Speedway World Cup

The Speedway World Cup was an annual speedway event held each year in different countries. The first edition of the competition in the current format was held in 2001 and replaced the old World Team Cup competition which was amalgamated with the World Pairs Championship. The last edition was in 2017. Since 2018, the World Cup has been replaced by the new Speedway of Nations, which effectively brings back the pairs format.

FIM Speedway World Cup
SportMotorcycle speedway
Founded2001
Ceased2017
DirectorPhil Morris
MottoNo brakes, no gears, no fear
No. of teams9 national teams
ContinentWorld
Last
champion(s)
 Poland (2017)
Most titles Poland (8 times)
TV partner(s)BT Sport (UK)
Related
competitions
Speedway Grand Prix
Official websiteWebsite

Format

Race format
GateA
(inside)
B
 
C
 
D
(outside)
Heat No Riders starting No
1 1111
2 2222
3 3333
4 4444
5 5555
6 5341
7 1452
8 2351
9 4312
10 2345
11 3124
12 3425
13 5134
14 1542
15 5213
16 1235
17 2341
18 2345
19 4531
20 1524
21 2415
22 1253
23 4123
24 3452
25 4315

The final tournament usually lasted for about a week with four meetings held in six or seven days. It started with two first round "events", each consisting of four national teams. The winners of these events qualified automatically for the final, while those who finished second and third competed in the race-off. Last place finishers were eliminated. The top two in the race-off joined the event winners in the final. The winners of the final carried home the Ove Fundin Trophy, named after one of the all-time greats of speedway who won the world championship five times.

The two events were held in different countries, normally in one of the countries that competed in that event. The race-off and the final was held in another country that did not host an event. For example, in the 2014 competition, Great Britain and Sweden hosted the two events, while Poland hosted both the race-off and final. From 2012 onwards the host nation were seeded direct to the final.

Rules

PlacePrize money
in US dollars
25,000
20,000
18,000
4th16,000
5th14,000
6th12,000
7th8,500
8th8,500

Each of the four meetings were competed between four national teams, and each national team were represented by four riders; there were no substitute rider:

Team A (helmet colour red).
Team B (blue).
Team C (white).
Team D (yellow/black).

The meetings lasted for 20 heats with one rider for each competing team racing in each heat. Each rider was scheduled to race in five heats and face each of the opposing nations' riders once during the meeting. Teams scored 3 points if their rider won a heat, 2 points if their rider finished second, 1 for a third-place finish, and none if their rider finished last or was excluded from a heat.

If a team fell six points behind the leader then they were allowed to make tactical substitutions, replacing a rider who is possibly out of form for one who is playing better in the hope of closing the gap on the leader. Each team was also allowed to play one "joker" if they fell six points behind the leader. With the joker, a team scored double the points their finishing position was usually worth, so if their rider finished first, they picked up six points instead of the normal three. This was a controversial rule but was implemented with the intention of keeping interest in meetings that may have been a foregone conclusion. No jokers were allowed to be used during heats 17-20 though a tactical substitute could still be used. The final four heats were nominated by their team managers. The lowest scoring team had first pick followed the team in third place, then the second place team, and finally the leading team.

Medal tables

By season

Year Venue Winners Runner-up 3rd place
2001 Wrocław  Australia (68 pts)  Poland (65 pts)  Sweden (51 pts)
2002 Peterborough  Australia (64 pts)  Denmark (58 pts)  Sweden (54 pts)
2003 Vojens  Sweden (62 pts)  Australia (57 pts)  Denmark (53 pts)
2004 Poole  Sweden (49 pts)  Great Britain (48 pts)  Denmark (32 pts)
2005 Wrocław  Poland (62 pts)  Sweden (34 pts)  Denmark (31 pts)
2006 Reading  Denmark (45 pts)  Sweden (37 pts)  Great Britain (36 pts)
2007 Leszno  Poland (55 pts)  Denmark (52 pts)  Australia (29 pts)
2008 Vojens  Denmark (49 pts)  Poland (46 pts)  Sweden (39 pts)
2009 Leszno  Poland (44 pts)  Australia (43 pts)  Sweden (36 pts)
2010 Vojens  Poland (44 pts)  Denmark (39 pts)  Sweden (35 pts)
2011 Gorzów Wielkopolski  Poland (51 pts)  Australia (45 pts)  Sweden (30 pts)
2012 Målilla  Denmark (39 pts)  Australia (36 pts)  Russia (30 pts)
2013 Prague  Poland (41 pts)  Denmark (40 pts)  Australia (34 pts)
2014 Bydgoszcz  Denmark (38 pts)  Poland (37 pts)  Australia (36 pts)
2015 Vojens  Sweden (34 pts)  Denmark (32 pts)  Poland (27 pts)
2016 Manchester  Poland (39 pts)  Great Britain (32 pts)  Sweden (30 pts)
2017 Leszno  Poland (50 pts)  Sweden (42 pts)  Russia (18 pts)
Year Venue Winners Runner-up 3rd place

Medal classification

PosNational TeamTotal
1. Poland12 831
2. Denmark12 453
3. Sweden13 337
4. Australia9 243
5. Great Britain3 -21
6. Russia2 --2

 

PosRiderTeamTotal
1.Jarosław Hampel Poland 862
2.Tomasz Gollob Poland 752
3.Krzysztof Kasprzak Poland 651
4.Nicki Pedersen Denmark 11443
5.Niels Kristian Iversen Denmark 10442
6.Andreas Jonsson Sweden 11326
7.Piotr Protasiewicz Poland 532
8.Rune Holta Poland 431
9.Patryk Dudek Poland 33
10.Jason Crump Australia 7241

Champions

This is a complete list of speedway riders who won the Speedway World Cup. In total, 34 different riders from 4 national teams have a World Cup title. Bold indicates the most recent champions.

Six-time champion:

Five-time champion:

Four-time champions:

Three-time champions:

Two-time champions:

One-time champions:

Participating nations

Tomasz Gollob won the title five times as part of the Polish team.
Legend
  • – Champions.
  • – Runners-up.
  • – Third place.
  • 4–12 – 4th to 12th places.
  •  ••  – Qualified, but withdrew.
  •    – Did not qualify.
  •     – Did not enter or withdrew.
  • XX – Country did not exist or national team was inactive.
  •    – Race-off and final hosts.
  • Q – Qualified for upcoming tournament.
  • q – Will take part in the upcoming qualification.
Team 2001

(12)
2002

(12)
2003

(12)
2004

(8)
2005

(8)
2006

(8)
2007

(8)
2008

(8)
2009

(8)
2010

(8)
2011

(8)
2012

(9)
2013

(9)
2014

(9)
2015

(9)
2016

(9)
2017

(9)
 Poland 44455
 Sweden 5485
 Russia 898766465976
 Great Britain 67544554667454
 Australia 55445445
 Latvia ••6896
 United States 5667856677
 Denmark 46458
 Czech Republic 7566687887747889
Team 2001

(12)
2002

(12)
2003

(12)
2004

(8)
2005

(8)
2006

(8)
2007

(8)
2008

(8)
2009

(8)
2010

(8)
2011

(8)
2012

(9)
2013

(9)
2014

(9)
2015

(9)
2016

(9)
2017

(9)
 France
 Germany 1112108899
 Italy 1279
 Slovenia 121197
 Hungary 10101188
 Ukraine
 Finland 987787
 Norway
 Austria

See also

References

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