1972 Individual Speedway World Championship


The 1972 Individual Speedway World Championship.
Attendance was estimated to be around 75,000.
In Heat 5, former four-time champion Barry Briggs was involved in an accident which all but ended his speedway career. Going into the first turn his front wheel was hit by Bernt Persson's bike which caused him to fall. He was then hit by the following Russian riders Grigory Khlinovsky and Valery Gordeev. Briggs suffered a severe hand injury and lost the index finger on his left hand which caused him to temporarily retire from racing. Briggs had been considered one of the pre-meeting favourites and his favouritism had been firmed when he had beaten fellow New Zealander Ivan Mauger in Heat 2.
To the boos of the 75,000 strong Wembley crowd, FIM referee Georg Traunspurger did not exclude Persson, a lucky break for the Swede as he would later go on to finish in second place after losing a runoff with Ivan Mauger who took out his fourth World Championship. Although the rider of the meeting was undoubtedly defending champion Ole Olsen. In his first ride while challenging Swede Christer Löfqvist for the lead after coming through from the back following a near crash in the first turn, he dramatically fell and would score no points. From there he was untroubled to win his next four rides to finish in a clear third place.

British Qualification

British Final

Scandinavian Final

Pos.RiderHeat ScoresTotal
1 Bengt Jansson3,2,3,3,314
2 Anders Michanek3,3,3,1,313
3 Ole Olsen3,2,2,3,212
4 Bernt Persson1,2,3,2,311
5 Hasse Holmqvist2,3,2,2,211
6 Christer Löfqvist3,3,3,0,110
7 Jan Simensen2,0,2,3,310
8 Reidar Eide1,3,1,2,29
9 Tommy Jansson2,1,2,3,E8
10 Dag Lovaas1,1,1,2,05
11 Tommy Johansson0,1,0,1,24
12 Oyvind Berg1,0,0,1,13
13 Gote Nordin0,2,1,0,-3
14 Leif Enecrona0,0,1,1,13
15 Per Olaf Soderman2,0,0,0,02
16 Soren Sjosten0,1,0,0,-1
R1 Christer SjostenE0
R2 Runo Wedin00

Continental Round

Continental Final

Pos.RiderHeat ScoresTotal
1 Viktor Trofimov2,3,3,3,314
2 Viktor Kalmykov3,3,3,2,213
3 Anatoly Kuzmin2,2,2,3,312
4 Valery Gordeev3,1,1,3,311
5 Milan Špinka1,3,3,2,110
6 Grigory Khlinovsky3,2,F,1,39
7 Pawel Waloszek0,3,2,2,29
8 Aleksandr Pavlov2,2,2,1,29
9 Zenon PlechF,2,2,3,F7
10 Anatoly Mironov1,1,1,2,16
11 Zygfryd FriedekX,1,1,1,25
12 Petr Ondrašík3,X,0,0,14
13 Vasily BaturinF,X,3,X,03
14 Marek Cieślak0,1,1,1,03
15 Henryk Glucklich2,E,X,0,X2
16 Edward Jancarz1,X,E,E,12
R1 Gennadij Kurilenko1,0,0,X1
R2 Vladimir Kubanov0,0,00

European Final