Örnarna

Örnarna (lit. 'the Eagles') is a motorcycle speedway team from Mariestad in Sweden, representing Mariestads MK, who compete in the Allsvenskan.^[1][2][3] Their home track is at the Grevby Motorstadion which is located to the north of Mariestad.^[4]

Örnarna
Club information
Track address	Grevby Motorstadion Mariestad
Country	Sweden
Founded	1949
League	Allsvenskan
Club facts
Colours	Blue and white
Major team honours
Team champions 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996 Second tier champions 1958, 1963, 1969, 1976, 2001, 2004, 2010, 2011

History

1949–1969

Örnarna was founded in 1949. The club's debut season in the Swedish league was during the 1950 season, where they competed in division 2B.^[5] However, the club did not compete for the next seven years. When they returned for the 1958 Swedish speedway season they won their first honours after finishing top of division 2.^[6] The club remained in division 2 and repeated the success in 1963, which resulted to promotion to the highest division for the first time. The club signed Bengt Svensson and Per-Tage Svensson but struggled in division 1, before being relegated in 1967.^[7] In 1969, they once again won division 2.^[8]

1970–1979

The club spent the 1970s largely in division 1 (led by Karl-Erik Claesson and Börje Klingberg) but experienced limited success. In 1985, the club signed Peter Karlsson and in 1987, they finished second in division 1, their highest ever placing at the time. Peter Karlsson, together with Niklas Karlsson and Kelvin Tatum then helped the team finish runner up again in 1989.^[9]

1990–1999

Peter Karlsson, club legend

The title still eluded the club in 1990 after another second place finish. Peter Karlsson's younger brother Mikael Karlsson and Niklas Klingberg began to improve their averages and after signing American Rick Miller and Christer Rohlén, they finally won the Elitserien for the first time during the 1992 Swedish speedway season.^[10][11] They then proceeded to win three more Swedish Speedway Team Championships in 1993, 1994 and 1996.^[12]

2000–present

The millennium started badly and without the Karlsson brothers the club were relegated. The team then spent the majority of the next two decades in the Allsvenskan, with the exception of 2018 to 2021, when they dropped out of league. The club have since returned to the Allsvenskan, and finished 4th during the 2022 Swedish Speedway season.^[13]

Season summary

Main article: Swedish Speedway Team Championship

Teams

2022 team

• Joel Andersson
• Ludvig Lindgren
• Valentin Grobauer
• Matic Ivačič
• Erik Persson
• Max Belsing
• Tomasz Orwat
• Alexander Jakobsson Sundkvist
• Glenn Moi

Notable riders

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• Karl-Erik Claesson
• Niklas Karlsson
• Peter Karlsson
• Börje Klingberg
• Niklas Klingberg
• Bengt Larsson
• Rick Miller
• Christer Rohlén
• Mikael Max
• Per-Tage Svensson
• Kelvin Tatum
• Patryk Dudek
• Andriy Karpov