of the collective speedway world
Tb.1 – UK and its former Dominions + Scandinavia & Eastern Europe,
Tb.2 – other speedway nations, A – Z (Argentina > Hungary; Italy > Yugoslavia.)
for Zimbabwe see Rhodesia.
Tb.1 WINNERS & VENUES, UK & Dominions (p.1) + Scandinavia & E.Europe (p.2):
p.1 – UK, Australia, New Zealand, S.Africa, Canada, USA
p.2 – Sweden, Denmark, Poland, Czechia, USSR, Russia
West Germany 1981 Italy 1982 Russia 2012 Finland 2013
Tb.2 WINNERS & VENUES, Minor speedway nations:
p1 – Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, (West & East),;
p2 – Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Rhodesia, Rumania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine,
Yugoslavia. ( for Zimbabwe see Rhodesia.)
Reviewing the riders who hold the record for the number of their nations championships, amongst the major speedway nations, (tabled below,) the success of Ole Olsen and Jiri Stancl Snr. stand out, with an amazing 12 wins each. The small number of successes for New Zealand’s three World Champions, Moore, Briggs and Mauger, and likewise for fellow antipodean Jason Crump in their own domestic competitions, – 4x, 2x, 2x, 2x – , is no doubt limited by them wintering elsewhere rather than returning home.
There can often be limited rider numbers and hence lesser challenge amongst some of the minor nations: Matej Zagar’s 16th national Slovenian championship success in 2017 no doubt being in part due to the lack of serious domestic competition.
| CHAMPION | COUNTRY | No. TITLES | PERIOD |
| Ole Olsen | Denmark | 12 | 1967 – ’81 |
| Jiri Stancl | Czechoslovakia | 12 | 1970 – ’83 |
| Leigh Adams | Australia | 10 | 1992 – ’09 |
| Ove Fundin | Sweden | 9 | 1956 – ’70 |
| Larry Ross | New Zealand | 9 | 1976 – ’90 |
| Greg Hancock | USA | 8 | 1995 – ’09 |
| Len Dillon | Canada | 8 | 1983 – ’94 |
| Gary Ford | Canada | 8 | 1976 – ’86 |
| Tomasz Gollob | Poland | 8 | 1992 – ’09 |
BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIP
Today’s British Champions must be of one of the UK’s 4 nationalities, but prior to 1975 Commonwealth riders also competed in British Finals, (and in most case won: Briggs 6x, Mauger 4x,) which since 1961 (when uniquely termed the UK Final,) have been qualifier events for the World Championship competition. Before ’75 Commonwealth riders raced on a London ACU licence: the Australian ACCA, forerunner of MA (Motorcycling Australia,) gained direct affiliation to FIM in that year; New Zealand did likewise in ’83.
Up to this point, while Wembley held the World Championship, as during the 1950s, no British championship was staged, – the post war Finals of ’46-’48 are generally recognised as British championships though, as per the programmes, only the first was so named. The titles for the early ’60s have been given in retrospective recognition, Peter Craven’s as the top aggregate point-scorer in the World Championship’s last UK qualifier rounds of ’62 & ’63. Rt: Simon Wigg, 1988, ’89
In the war years Belle Vue staged a ‘British Individual Championship’, (won 3x by Canadian Eric Chitty,) initially a Match Race event which morphed to a 12-rider/16-heat event final. The first ‘British Individual Championship’ was the UK’s Match Race championship of 1931 to ’35, which changed hands regularly until Tom Farndon’s 5 successes. (See GH-MRC page.) Scott Nicholls’ 7 British titles make him the most successful British Champion.
Britain: 1946 1965 1977 2006
ALTERNATIVE NATIONAL SPEEDWAY CHAMPIONSHIPS
Winners of additional or alternative national championships held in Australia, S.Africa, USA, Canada and Argentina, are listed on the following 3 web pages, e.g.
Australia: 2-, 3-, 4-lap championships,
S. Africa: National, Open, MRC championships,
U.S.A. : AMA, SRA, ‘US Open’ championships,
Canada: single and ‘Series’ championships,
Argentina: Summer series, Winter series.