1990 Individual Speedway World Championship

World motorcycle speedway competition

The 1990 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 45th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.[1][2][3][4]

The final was held at the Odsal Stadium in Bradford, England. It would be the 28th and last time the world final would be held in England under the traditional single meeting format.[5]

Sweden's Per Jonsson won his only World Individual Championship to become the first Swedish World Champion since Anders Michanek in 1974 and became the first rider to win both the Under-21 and Senior World Championships having previously won the 1985 Under-21 World Championship. Jonsson defeated Shawn Moran from the United States in a run-off after both finished the meeting on 13 points. Moran was later stripped of his second place by the FIM for failing a drug test taken at the Overseas Final. After Moran's disqualification, the FIM did not upgrade the placings, thus records show no second place rider for the 1990 World Final. Australian youngster Todd Wiltshire, believed by many judges to be one who would be making up the numbers in his first World Final, finished third with 12 points after winning his first two rides.[6]

After having won each World Final since 1984, including five 1-2 finishes and taking all podium places in 1988, the 1990 World Final saw no Danish riders finishing on the podium for the first time since 1983. Defending champion Hans Nielsen, the only Dane in the field following an injury to Jan O. Pedersen which kept him from riding, finished in 4th place with 11 points.[7]

First round

British qualifiers

  • Top 32 to British-Semi finals

Second round

New Zealand qualification

  • First 16 to New Zealand final
Date Championship Venue Winner 2nd 3rd
Jan South Island Final Ruapuna Speedway, Christchurch Mark Thorpe+[8] Larry Ross David Bargh
?? North Island Final Meeanee Speedway, Napier Craig Wilkie Gary Allan ??
  • +Thorpe awarded title after Ross refused to ride in the race-off

Australian qualification

  • Top 16 to Australian final
Date Championship Venue Winner 2nd 3rd
?? Northern Territory Northline Speedway, Darwin Glen Baxter ?? ??
?? Victorian Myrtleford Speedway, Myrtleford Leigh Adams Phil Crump ??
?? New South Wales Newcastle Motordrome, Tomago Todd Wiltshire Craig Boyce Stephen Davies
?? South Australian North Arm Speedway, Gillman Scott Norman Shane Parker ??
?? Queensland Townsville Speedway, Townsville Troy Butler ?? ??
?? Western Australian Claremont Speedway, Perth Glenn Doyle Glyn Taylor David Cheshire

British semi-finals

  • Top 16 to British final

Third round

Continental preliminary round

  • Riders progress to Continental quarter-finals
Date Venue Winner 2nd 3rd
5 May Poland Arena Częstochowa, Częstochowa Poland Jacek Woźniak West Germany Tommy Dunker Poland Jacek Rempała
6 May West Germany Anton Treffer Stadion, Neustadt West Germany Alois Bachhuber Czechoslovakia Lubomir Jedek Czechoslovakia Jan Schinagl
6 May Soviet Union Rivne Speedway Stadium, Rivne Soviet Union Igor Marko Poland Piotr Świst Hungary Laszlo Bodi
6 May Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Ilirija Sports Park, Ljubljana Italy Valentino Furlanetto Czechoslovakia Vladimir Kalina Poland Maciej Jaworek

Swedish qualification

  • Top 8 in each heat to Swedish final
(29 April, Målilla Motorstadion, Målilla)
Pos Rider Points
1 Per Jonsson 13
2 Henrik Gustafsson 13
3 Dennis Löfqvist 12
4 Claes Ivarsson 12
5 Erik Stenlund 9
6 Tony Rickardsson 9
7 Mikael Teurnberg 8
8 Stefan Dannö 8
9 Kenneth Nyström 9
10 Jörgen Johansson 7
11 Christer Jonsson 6
12 Mikael Löfqvist 5
13 Tomas Karlsson 4
14 John Jensen 3
15 Jan Bergqvist 3
16 Pierre Carlsson 1
(29 April, Gamla Galgberget, Visby)
Pos Rider Points
1 Jimmy Nilsen 14
2 Tony Olsson 13
3 Niklas Karlsson 11
4 Mikael Ritterwall 11
5 Conny Ivarsson 10
6 Peter Nahlin 10
7 Kenneth Lindby 10
8 Christer Rohlén 9
9 Patrik Karlsson 8
10 Jimmy Engman 7
11 Tommy Nilsson 4
12 Tony Samuelsson 4
13 Raymond Smedh 4
14 Kent Rickardsson 2
15 Kari Virta 2
16 Joakim Messing 0

British final

  • Top 10 to Commonwealth final

New Zealand final

New Zealand Ruapuna Speedway, Christchurch

  • 3 February, top 2 to Commonwealth final
Pos. Rider Pts
1 Larry Ross 14+3
2 Mark Thorpe 14+2
3 Craig Wilkie 14+1
4 James Martin 11
5 Justin Monk 10
6 Michael Long 9
7 Stephen Rose 8
8 Darrin Wilson 8
9 Mark Jamieson 8
10 Max Brown 5
11 Philip Barakat 4
12 Kenny Webley 3
13 Alan Mason 2
14 Rhys Hamburger 3
15 Greg Fisher 2
16 Gary Marsh 0
17 Trevor Chapman 0
18 John Tuffley 0

Australian final

Australia Brisbane Exhibition Ground

  • 13 January, top 3 (+1 other seeded) to Commonwealth final
Pos. Rider Pts
1 Glenn Doyle 14+3
2 Leigh Adams 14+2
3 Stephen Davies 13
4 Phil Crump 12
5 Shane Bowes 10
6 Mick Poole 9
7 Jamie Fagg 8
8 Glen Baxter 7
9 Steve Regeling 6
10 Steve Langdon 5
11 Shane Parker 5
12 Sean Willmott 4
13 Scott Norman 4
14 Troy Butler 4
15 Chris Watson 2
16 Glyn Taylor 1
17 Darren Winkler (res) 1

Fourth round

Continental quarter-finals

  • Top 32 to Continental semi-finals
Date Venue Winner 2nd 3rd
3 June Poland Municipal Stadium, Rzeszów Poland Ryszard Dołomisiewicz Hungary Jozsef Petrikovics Poland Jan Krzystyniak
3 June Austria Speedway Natschbach Loipersbach Hungary Antal Kocso Czechoslovakia Zdenek Tesar Austria Heinrich Schatzer
3 June Hungary Borsod Volán Stadion, Miskolc Hungary Zoltan Hajdu Poland Piotr Świst Soviet Union Rif Saitgareev
4 June West Germany Abensberger Stadion, Abensberg Hungary Zoltan Adorjan Hungary Sandor Tihanyi West Germany Klaus Lausch

Danish Final

  • Top 6 to the Nordic final

Norway Final

  • Norway Frogner Speedway, Oslo
  • 15 Sep 1989, top 1 (+1 seeded) to Nordic final 1990
Pos. Rider Points
1 Arnt Førland 12+3
2 Lars Gunnestad 12+2
3 Robert Langeland 12+1
4 Ingvar Skogland 12+0
5 Per Jörgensen 11
6 Arne Svensen 9
7 Jan Arid Slatta 9
8 Atle Knutsen 7
9 Einar Kyllingstad 6
10 Tor Einar Hielm 6
11 Odd Pettersen 5
12 Stag Bergersen 4
13 Jorn Arve Ardal 4
14 Jorn Vidar Aasen 4
15 Kjell Oyvind Sola 3
16 Gjermund Aas 2
17 Rolf Netland (res) 1

Finland Final

Pos. Rider Total
1 Juha Moksunen 14
2 Olli Tyrvainen 13+3
3 Kai Niemi 13+2
4 Vesa Ylinen 11+3
5 Janne Moksunen 11+2
6 Ari Koponen 10
7 Jari Kortelainen 8
8 Seppo Keskinen 7
9 Tomi Havu 7
10 Aarre Soivuori 7
11 Roy Malminheimo 7
12 Petri Kokko 5
13 Pekka Eerikainen 2
14 Jarmo Makinen 2
15 Petri Nurmesniemi (res) 1
16 Mika Pellinen (res) 1
17 Janne Koivula (res) 1
18 Esa Reijo 0
19 Nicklas Finne 0

Swedish Final

Pos. Rider Scores Total
1 Per Jonsson 12+13+13 38
2 Jimmy Nilsen 12+12+10 34
3 Dennis Löfqvist 9+12+13 34
4 Conny Ivarsson 3+9+11 33
5 Henka Gustafsson 9+11+13 33
6 Peter Nahlin 14+8+10 32
7 Niklas Karlsson 8+9+8 25
8 Tony Rickardsson 6+5+10 21
9 Peter Karlsson 8+6+6 20
10 Erik Stenlund 4+6+7 17
11 Claes Ivarsson 9+6+ns 15
12 Mikael Teurnberg 4+4+7 15
13 Mikael Ritterwall 6+6+2 14 14
14 Tony Olsson 5+5+ns 10
15 Kenneth Lindby 1+4+3 8
16 Stefan Dannö 0+2+4 6
17 Christer Rohlén (res) ns+1+0 1

Commonwealth Final

  • Top 12 plus 1 reserve to the Overseas final

North American Final

  • 2 June 1990
  • United States Veterans Memorial Stadium, Long Beach
  • Top 4 to the Overseas final plus 1 reserve
Pos. Rider Total
1 Shawn Moran 18+3
2 Billy Hamill 18+2
3 Rick Miller 18+1
4 Greg Hancock 18+0
5 Ronnie Correy 16+3
6 Kelly Moran 16+2
7 Bobby Schwartz 14
8 Mike Faria 12
9 Robert Pfetzing 12
10 Lance King 11
11 Steve Lucero 8
12 Jim Sisemore 8
13 Josh Larsen 7
14 Brad Oxley 5
15 Tony Bienert 5
16 Charles Ermolenko 3
17 Eddie Castro 3
18 Shawn McConnell (res) 3
19 Sam Ermolenko 2
20 Don Odom (res) 2
21 John Kehoe 1
22 Fred Legault 0

Fifth round

Continental semi-finals

Pos. Rider Points
1 Czechoslovakia Antonín Kasper Jr. 14
2 Poland Jan Krzystyniak 13
3 Poland Tomasz Gollob 12+3
4 Czechoslovakia Zdeněk Tesař 12+2
5 Hungary Antal Kocso 9
6 Hungary József Petrikovics 8
7 Poland Wojciech Zaluski 7+3
8 Austria Heinrich Schatzer 7+2
9 Soviet Union Igor Marko 7+1
10 Czechoslovakia Lubomir Jedek 6
11 Hungary Róbert Nagy 6
12 Hungary Laszlo Bodi 6
13 Poland Ryszard Dolomisiewicz 5
14 Soviet Union Vladimir Trofimov 5
15 Austria Walter Nebel 2
16 Soviet Union Viktor Gajdym 1
Pos. Rider Points
1 Hungary Zoltán Adorján 15
2 West Germany Klaus Lausch 11+3
3 Italy Armando Castagna 11+2
4 West Germany Gerd Riss 11+1
5 Hungary Sandor Tihanyi 10
6 Czechoslovakia Roman Matoušek 9
7 Czechoslovakia Bohumil Brhel 9
8 Czechoslovakia Vladimir Kalina 9
9 Czechoslovakia Petr Vandírek 8
10 West Germany Andre Pollehn 7
11 Soviet Union Rif Saitgareev 7
12 Hungary Zoltan Hajdu 6
13 Czechoslovakia Pavel Karnas 3
14 Hungary Sandor Ujhelyi 2
15 Austria Robert Funk 1
16 Hungary Zsolt Böszermenyi 1

Overseas Final

  • Top 9 to the Intercontinental final

Nordic Final

  • 9 June 1990
  • Sweden Motorstadium, Linköping
  • Top 7 to the Intercontinental Final plus 1 reserve
Pos. Rider Total
1 Denmark Jan O. Pedersen 14
2 Sweden Per Jonsson 12
3 Sweden Henrik Gustafsson 11+3
4 Sweden Conny Ivarsson 11+2
5 Sweden Jimmy Nilsen 11+1
6 Denmark Hans Nielsen 11+0
7 Sweden Dennis Löfqvist 9+3
8 Denmark Brian Karger 9+2
9 Finland Kai Niemi 6
10 Denmark Bo Petersen 6
11 Sweden Peter Nahlin 5
12 Norway Einar Kyllingstad 5
13 Denmark Jens Henry Nielsen 3
14 Finland Olli Tyrväinen 2
15 Norway Arnt Førland 2
16 Denmark Jan Pedersen 2
17 Finland Vesa Ylinen (res) 1

Sixth round

Intercontinental Final

  • Top 11 plus 1 reserve to World final

Continental Final

Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total
1 West Germany Gerd Riss (3,2,2,3,3) 13
2 Hungary Zoltán Adorján (2,3,1,3,3) 12+3
3 Italy Armando Castagna (3,3,x,3,3) 12+2
4 Czechoslovakia Roman Matoušek (3,1,3,2,2) 11
5 Czechoslovakia Zdeněk Tesař (3,0,2,3,2) 10+3
6 Czechoslovakia Antonín Kasper Jr. (1,3,3,2,1) 10+2
7 Hungary Sándor Tihanyi (0,3,2,2,2) 9
8 Poland Wojciech Załuski (2,1,F,1,3) 7
9 Hungary Antal Kocso (2,2,2,0,1) 7
10 West Germany Klaus Lausch (2,1,3,R,ns) 6
11 Czechoslovakia Bohumil Brhel (1,2,EF,2,0) 5
12 Czechoslovakia Vladimir Kalina (1,1,1,0,2) 5
13 Hungary József Petrikovics (0,2,1,1,1) 5
14 Poland Tomasz Gollob (0,0,3,1,0) 4
15 Austria Heinrich Schatzer (1,0,0,1,1) 3
16 Poland Jan Krzystyniak (0,0,1,0,0) 1

World final

Classification

Placing Rider Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts Pos
1 Sweden (9) Per Jonsson 13+3 3 3 2 2 3 13 1
2 United States (15) Shawn Moran 13+2 1 3 3 3 3 13 2
3 Australia (6) Todd Wiltshire 12 3 3 2 1 3 12 3
4 Denmark (1) Hans Nielsen 11 3 1 3 2 2 11 4
5 Sweden (12) Jimmy Nilsen 10 2 1 2 3 2 10 5
6 Sweden (13) Henrik Gustafsson 9 3 2 3 0 1 9 6
7 England (16) Kelvin Tatum 9 2 3 0 3 1 9 7
8 Italy (2) Armando Castagna 8 0 2 1 3 2 8 8
9 United States (8) Rick Miller 8 2 2 3 1 - 8 9
10 England (11) Richard Knight 7 1 2 1 2 1 7 10
11 England (4) Martin Dugard 6 2 0 1 0 3 6 11
12 Czechoslovakia (5) Roman Matoušek 5 1 - 0 2 2 5 12
13 Czechoslovakia (10) Zdeněk Tesař 2 0 0 2 0 0 2 13
14 United States (7) Ronnie Correy 2 0 1 0 1 0 2 14
15 Czechoslovakia (14) Antonín Kasper Jr. 2 0 1 1 0 0 2 15
16 Hungary (3) Zoltán Adorján 2 1 - 0 1 0 2 16
Hungary (17) Sándor Tihanyi 0 0
Sweden (18) Dennis Löfqvist 0 0
Placing Rider Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts Pos

m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fell • ns - non-starter • nc - non-classify

gate A - inside gate B gate C gate D - outside
Pos. Rider Heat Scores Total
1 Sweden Per Jonsson (3,3,2,2,3) 13+3
2 United States Shawn Morana (1,3,3,3,3) 13+2
3 Australia Todd Wiltshire (3,3,2,1,3) 12
4 Denmark Hans Nielsen (3,1,3,2,2) 11
5 Sweden Jimmy Nilsen (2,1,2,3,2) 10
6 Sweden Henrik Gustafsson* (3,2,3,0,1) 9
7 England Kelvin Tatum (2,3,0,3,1) 9
8 Italy Armando Castagna (F,2,1,3,2) 8
9 United States Rick Miller (2,2,3,1,x) 8
10 England Richard Knight (1,2,1,2,1) 7
11 England Martin Dugard (2,0,1,0,3) 6
12 Czechoslovakia Roman Matoušek (1,R,0,2,2) 5
13 Czechoslovakia Zdeněk Tesař (0,0,2,0,R) 2
14 United States Ronnie Correy (1,0,x,1,0) 2
15 Hungary Zoltán Adorján (1,R,0,1,0) 2
16 Czechoslovakia Antonín Kasper Jr.* (0,1,1,0,0) 2
Res Hungary Sándor Tihanyi did not ride -
Res Sweden Dennis Löfqvist did not ride -

* Henrik Gustafsson and Antonín Kasper Jr. replaced injured qualifiers Jan O. Pedersen and Gerd Riss

Notes:
a. Shawn Moran scored 13 points and lost the run-off to Per Jonsson. However, Moran had failed a random drug and alcohol test taken three months earlier at the Overseas Final, and was subsequently disqualified from second place. The FIM did not upgrade the standings and the official records show no second place rider.

References

  1. ^ "World Championship 1936-1994". Edinburgh Speedway. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  2. ^ "HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK". Speedway.org. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  3. ^ "WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX". British Speedway. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  4. ^ Loader, Tony (1991). Loader's International Speedway Annual 1991. Tony Loader. pp. 8–18. ISSN 1036-4404.
  5. ^ "WORLD FINALS 1936-1994" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  6. ^ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  7. ^ 1990 Individual Speedway World Championship
  8. ^ "Speedway". Newcastle Journal. 9 January 1990. Retrieved 11 February 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ^ Bamford, R. & Shailes, G. (2002). A History of the World Speedway Championship. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-2402-5