1981 Speedway World Pairs Championship

The 1981 Speedway World Pairs Championship was the twelfth FIM Speedway World Pairs Championship.^[1] The final took place in Chorzów, Poland. The championship was won by United States first time (23 points). American pair beat New Zealand (22 points) and Poland (21 points).^[2][3][4]

1981 World Pairs Championship

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1980

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1982

The win by American's Bruce Penhall and Bobby Schwartz was the first time an American team or riders had won a World Championship in speedway since Jack Milne had won the 1937 World Final at the Wembley Stadium in London, England. Later in 1981 Penhall would go on to win the Individual World Final at Wembley.

Preliminary round

• Mladost Stadum, Prelog
• 3 May

Pos.	Team	Rider	Points
	Norway – 21+3	Rolf Gramstad	17
		Ingvar Hauverstad	4
	Yugoslavia – 21+2	Stefan Kekec	15
		Vlado Kocuvan	6
	Austria – 20	Adi Funk	9
		Herbert Szerecz	11
4	Netherlands – 19	Henny Kroeze	6
		Frits Koppe	13
5	Hungary – 18	Zoltán Adorján	16
		Isztvan Sziracky	2
6	Bulgaria – 13	Angel Jeftimov	8
		Nikolaj Manev	5
7	Switzerland – 11	M.Gerard	8
		F.Ender	3

Semifinal 1

• Motodrom Halbemond, Norden
• 7 June

Placing	Pair / Rider Name	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
1	West Germany	23 +3							6							13							23
	(7) Egon Müller	13		0				3			3					2				2			3	3
	(8) Georg Gilgenreiner	10		2				1			2					0				3			2
2	England	23 +2							9							18							23
	(13) Chris Morton	12				2			3			2				3			0		2
	(14) Dave Jessup	11				3			1			3				1			3		0			2
3	New Zealand	23 +1							10							14							23
	(3) Ivan Mauger	15	3				3				1			2				3			3			1
	(4) Larry Ross	8	2				2				0			1				2			1
4	Sweden	20							5							14							20
	(5) Jan Andersson	10		3			0			3					2				2			0
	(6) Richard Hellsén	10		1			1			1					3				1			3
5	Finland	17							5							9							17
	(9) Kai Niemi	10			3			2				1		E			3					1
	(10) Ari Koponen	7			E			0				0		3			2					2
6	Norway	11							5							9							11
	(11) Rolf Gramstad	8			2				2				2		E			1					1
	(12) Audun Ove Olsen	3			1				0				1		1			0					0
7	Nederlands	9							2							7							9
	(1) Henny Kroeze	7	1			E				2			3				E			1
	(2) Frits Koppe	2	E			1				0			0				1			E
Placing	Pair / Rider Name	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22

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

Semifinal 2

• Giavera del Montello Municipal Stadium, Treviso
• 7 June

Placing	Pair / Rider Name	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
1	Denmark	29							10							20							29
	(9) Ole Olsen	17			3			3				2		3			3					3
	(10) Hans Nielsen	12			2			2				3		2			2					1
2	USA	22 +3							8							14							22
	(3) Bruce Penhall	13	3				1				3			1				2			3			3
	(4) Bobby Schwartz	9	2				2				2			0				1			2
3	Czechoslovakia	22 +2							8							15							22
	(5) Aleš Dryml Sr.	15		3			3			3					2				2			2		2
	(6) Jan Verner	7		2			0			1					1				3			0
4	Australia	22 +1							6							14							22
	(11) Billy Sanders	11			0				3				3		0			3					2	1
	(12) John Titman	11			1				2				2		3			0					3
5	Italy	14							2							8							14
	(7) Giuseppe Marzotto	7		0				0			1					2				3			1
	(8) Mauro Ferraccioli	7		1				1			0					3				2			0
6	Austria	9							4							7							9
	(1) Adi Funk	8	1			3				2			0				1			1
	(2) Walter Grübmüller	1	0			0				0			1				0			0
7	Yugoslavia	8							4							6							8
	(13) Stefan Kekec	7				2			1			1				1			1		1
	(14) Vlado Kocuvan	1				1			0			0				0			0		0
Placing	Pair / Rider Name	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22

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

World final

• 20 June 1981
• Silesian Stadium, Chorzów

Placing	Pair / Rider Name	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21
1	United States	23							8							16							23
	(1) Bruce Penhall	14	3			E				3			3				3			2
	(2) Bobby Schwartz	9	2			3				0			2				1			1
2	New Zealand	22							5							12							22
	(3) Ivan Mauger	12	0				1				3			2				3			3
	(4) Larry Ross	10	1				3				2			0				2			2
3	Poland	21							9							15							21
	(7) Zenon Plech	15		3				3			1					3				3			2
	(8) Edward Jancarz	6		1				2			0					2				0			1
4	Czechoslovakia	18							4							11							18
	(5) Aleš Dryml Sr.	12		2			0			2					3				3			2
	(6) Jan Verner	6		0			2			1					1				2			0
5	Denmark	17							10							13							17
	(11) Ole Olsen	10			3				3				1		2			1					0
	(12) Hans Nielsen	7			2				2				0		0			0					3
6	England	17							2							11							17
	(9) Dave Jessup	7			E			0				3		3			0					1
	(10) Chris Morton	10			1			1				2		1			2					3
7	West Germany	3							3							3							3
	(13) Egon Müller	2				2			X			-				-			-		-
	(14) Georg Gilgenreiner	1				1			F			-				-			-		-
Placing	Pair / Rider Name	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21

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

See also

• 1981 Individual Speedway World Championship
• 1981 Speedway World Team Cup
• motorcycle speedway
• 1981 in sports

References

1. "World Pairs Championship 1968-1993". Edinburgh Speedway. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
2. "Zapomniane turnieje: Mistrzostwa Świata Par(część 2)" (in Polish). SportoweFakty.pl. 16 July 2009. Archived from the original on 3 October 2009. Retrieved 16 July 2009.
3. Świat Żużla, No 3 (59) 2004, page 44, ISSN 1429-3285
4. Matthews/Morrison, Peter/Ian (1987). The Guinness Encyclopaedia of Sports Records and Results. Guinness Superlatives. p. 290. ISBN 0-85112-492-5.