The 1981 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 36th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

It was also the last of a record 26 times that London's world famous Wembley Stadium hosted the World Final. It also marked the final time that the stadium would be used for any Motorcycle speedway. In future years when the final was held in England, it would be held at the Odsal Stadium in Bradford until the advent of the Speedway Grand Prix series in 1995. The 1981 Final was held before a reported crowd of 92,500, just shy of the Wembley record of 95,000 set at the 1938 World Final.

Bruce Penhall became the first American to win the World Championship since Jack Milne in 1937. As a past World Championship winner at Wembley, the 74-year-old Milne was a special guest at the event and saw Penhall end America's 44 year Individual World Championship drought. Though he remained undefeated until his last ride when he only needed to finish 3rd to win the Championship (he finished that race in second behind his rival Kenny Carter), Penhall was forced to work hard for his maiden World Championship. In both Heat 7 and Heat 14 he was second for over 3½ laps behind Ole Olsen and Tommy Knudsen respectively before passing both in the run to the line. Olsen would defeat Knudsen in a runoff for second and third places after both finished on 12 points. The triple World Champion gaining some revenge on his younger countryman after Knudsen had defeated Olsen in the first heat of the meeting.

In Heat 6, Denmark's future triple World Champion Erik Gundersen set the 4 lap record of 66.8 seconds for the 345 metres (377 yards) long track when he defeated eventual 3rd placed rider Tommy Knudsen (Denmark), Jiří Štancl (Czechoslovakia) and Zenon Plech (Poland). As this was the final speedway meeting at Wembley it will forever be the track record.

New Zealand Qualification

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
South Island Final
January 19	Christchurch	Larry Ross	Tony Briggs	Ivan Mauger
New Zealand Final
February 6	Napier	Ivan Mauger	Mitch Shirra	Larry Ross

New Zealand Final

• 6 February 1981
• Napier
• First 8 to Austral-Asian Final

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Ivan Mauger	3,3,3,3,3	15
2	Mitch Shirra	3,3,3,3,2	14
3	Larry Ross	3,3,2,2,3	13
4	Wayne Brown	1,3,3,3,1	11
5	Mike Fullerton	2,2,2,1,3	10
6	David Bargh	3,2,1,2,2	10
7	Tony Briggs	2,2,2,2,1	9
8	Greame Beardsley	1,1,3,2,1	8
9	John Goodall	0,1,1,3,3	8
10	Mark Dekok	2,1,2,0,0	5
11	Gavin Rhodes	2,1,1,1,0	5
12	Greg Joynt	0,2,1,0,2	5
13	Max Brown	1,0,0,0,2	3
14	Colin Farquharson	0,0,0,1,1	2
15	Alan Crosbie	0,0,0,1,0	1
16	Patrick Pawson	1,0,0,0,-	1
R1	Bruce Elvey	0	0
R2	Kym Mauger	ns	0

Australian Qualification

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Southern Zone Final
January 16	Sydney	Phil Crump	John Boulger	Mick McKeon
Northern Zone Final
January 24	Liverpool	Billy Sanders	Phil Herne	John Titman
Australian Final
February 14	Brisbane	Billy Sanders	Phil Crump	John Titman

Australian Final

• February 14, 1981
• Brisbane
• First 8 to Austral-Asian Final

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Billy Sanders		14
2	Phil Crump		12
3	John Titman		10
4	Danny Kennedy		10
5	Phil Herne		9
6	Gary Guglielmi		8
7	Steve Regeling		8
8	Mick McKeon		8
9	John Boulger		7
10	Robert Maxfield		7
11	Steve Koppe		7
12	Neil Coddington		7
13	Tim Nunan		6
14	Bob Chitchcock		3
15	Glenn McDonald		2
16	Lou Sansom		2
R1	Mark williams
R2	Dave Mills

British Qualification

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Preliminary Round
7 April	Weymouth	Neil Middleditch	Simon Wigg	Kevin Smith
10 April	Peterborough	Louis Carr	Kevin Hawkins	Nicky Allott
12 April	Rye House	Keith White	Melvyn Taylor	Bob Garrad
12 April	Boston	Steve Lomas	David Gagen	Eric Broadbelt
14 April	Crayford	Barry Thomas	Ian Gledhill	Dave Morton
Quarter-Final
27 April	Newcastle	Eric Broadbelt	Kevin Hawkins	Neil Middleditch
Semi-Finals
13 May	Poole	Dave Jessup	Steve Bastable	Gordon Kennett
14 May	Sheffield	Les Collins	Chris Morton	Kenny Carter
Final
3 June	Coventry	Steve Bastable	Kenny Carter	John Louis	result

British Final

• June 3, 1981
• Coventry, Brandon Stadium
• First 8 to Overseas final plus 1 reserve

Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	21
	(3) Steve Bastable	13	2						3				3				3				2		13	1	3
	(2) Kenny Carter	13	3					2				3				2				3			13	2	2
	(5) John Louis	13		3			3					2					2					3	13	3	1
4	(4) Les Collins	12	1							3				3				3				2	12	4
5	(10) Chris Morton	10			3			3						2			1		1				10	5
6	(6) Dave Jessup	9		2				1			1							2			3		9	6
7	(16) Michael Lee	8				3				1	3						0			1			8	7
8	(15) Ian Cartwright	7				2			0			1						1	3				7	8
9	(13) Malcolm Simmons	6				0	2							1		3					0		6	9	3
10	(11) Eric Broadbelt	6			0				2		2					1						1	6	10	2
11	(9) Phil Collins	6			2		0						2					0		2			6	11	1
12	(7) Melvyn Taylor	5		1					1					0	3					0			5	12
13	(1) John Davis	5	-				1				0				2				2				5	13
14	(12) Gordon Kennett	5			1					2		0			1						1		5	14
15	(14) Kevin Smith	2				1		0					1		0							0	2	15
16	(8) Kevin Jolly	0		0						0			0			0			0				0	16
R1	(R1) Keith White	0	0																				0	R1
Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	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

Swedish Qualification

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Semi-Finals
3 May	Motala	Tommy Nilsson	Tommy Johansson	Hans Danielsson
8 May	Mariestad	Anders Michanek	Bernt Persson	Karl Eric Claesson
17 May	Gislaved	Anders Michanek	Tommy Nilsson	Hans Danielsson

Intercontinental Round

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Austral-Asian Final
28 February	Sydney	Ivan Mauger	Danny Kennedy	Larry Ross
Norwegian Final
26 April	Elgane	Rolf Gramstad	Audun Ove Olsen	Jorn Haufvalstad
Danish Final
10 May	Fjelsted	Ole Olsen	Bo Petersen	Erik Gundersen
American Final
30 May	Los Angeles	Bruce Penhall	Dennis Sigalos	Kelly Moran
Nordic Final
5 June	Norrköping	Tommy Knudsen	Hans Nielsen	Ole Olsen
Overseas Final
2 July	White City	Dave Jessup	Chris Morton	Bruce Penhall
Intercontinental Final
25 July	Vojens	Bruce Penhall	Erik Gundersen	Hans Nielsen

Australasian Final

• February 28, 1981
• Sydney, Liverpool City Raceway
• First 4 to Overseas final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Ivan Mauger	15
2	Danny Kennedy	11+3
3	Larry Ross	11+2
4	Phil Herne	11+1
5	Billy Sanders	10+3
6	Phil Crump	10+2
7	Gary Guglielmi	9
8	Mitch Shirra	8
9	John Titman	7
10	Mick McKeon	7
11	Tony Briggs	6
12	Wayne Brown	5
13	David Bargh	2
14	Steve Regeling	2
15	Mike Fullerton	1
16	Graeme Beardsley	1
17	Robert Maxfield (RES)	1

Norwegian Final

• April 26, 1981
• Elgane
• First 2 to Nordic final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Rolf Gramstad	15
2	Audun Ove Olsen	13
3	Jorn Haufvalstad	12
4	Trond Helge Skretting	11
5	Dag Haaland	10
6	Ingve Madland	9
7	Terje Tollefsen	7
8	Kurt Ueland	7
9	Geir Aasland	7
10	Roy Otto	6
11	Asgeir Bjerga	6
12	Dagfin Jorgensen	5
13	Sigvart Pedersen	5
14	Kjell Gimre	5
15	Rolf Havirstad	2
16	Oddmund Bye	0

Danish Final

• May 10, 1981
• Fjelsted
• First 6 to Nordic final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Ole Olsen	15
2	Bo Petersen	13
3	Erik Gundersen	12+3
4	Tommy Knudsen	12+2
5	Hans Nielsen	12+1
6	Jens Henry Nielsen	8+3
7	Finn Thomsen	8+2
8	Preben Eriksen	8+1
9	Finn Rune Jensen	7
10	Mikael Lohmann	7
11	Bent Rasmussen	5
12	Steen Mastrup	5
13	Hans Ove Christiansen	4
14	Bent Juul Larsen	3
15	Svend Lund	0
16	Klaus Lohman	0
R1	Finn Lundahl	1

American Final

• May 30, 1981
• Los Angeles, Los Angeles Coliseum
• First 4 to Overseas final

Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	21
	(1) Bruce Penhall	15	3				3				3				3				3				15	1
	(9) Dennis Sigalos	13			3		1						3					3		3			13	2	3
	(3) Kelly Moran	13	2						3				2				3				3		13	3	2
4	(5) Scott Autrey	10		2			0					3					2					3	10	4	3
5	(16) Shawn Moran	10				3				3	2						1			1			10	5	2
6	(13) Alan Christian	10				1	2							3		3					1		10	6	1
7	(15) Denny Pyeatt	10				2			2			2						2	2				10	7	0
8	(2) Mike Faria	8	0					3				1				2				2			8	8
9	(8) Bobby Schwartz	7		3						2			1			0			1				7	9
10	(11) Steve Gresham	7			2				1		1					1						2	7	10
11	(6) David De Temple	6		1				2			0							1			2		6	11
12	(4) Brad Oxley	4	1							1				2				0				0	4	12
13	(14) Keith Chrisco	4				0		1					0		2							1	4	13
14	(10) Steve Columbo	1			1			0						0			0		0				1	14
15	(12) Jefrey Tomlin	0			0					0		0			0						0		0	15
16	(7) Dubb Ferrell	0		0					F					-	-					-			0	16
R1	(R1) Bobby McLain	1												1						0			1	R1
R2	(R2) Dan McConnell	1													1								1	R2
Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	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

Nordic Final

• June 2, 1981
• Norrköping, Vargarna Speedway
• First 6 to Intercontinental final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Tommy Knudsen	3,3,3,3,3	15
2	Hans Nielsen	2,3,3,2,3	13
3	Ole Olsen	2,3,2,3,2	12
4	Preben Eriksen	3,2,2,2,3	12
5	Jan Andersson	3,2,1,3,2	11
6	Erik Gundersen	2,1,3,3,1	10+3
7	Bo Petersen	3,3,0,2,2	10+ns
8	Kai Niemi	1,1,1,2,3	8
9	Ari Koponen	E,0,2,1,2	5
10	Tommy Nilsson	1,1,2,1,0	5
11	Hans Danielsson	1,2,0,1,1	5
12	Audun Ove Olsen	1,1,1,1,0	4
13	Rolf Gramstad	E,2,1,0,1	4
14	Bernt Persson	0,F,3,0,-	3
15	Anders Michanek	2,0,-,-,-	2
16	Pekka Hautamäki	F,0,0,0,1	1
17	Finn Thomsen (Res)	0,0	0
18	Bo Wirebrand (Res)	0,0	0

Overseas Final

• July 12, 1981
• London, White City Stadium
• First 10 to Intercontinental final plus 1 reserve

Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	21
	(14) Dave Jessup	13				3		3					3		3							1	13	1
	(7) Chris Morton	11		2					1					3	2					3			11	2
	(9) Bruce Penhall	10			3		2						2					3		X			10	3	3
4	(13) Kelly Moran	10				1	3							1		2					3		10	4	2
5	(15) Dennis Sigalos	10				2			2			3						1	2				10	5	1
6	(11) Larry Ross	9			2				3		3					1						0	9	6
7	(10) John Louis	9			0			1						2			3		3				9	7
8	(4) Michael Lee	9	2							2				0				2				3	9	8
9	(16) Kenny Carter	8				0				3	1						2			2			8	9
10	(5) Ivan Mauger	8		3			1					1					1					2	8	10
11	(1) Les Collins	7	3				0				2				1				1				7	11
12	(8) Steve Bastable	6		1						1			1			3			0				6	12
13	(6) Ian Cartwright	4		0				2			0							0			2		4	13
14	(2) Scott Autrey	4	1					0				2				0				1			4	14
15	(12) Danny Kennedy	2			1					0		0			0						1		2	15
16	(3) Phil Herne	0	0						0				0				0				E		0	16
Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	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

Intercontinental Final

• July 25, 1981
• Vojens, Vojens Speedway Center
• First 11 to World final plus 1 reserve

Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	21
	(14) Bruce Penhall	15				3		3					3		3							3	15	1
	(10) Erik Gundersen	12			3			2						3			1		3				12	2
	(4) Hans Nielsen	11	3							2				2				2				2	11	3	3
4	(8) Kenny Carter	11		3						1			2			3			2				11	4	2
5	(16) Dave Jessup	10				1				3	3						0			3			10	5
6	(15) Tommy Knudsen	9				2			1			2						3	1				9	6
7	(3) Michael Lee	8	1						3				1				3				F		8	7
8	(5) Jan Andersson	8		1			1					3					2					1	8	8
9	(11) Chris Morton	8			2				2		2					2						0	8	9
10	(12) Larry Ross	7			1					0		1			2						3		7	10
11	(2) Ole Olsen	6	2					1				0				1				2			6	11
12	(13) Preben Eriksen	5				0	2							1		F					2		5	12
13	(9) Ivan Mauger	4			0		3						0					1		0			4	13
14	(7) John Louis	4		2					0					0	1					1			4	14
15	(6) Dennis Sigalos	1		0				0			1							0			F		1	15
16	(1) Kelly Moran	0	F				0				0				E				0				0	16
R1	(R1) Bo Petersen	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2) Les Collins	0																					0	R2
Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	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

Continental Round

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Preliminary Round
25 April	Lendava	Herbert Szerecz	Alois Wiesböck	Mariusz Okoniewski
26 April	Krumbach	Ferenc Farkaš	Jan Verner	Henny Kroeze
26 April	Shumen	Henryk Olszak	Ladislav Hradecky	Andrzej Huszcza
26 April	Žarnovica	Waldemar Bacik	Andreas Niedemaier	Kurt Prastbo
Quarter-Finals
10 May	Lonigo	Henny Kroeze	Georg Hack	Aleš Dryml Sr.
10 May	Bopfingen	Egon Muller	Zenon Plech	Valery Gordeev
10 May	Miskolc	Roman Jankowski	Zdeněk Kudrna	Zoltan Adorjan
10 May	Wiener Neustadt	Jerzy Rembas	Andrzej Huszcza	Mikhail Starostin
Semi-Finals
13 June	Landshut	Zenon Plech	Georg Hack	Milan Špinka
14 June	Leszno	Edward Jancarz	Jerzy Rembas	Zdeněk Kudrna
Final
25 July	Prague	Egon Muller	Aleš Dryml Sr.	Edward Jancarz

Continental Final

• July 25, 1981
• Prague, Marketa Stadium
• First 5 to World final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Egon Müller	3,3,3,3,X	12+2+3
2	Aleš Dryml Sr.	3,0,3,3,3	12+3+2
3	Edward Jancarz	3,2,2,2,3	12+2+1
4	Jiří Štancl	2,3,2,3,2	12+2+0
5	Zenon Plech	2,3,3,3,1	12+E+E
6	Henryk Olszak	2,1,2,1,3	9+3
7	Jan Verner	0,2,3,2,2	9+2
8	Marek Kepa	3,1,1,2,1	8
9	Roman Jankowski	1,3,1,1,0	6
10	Zdeněk Kudrna	1,1,0,1,3	6
11	Milan Špinka	0,2,2,2,-	6
12	Petr Kucera	2,0,X,1,2	5
13	Waldemar Bacik	0,1,1,0,1	3
14	Marek Towalski	0,2,0,0,0	2
15	Georg Hack	1,X,F,0,-	1
16	Valery Gordeev	1,0,0,0,0	1
R1	Petr Ondrašík	0,2	2
R2	Antonín Kasper, Jr.	1	1

World Final

• September 5, 1981
• London, Wembley Stadium^[6]
• Referee: () Sam Bass
• Attendance: 92,500

Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos
1	(11) Bruce Penhall	14			3				3		3					3						2	14	1
2	(3) Ole Olsen	12+3	2						2				3				2				3		12	2
3	(2) Tommy Knudsen	12+2	3					2				2				2				3			12	3
4	(10) Erik Gundersen	11			2			3						0			3		3				11	4
5	(5) Kenny Carter	11		3			2					3					e					3	11	5
6	(12) Jan Andersson	9			1					2		1			3						2		9	6
7	(7) Egon Müller	9		1					1					3	2					2			9	7
8	(16) Dave Jessup	7				3				3	e						e			1			7	8
9	(15) Hans Nielsen	6				2			0			0						2	2				6	9
10	(9) Michael Lee	5			0		3						2					0		f			5	10
11	(8) Chris Morton	5		2						1			1			1			0				5	11
12	(1) Edward Jancarz	5	1				1				1				1				1				5	12
13	(4) Larry Ross	4	0							t				1				3				0	4	13
14	(13) Aleš Dryml Sr.	3				0	0							2		0					1		3	14
15	(6) Zenon Plech	3		f				0			2							1			0		3	15
16	(14) Jiří Štancl	3				1		1					0		0							1	3	16
Res	(17) Henryk Olszak	0								0													0	Res
Res	(18) Preben Eriksen	0																					0	Res
Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos

References