycle speedway rider from New Zealand. He earned 26 caps for the New Zealand national speedway team.
Mitchell Owen Shirra is a New Zealand former motorcycle speedway rider who rode with the Coventry Bees, Reading Racers, Swindon Robins and Ipswich Witches in the British League. During his career he rode as and was better known as Mitch Shirra. He earned 17 caps for the New Zealand national speedway team.
The Czech Republic national speedway team is one of the major teams in international motorcycle speedway.
Nigel Boocock was a motorcycle speedway rider from England. who appeared in eight Speedway World Championship finals. He holds the record number of caps for Great Britain (64) and the record for total number of caps, when including England (154).
Trevor John Hedge is a former international motorcycle speedway rider from England.
James Sydney Airey is an Australian former international motorcycle speedway rider, who rode in the 1971 World Final in Göteborg, Sweden and was a member of the Great Britain team that won the 1971 Speedway World Team Cup. He earned 36 international caps for the Australia national speedway team and 17 caps for Great Britain.
The Latvia national speedway team is one of the nations that compete in international motorcycle speedway.
The Slovenia national speedway team are one of the teams that compete in international team motorcycle speedway.
The Finnish national speedway team are one of the teams that compete in international team motorcycle speedway.
The Ukraine national speedway team are one of the nations who compete in international motorcycle speedway.
The Slovakia national speedway team are one of the nations that compete in international motorcycle speedway.