Commonwealth final

(Redirected from Commonwealth Final)

The Commonwealth final was a Motorcycle speedway final sanctioned by the FIM as a qualifying round for the Speedway World Championship between 1979 and 1994.[1]

Introduced to the World Championship in 1979, it served as a qualifying round for Commonwealth riders, primarily those from Australia, England and New Zealand.[2]

The Commonwealth final was not run from 1981 to 1985, during which time riders who qualified through their national championship were through to the Overseas Final. It returned to the World Championship calendar in 1986 and lasted until 1994, the last year of the traditional single meeting World Championship final before the advent of the Speedway Grand Prix World championship series in 1995.[3]

Editions

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All 11 Commonwealth finals were held in England. Kelvin Tatum was the most successful Commonwealth finalist, winning four finals (1987, 1988, 1990 and 1992). Reigning Australian Champion Leigh Adams was the only non-English winner when he took out the 1993 Final.[4]

Year Venue Winners Runner-up 3rd place
1979   London
White City Stadium
  Michael Lee   Billy Sanders   Dave Jessup
1980   London
Wimbledon Stadium
  Dave Jessup   John Louis   Ivan Mauger
1981-1985 - not held
1986   Manchester
Belle Vue Stadium
  Jeremy Doncaster   Kelvin Tatum   Chris Morton
1987   Manchester
Belle Vue Stadium
  Kelvin Tatum   Simon Cross   Marvyn Cox
1988   King's Lynn
Norfolk Arena
  Kelvin Tatum   Mitch Shirra   Simon Wigg
1989   Manchester
Belle Vue Stadium
  Simon Wigg[5]   Mitch Shirra   Neil Collins
1990   Manchester
Belle Vue Stadium
  Kelvin Tatum   Martin Dugard   Simon Cross
1991   King's Lynn
Norfolk Arena
  Jeremy Doncaster   Leigh Adams   Joe Screen
1992   King's Lynn
Norfolk Arena
  Kelvin Tatum   Mark Thorpe   Gary Havelock
1993   King's Lynn
Norfolk Arena
  Leigh Adams   Andy Smith   Martin Dugard
1994   King's Lynn
Norfolk Arena
  Mark Loram   Martin Dugard   Joe Screen

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Speedway History
  2. ^ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 22. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  3. ^ "HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK". Speedway.org. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  4. ^ "Commonwealth Fianal". Edinburgh Speedway. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  5. ^ Oakes, Peter (1990). Speedway Yearbook 1990. Front Page Books. pp. 10–9. ISBN 0-948882-15-8.