EUROPEAN
CHAMPIONS
- European Champions
- Intercontinental Champions
- Nordic Champions
- "FIM Internationale"
The title of European Speedway Champion was first awarded in 1952 in the qualifying rounds of the FIM World Championship competition. Qualifiers from this meeting were entered into the UK's 2nd Div'n "International Qualifying Round" but by 1955 continental riders could achieve direct entry to the Wembley Final without having to partake in qualifiers against British and Commonwealth participants. Sweden held the first 3 European Championships where the first winner was their own Rune Sormander. Ove Fundin (right,) took the title 6 times in 5 different countries, (that without having to participate in the year following his 1956 World Championship when seeded direct to Wembley,) and Swedish riders dominated the rostrum positions throughout the 'fifties. When subsequently Poland staged the event in Wroclaw, (5 occasions from 1960 onward,) it was won each time by a native rider! Following the introduction of World Finals at venues other than Wembley 'British' riders eventually had to partake in regional finals on the continent. In 1970 when Poland held its first World Final British riders met with Scandinavians and other Europeans in Leningrad, USSR, where Ivan Mauger became European Champion. After Mauger broke the Polish hold on Polish tracks in 1975 at Bydgoszcz the title was discontinued as Australasian rounds and American riders emerged and it was overtaken by 'Overseas Champions' and Intercontinental Finals. The winners of the latter are also included in the table below alongside the early European champions. American and Danish riders proved the most successful at this level, taking all but one title in the Intercontinental Championship during its last 10 years of operation.
Wroclaw 1964 Wembley 1966 Togliatti 2010
In 2001 the UEM (European Motorcycle Union,) 5 years after its formation, introduced a European Championship in which Final venues and champions have been dominated by former communist states and their riders who are not otherwise involved in the SGP series. (The winner enters the SGP Qualifier.)
The 2010 European Champion was Sebastian Ulamek of Poland, (seen right at the presentation in Tarnow, and in full-flight action below.) Runner-Up was Ales Dryml of Czechia, and 3rd place man Andrij Karpov of Ukraine. Only Slovenian Matej Zagar, (below right,) has taken this championship more than once.
above: Sebastian Ulamek, 2010 European Speedway Champion; Matej Zagar, 2004 & '08 Champion
Intercontinental Finals, Gothenburg '75, Wembley '78, White City '80
For winners of the European Junior Championship see 'U21 & Youth' page.
NORDIC CHAMPIONSHIP
First held in 1948, from 1952 onward the Nordic Champion was the winner of the World Championship qualifying round that preceded the European Championship round. With the formation of the SGP series the meeting was renamed the Scandinavian Final, a qualifer for the subsequent year's Grand Prix until restructuring in 2002.
Initial winner of the first 5 Nordic Speedway Championships was Norwegian Lief 'Basse' Hveem, complementing his 8 Nordic Long Track championships, 8 national LT titles and 9 national speedway titles. Following this era numerous Swedes dominated the competition until Ole Olsen took 7 titles in the 1970s, to be followed by his Danish proteges, through the '80s and most of the '90s.
1948 Nordic Chmpshp,
Copenhagen, DK
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FIM "SPEEDWAY INTERNATIONALE " 
For the loss of the World Championship Final in 1961 the FIM awarded Britain the staging of a new top level equivalent competition, the "Speedway Internationale" with a prize of the Loughborough Trophy and a brand new Rotrax-JAP (later a Jawa) speedway machine, courtesy of a tobacco company. After the first staging at Harringay the event became the regular fixture for the Whit Bank Holiday event at Plough Lane for the next 20 years.
There were qualifying rounds in the first year but thereafter participation was by invitation, though few competitors were drawn from outwith the British League, - Czech Anton Kasper in 1968 and Japanese rider Jimmy Ogisu in 1970 being just two but neither took points from any other rider! First Fundin in the initial meetings, and then in the next decade Mauger were each successful in taking a hat-trick of wins, with Nordin, Olsen and Peter Collins winning twice.
FIM "Internationale" VENUE; Harringay 1961; Wimbledon 1962-'81 |
|---|
| | YEAR | WINNER |
|---|
| | 1961 | Ove Fundin |
| 1962 | Ove Fundin |
| 1963 | Ove Fundin |
| 1964 | Barry Briggs |
| 1965 | Charlie Monk |
| 1966 | Gote Nordin |
| 1967 | Gote Nordin |
| 1968 | Nigel Boocock |
| 1969 | Trevor Hedge |
| 1970 | Ivan Mauger |
| 1971 | Ivan Mauger |
| 1972 | Ivan Mauger |
| 1973 | Ole Olsen |
| 1974 | Peter Collins |
| 1975 | Ole Olsen |
| 1976 | Malcolm Simmons |
| 1977 | Edward Jancarz |
| 1978 | Peter Collins |
| 1979 | Michael Lee |
| 1980 | Dave Jessup |
| 1981 | Hans Nielsen |
1961 (1st) 1964
1968 1971
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