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Finland national speedway team

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Finland
AssociationFinnish Motorcycling Federation
Suomen Moottoriliitto r.y.
FIM codeSML
Nation colourWhite and Blue
SWC Wins0

The Finnish national speedway team are one of the teams that compete in international team motorcycle speedway.

History

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The Finnish speedway team comepeted in the inaugural Speedway World Team Cup in 1960, finishing fourth in the Scandinavian round at Odense, Denmark. The team consisted of Kalevi Lahtinen, Antti Pajari, Timo Laine, Valle Seliverstov and Aulis Lethonen.[1][2][3]

From 1960 to 1985, the team failed to progress from their qualifying group for the World Cup, due to the fact that they were drawn together in qualifying with two of the world's strongest speedway nations, Denmark and Sweden. The system changed in 1986 but it was not until the 1990 Speedway World Team Cup that the team progressed from qualifying to round two.[4] The team reached the final of the Speedway World Pairs Championship six times, in 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982, 1987 and 1989.[5]

The team reached the World Cup race-off (the round before the final) in 2002 and 2003 but experienced a inert period for nearly two decades. However, an improvement ensued when Finland reached the final of the 2022 Speedway of Nations[6] and they won their first medal when they won the bronze at the 2023 European Pairs Speedway Championship.[7]

Major tournament finals

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Speedway of Nations

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Year Venue Standings (Pts) Riders Pts
2022 Denmark
Vojens
Vojens Speedway Center
1. Australia Australia (30+6+7)
2. United Kingdom Great Britain (32+2)
3. Sweden Sweden (30+3)
4. Denmark Denmark (28)
5. Czech Republic Czech Republic (27)
6. Poland Poland (26)
7. Finland Finland (16)
Timo Lahti 14
Jesse Mustonen 2
Timi Salonen 0

World Pairs Championship

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Year Venue Standings (Pts) Riders Pts
1977 England
Manchester
Hyde Road
1. England England (28)
2. Sweden Sweden (18)
3. West Germany West Germany (18)
4. Czech Republic Czechoslovakia (17)
5. New Zealand New Zealand (17)
6. Finland Finland (14)
7. Australia Australia (12)
Ila Teromaa 7
Kai Niemi 7
1979 Denmark
Vojens
Vojens Speedway Center
1. Denmark Denmark (25)
2. England England (24)
3. Poland Poland (20)
4. Australia Australia (19)
5. United States United States (14)
6. New Zealand New Zealand (12)
7. Finland Finland (7)
Kai Niemi 7
Ila Teromaa 0
1980 Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Krsko
Matija Gubec Stadium
1. England England (29)
2. Poland Poland (22)
3. Denmark Denmark (21)
4. Sweden Sweden (18)
5. New Zealand New Zealand (16)
6. Finland Finland (14)
7. Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (6)
Ila Teromaa 8
Kai Niemi 6
1982 Australia
Sydney
Liverpool Speedway
1. United States United States (30)
2. England England (22)
3. Denmark Denmark (21)
4. Australia Australia (16)
5. Finland Finland (16)
6. New Zealand New Zealand (13)
7. Czech Republic Czechoslovakia (8)
Kai Niemi 12
Ari Koponen 4
1987 Czech Republic
Pardubice
Svítkov Stadion
1. Denmark Denmark (52)
2. England England (44)
3. United States United States (36)
4. New Zealand New Zealand (36)
5. Czech Republic Czechoslovakia (30)
6. Finland Finland (19)
7. Australia Australia (21)
8. Italy Italy (19)
9. Poland Poland (14)
Olli Tyrväinen 11
Kai Niemi 8
1989 Poland
Leszno
Alfred Smoczyk Stadium
1. Denmark Denmark (48)
2. Sweden Sweden (44)
3. England England (37)
4. West Germany West Germany (36)
5. Finland Finland (31)
6. Hungary Hungary (22)
7. Czech Republic Czechoslovakia (25)
8. Italy Italy (15)
9. Poland Poland (11)
Kai Niemi 18
Olli Tyrväinen 13

International caps (as of 2022)

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Since the advent of the Speedway Grand Prix era, international caps earned by riders is largely restricted to international competitions, whereas previously test matches between two teams were a regular occurrence. This means that the number of caps earned by a rider has decreased in the modern era.[8]

Rider Caps
Aarnio, Tero 7
Hautamäki, Pekka 7
Helminen, Markku 3
Katajisto, Kalle 3
Kokko, Petri 3
Koponen, Ari 17
Lahti, Timo 3
Laukkanen, Kai 15
Mäkinen, Jari 1
Makinen, Rauli 2
Niemi, Kai 22
Nieminen, Kauko 18
Olin, Matti 7
Pajari, Antti 14
Pellinen, Mika 4
Reima, Tomi 13
Teromaa, Ila 8
Teromaa, Pepe 3
Tuoriniemi, Veijo 3
Tyrväinen, Olli 19
Ylinen, Vesa 14

References

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  1. ^ Rogers, Martin (1978). The Illustrated History of Speedway. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. p. 134. ISBN 0-904584-45-3.
  2. ^ Bott, Richard (1980). The Peter Collins Speedway Book No.4. Stanley Paul & Co Ltd. p. 99. ISBN 0-09-141751-1.
  3. ^ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 27–28. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  4. ^ "FIM SPEEDWAY WORLD CUP/ SPEEDWAY OF NATIONS" (PDF). Motor Sport Top 20. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  5. ^ Matthews/Morrison, Peter/Ian (1987). The Guinness Encyclopaedia of Sports Records and Results. Guinness Superlatives. p. 290. ISBN 0-85112-492-5.
  6. ^ "Speedway of Nations Preview". Speedway Star. 23 July 2022. p. 22.
  7. ^ "European Pairs Speedway Championship: Team Poland grabs the title at home". FIM Europe. 2 October 2023. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
  8. ^ "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 7 October 2023.

See also

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