The 1978 Intercontinental Final was the fourth running of the Intercontinental Final as part of the qualification for the 1978 Speedway World Championship. The 1978 Final was run on 2 June at the Fredericia Speedway Center in Fredericia, Denmark, and was the last qualifying stage for riders from Scandinavia, the USA and from the Commonwealth nations for the World Final to be held at the Wembley Stadium in London, England (as the World Final was in England, riders from the United Kingdom were only required to qualify through the British Final held in August).[1]

In a battle of the masters, reigning and five time World Champion Ivan Mauger went head to head with Denmark's own two time World Champion Ole Olsen. The Dane emerged victorious, defeating his friend and mentor in a runoff to claim the Final after both had finished the meeting on 13 points. Finishing in a surprise third place was American Scott Autrey who defeated Finland's Ilka Teromaa and Sweden's rising star Jan Andersson in a runoff to claim the final place on the podium. Before the meeting, Autrey had been expected to do well enough to qualify for the World Final, but wasn't expected to claim a podium finish.

Ole Olsen would later go on to win his third World title at Wembley.

1978 Intercontinental Final

Pos.RiderTotal
1Denmark Ole Olsen13+3
2New Zealand Ivan Mauger13+2
3United States Scott Autrey11+3
4Finland Ila Teromaa11+2
5Sweden Jan Andersson11+1
6Sweden Anders Michanek10
7Australia John Titman10
8Sweden Bernt Persson9
9Finland Kai Niemi8
10United States Steve Gresham7
11Denmark Finn Thomsen6
12Australia Mike Farrell5
13Australia Mick McKeon3
14Denmark Kristian Praestbro2
15New Zealand Mitch Shirra1
16Sweden Tommy Nilsson1

References

See also

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