1936 Individual Speedway World Championship

The 1936 Individual Speedway World Championship was the first ever Speedway World Championship and was won by Lionel Van Praag of Australia. It was the first of a record 26 times that London's Wembley Stadium would host the World Final with the last being in 1981.

1936 Individual Speedway World Championship
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The 1936 Speedway World Final programme.

Despite being unbeaten in the Final, Australian Bluey Wilkinson only finished third as the Championship was decided by bonus points accumulated in previous rounds plus the score from the final. Van Praag defeated England's Eric Langton in a runoff to be declared the inaugural Speedway World Champion.

As they lined up at the tapes for the runoff, Langton broke them which would ordinarily lead to disqualification. However, Van Praag stated he did not want to win the title by default and insisted that a race should take place. At the restart Langton made it to the first bend in front and led until the final bend on the last lap when Van Praag darted through the smallest of gaps to win by less than wheel length.[1]

Afterwards, controversial allegations were abound that the two riders had 'fixed' the match race, deciding between them that the first person to the first bend would win the race and the Championship and split the prize money; Langton led into the first bend but was overtaken by Van Praag.[1] Van Praag reportedly paid Langton £50 "conscience money" after the race for going back on the agreement.[1]

  • 1936 Podium
  1. Lionel Van Praag (Australia)
  2. Eric Langton (Great Britain)
  3. Bluey Wilkinson (Australia)

World final
Pos. Rider Semi-Final Points Final Points Final Heats Total Points
1 Lionel Van Praag1214(3,3,3,2,3)26
2 Eric Langton1313(3,3,3,2,2)26
3 Bluey Wilkinson1015(3,3,3,3,3)25
4 Cordy Milne911(2,2,1,3,3)20
5 Frank Charles128(3,3,0,2,0)20
6 Dicky Case98(2,0,3,1,2)17
7 Jack Ormston98(1,1,2,3,1)17
8 Vic Huxley107(1,2,0,2,2)17
9 George Newton124(0,0,3,1,0)16
10 Jack Milne96(1,2,1,0,2)15
11 Morian Hansen105(2,1,2,0,0)15
12 Bob Harrison105(0,0,2,0,3)15
13 Wal Phillips75(1,1,0,2,1)12
14 Jack Parker12--12
15 Ginger Lees74(2,0,1,0,1)11
16 Arthur Atkinson63(0,2,1,0,0)9
17 Bill Pitcher62(0,1,X/-,0,1)8
18 Norman Parker61(1)7
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gollark: Probably should also require some kind of basic competence test, if it doesn't already.

See also

References
  1. Chaplin, John (1990) Speedway Special, ISBN 0-9515857-0-3, p. 109–114


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