Vojens Speedway Center

Last updated

Vojens Speedway Center
VojensSpeedway.jpg
The main track is on the left and the smaller track is on the right
LocationTinglykke 9, 6500 Vojens, Denmark
Coordinates 55°14′10″N9°16′58″E / 55.23611°N 9.28278°E / 55.23611; 9.28278
Capacity15,000
Operator Vojens Speedway Klub
(1976–2011)
Denmark national team
(1975–)
Sønderjylland Elite Speedway
(2020–)
Opened21 September 1975
Website vojensspeedwaycenter.dk

The Vojens Speedway Center is a Motorcycle speedway track located in Vojens, Denmark. [1] [2] The track has been part-owned since its opening by Denmark's first three time Speedway World Champion Ole Olsen.

Contents

Track

The Speedway Center is a 300 metres (330 yards) long track which opened in September 1975 and has a spectator capacity of approximately 15,000. Since its opening it has hosted numerous Danish national and international meetings including hosting the Danish Championship in 1977, 1979 and 1981.

World Championship meetings

The Speedway Center hosted the Speedway World Final in 1988 and again in 1994, the final time the World Championship was held in the single meeting format before the advent of the Speedway Grand Prix series in 1995. It hosted the Final of the World Pairs Championship in 1979 and 1993, the World Team Cup in 1983, 1986 (round 2 of 3), 1991 and 1998, as well as the World Cup in 2003, 2008 and 2010. The Center also hosted the Speedway Grand Prix of Denmark from 1995 until 2002 and has hosted the Speedway Grand Prix of Nordic (with the exception of 2013) since 2009.

A Danish rider or the Danish team has won at least one of each of the types of World Finals held in Vojens as well as at least one Danish and Nordic Grand Prix.

The Speedway Center has also twice hosted the Under-21 World Championship Final, including the inaugural Final in 1977 when it was known as the European Under-21 Championship. On that occasion the meeting had to be called to a halt after only 12 heats had been run due to heavy rain. Denmark's Alf Busk, who to that point was undefeated on 9 points was declared the winner.

The rain was a future pointer to racing at Vojens with many meetings having to be postponed due to the weather. British television commentator Dave Lanning reported that there was a near riot when the 1979 World Pairs Final was postponed for a day due to rain, and two years later there were chaotic scenes at the 1981 Intercontinental Final when the riders refused to come out for their second round of heats in protest over the conditions. The 16 riders voted 14-2 not to ride with only Ole Olsen and fellow Dane Hans Nielsen wanting to continue. It was only after the riders were threatened with disqualification did they agree to finish the meeting. The Final was the last qualifying round for the 1981 World Championship Final to be held at the Wembley Stadium in England six weeks later.

Speedway World Finals

Since its opening, the Vojens Speedway Center has hosted 13 FIM World Finals in each of the major competitions. It also hosted numerous World Championship qualifying rounds including the Nordic and Intercontinental Finals (Individual World Championship) and the Race-Off for the Speedway World Cup (the Race-Off is generally held at the same venue of the WC Final). Fittingly, the first World Championship Final held at the track, the 1979 World Pairs Final, was won by Danes Hans Nielsen and the track's owner Ole Olsen.

The 1994 Individual World Final, the last time the championship was run as a single meeting, saw a three-way runoff for the championship with Sweden's Tony Rickardsson defeating local favourite Hans Nielsen and the surprise of the meeting, Australia's Craig Boyce. This was the first of Rickardsson's record-equalling 6 World Championships, a record he jointly holds with New Zealand's Ivan Mauger.

The Vojens Speedway Center was announced as the host track for the Race-Off and Final of the 2015 Speedway World Cup. The Danish team, which received automatic qualification into the Final as the host nation, were unsuccessful in defending the title they had won the 2014 title in Poland with Sweden emerging victorious by 2 points over the Danes with Poland and Australia finishing in 3rd and 4th. [3]

Individual World Championship

World Pairs Championship

World Team Cup

* Vojens hosted Round 2 of the 3 round 1986 World Team Cup Final

World Cup

Speedway of Nations

Individual Under-21 World Championship

Speedway Grand Prix

Vojens has hosted 13 SGP events since 1995.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Rickardsson</span> Swedish motorcycle speedway rider

Jan Tony Soren Rickardsson is a Swedish former professional motorcycle speedway rider. He competed in the Speedway World Championships from 1989 to 2006. Rickardsson is notable for winning six Speedway World Championship titles in 15 attempts. In 2011, Rickardsson was named an FIM Legend for his motorcycling achievements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erik Gundersen</span> Danish speedway rider

Erik Gundersen is a former motorcycle speedway rider. Gundersen is one of the most successful speedway riders of all time, having won the Speedway World Champion on three occasions, the Long Track World Championship twice and the World Pairs Championship five times. He is also a seven-time World Team Cup winner with Denmark, and earned 91 international caps for the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans Nielsen (speedway rider)</span> Danish speedway rider

Hans Hollen Nielsen is a Danish former professional motorcycle speedway rider. He competed in the Speedway World Championships from 1977 to 1999. Nielsen is notable for winning four Speedway World Championship titles. During his career, he won a total of 22 world championships, making him arguably the most successful speedway rider of all time. In 2012, Nielsen was named an FIM Legend for his motorcycling achievements. He later managed the Danish national team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ole Olsen (speedway rider)</span> Danish speedway rider

Ole Bjarne Olsen is a Danish former professional motorcycle speedway rider.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy Nilsen</span> Swedish speedway rider

Jimmy Nilsen is a former international motorcycle speedway rider from Sweden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denmark national speedway team</span> Danish national motorcycle speedway team

The Denmark national speedway team are one of the major teams in international motorcycle speedway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finn Thomsen</span> Danish speedway rider

Finn Thomsen is a former motorcycle speedway rider from Denmark.

Jan Osvald Pedersen is a former Speedway rider who became Speedway World Champion in 1991 after finishing runner-up in 1986 and in third place in 1988 behind fellow Danes Erik Gundersen and Hans Nielsen. He also won the Speedway World Pairs Championship in 1990 and 1991, both times partnered by Hans Nielsen.

The World Championship of Speedway is an international competition between the highest-ranked motorcycle speedway riders of the world, run under the auspices of the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). The first official championships were held in 1936.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tommy Knudsen</span> Danish speedway rider

Tommy Knudsen is a former Motorcycle speedway rider who won eight Speedway World Team Cups, and two World Pairs. He is not to be confused with Tom P. Knudsen, another rider from the period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Per Jonsson</span> Swedish speedway rider

Per Christer Jonsson is a former speedway rider who won the Speedway World Championship in 1990, and finished runner-up in 1992. He earned 65 international caps for the Sweden national speedway team and also represented Sweden in the World Team Cup on seven occasions between 1985 and 1993.

Henrik Anders (Henka) Gustafsson is an international Motorcycle speedway rider who won the 1993 World Pairs Championship with Tony Rickardsson and the Speedway World Team Cup with Sweden in 1994 and 2000. Early in his career Gustafsson was known as much for his long, curly blonde hair as he was his riding, though his riding soon outshone his locks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1994 Individual Speedway World Championship</span> Motorcycle speedway world championship season

The 1994 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 49th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.

The 1991 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 46th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.

The 1988 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 43rd edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.

The 2009 FIM Speedway World Championship Grand Prix of Nordic will be the eighth race of the 2009 Speedway Grand Prix season. It took place on 29 August in the Vojens Speedway Center in Vojens, Denmark. Vojens was GP host between 1995 and 2002.

John Jørgensen is a former international motorcycle speedway rider from Denmark. He is not to be confused with Johnny Jørgensen, the 1989 Danish Junior speedway champion.

The 2010 FIM Dansk Metal Nordic Speedway Grand Prix was the ninth race of the 2010 Speedway Grand Prix season. It took place on 11 September at the Vojens Speedway Center in Vojens, Denmark.

The 2001 Danish Speedway Grand Prix was held in Vojens as part of the Speedway Grand Prix series. It was won by Tony Rickardsson.

The 1981 Intercontinental Final was the seventh running of the Intercontinental Final as part of the qualification for the 1981 Speedway World Championship. The 1981 Final was run on 5 July on a wet night at the Speedway Center in Vojens, Denmark, and was the last qualifying stage for riders from Scandinavia, the USA and from the Commonwealth nations for the World Final to be held at the Wembley Stadium in London, England.

References

  1. ↑ Official Site
  2. ↑ "Vojens (Denmark)". Speedway Plus. Retrieved 21 April 2024.
  3. ↑ 2015 Speedway World Cup Final results
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.