The 1982 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 37th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

The 1982 World Final was held in Los Angeles in the United States. This was the only time the Individual World Final was held outside of England or Europe before the advent of the Speedway Grand Prix series in 1995.

The 400 metres (440 yards) speedway track for the Final was laid out over the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum's existing athletics track. The event was held in front of a crowd of approximately 40,000 people, the largest ever motorcycle speedway attendance in the United States.

Controversy

Heat 14 of the championship proved to be the most controversial race of the night, and one of the most controversial heats in the whole of speedway history. After a slow start which saw defending champion Bruce Penhall, and England's Kenny Carter in 3rd and 4th places behind 1976 World Champion Peter Collins and Australian Phil Crump, both riders fought their way past Crump and into 2nd and 3rd behind Collins. Carter moved under Penhall into 2nd place at the end of the 2nd lap, and both riders proceeded to bump each other down the front straight with Carter emerging in front. Carter then went wide through turn 1 which allowed Penhall to come back underneath him. Carter then fell coming onto the back straight and went through the fence causing the race to be stopped. Norwegian referee Torrie Kittlesen then excluded Carter from the race for causing the stoppage. Carter protested claiming that Penhall had hit him in the corner causing him to come off his bike and walked back to the start line in an effort to stop the re-run going ahead without him. Officials and his manager Ivan Mauger were then forced to remove Carter from the track.

Although not shown in the television broadcast of the event, amateur video footage shot from the stands in turns 1 & 2 vindicated Kittlesen's decision. The footage showed that Penhall and Carter did not touch in the turn and that the Englishman had gone down on his own, though years later the debate still rages on about who was at fault.^[6] In a television interview with American broadcaster Ken Squier soon after the heat, Kittlesen told that he excluded Carter as he believed the Englishman had fallen without help from Penhall. He also said that the rough riding such as seen from Penhall and Carter on the front straight was to be expected in a World Final. Phil Crump, who had the best view of the incident as he was directly behind the pair, allegedly agreed with the decision to exclude Carter.

Penhall went on to win the re-run from Collins and Crump. In a twist, the result in the re-run ultimately cost Collins' younger brother Les the World Championship in what was his first and only World Final appearance. Had Penhall finished second in Heat 14 behind Peter Collins, and with later results, he and Les Collins could have finished with 13 points each which would have seen the pair in a runoff for the championship. Les Collins had inflicted Penhall's only loss of the meeting when he out-rode the American in Heat 4 in what many believe was a major upset. Additionally, if Penhall had been excluded from Heat 14 and not Carter, Les Collins would have a small chance of winning the title as he had finished with a 2 point lead over third placed American Dennis Sigalos, however Carter would have had a good chance of winning a re-run Heat 14 which would give him a two point advantage over Les Collins before they met, so Carter would have been favourite. Had Penhall only finished on 11 points he would have had a runoff with fellow American Kelly Moran for third place.

In another controversial decision, two races later Kittlesen excluded Czechoslovakia's Václav Verner after a clash with West Germany's Georg Hack, the incident being similar to the Penhall / Carter incident. However, on this occasion it was the rider who stayed on his bike, Verner, who was excluded (though video evidence available to Kittlesen at the time clearly showed Verner's back wheel taking out Hack's front wheel).

British Qualification

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Preliminary Round
13 April	Weymouth	Simon Wigg	Ian Clark	Dave Perks
25 April	Rye House	Bob Garrad	Nigel Flatman	Steve Naylor
25 April	Boston	Colin Cook	Mark Courtney	Rob Hollingworth
27 April	Crayford	Steve Wilcock	Mike Ferreira	Barry Thomas
29 April	Oxford	Derek Harrison	Tim Hunt	Neil Collins
Quarter-Final
7 May	Peterborough	Simon Wigg	Mark Courtney	Mike Ferreira
Semi-Finals
14 May	Hackney	Les Collins	John Louis	Dave Jessup
14 May	Birmingham	Alan Grahame	Kenny Carter	Andy Grahame
Final
2 June	Coventry	Andy Grahame	Alan Grahame	Kenny Carter	result

British Final

• June 2, 1982
• Coventry, Brandon Stadium
• First 8 to Overseas Final plus 1 reserve

Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	21
	(7) Andy Grahame	14		3					3					3	3					2			14	1
	(9) Alan Grahame	13			3		2						2					3		3			13	2
	(14) Kenny Carter	12				2		3					3		2							2	12	3
4	(12) Phil Collins	11			2					3		2			1						3		11	4
5	(16) Chris Morton	10				3				1	3						2			1			10	5
6	(5) Peter Collins	10		2			3					3					1					1	10	6
7	(4) Les Collins	9	0							2				2				2				3	9	7
8	(10) Dave Jessup	8			E			2						0			3		3				8	8
9	(2) Michael Lee	7	3					1				1				2				0			7	9
10	(1) Paul Woods	6	2				1				1				0				2				6	10
11	(6) Mike Ferreira	6		1				0			2							1			2		6	11
12	(13) John Davis	5				0	0							1		3					1		5	12
13	(15) Simon Wigg	4				1			2			0						0	1				4	13
14	(11) Malcolm Holloway	3			1				1		0					1						0	3	14
15	(3) Kevin Jolly	2	1						0				1				0				0		2	15
16	(8) John Louis	0		0						0			0			E			E				0	16
R1	(R1) Gordon Kennett	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2) Melvyn Taylor	0																					0	R2
Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	21

m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fell • ns - non-starter • nc - non-classify

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

Swedish Qualification

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Semi-Finals
7 May	Motala	Lillebror Johansson	Lennart Bengtsson	Anders Michanek
9 May	Gislaved	Richard Hellsen	Hans Danielsson	Tommy Nilsson
Final
25 May	Malilla	Richard Hellsen	Lennart Bengtsson	Uno Johansson
26 May	Stockholm	Richard Hellsen	Tommy Nilsson	Bjorn Andersson
27 May	Mariestad	Tommy Nilsson	Lillebror Johansson	Uno Johansson

Australian Qualification

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Queensland Final
28 November 81	Ayr	Steve Koppe	Merv Janke	John Titman
Southern Zone Final
2 January	Melbourne	Phil Crump	Danny Kennedy	Terry Tulloch
Northern Zone Final
3 January	Rockhampton	Gary Guglielmi	Billy Sanders	John Titman
Australian Final
13 Marth	Brisbane	Billy Sanders	Phil Crump	Gary Guglielmi

Australian Final

• March 13, 1982
• Brisbane

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Billy Sanders	3,3,3,3,3	15
2	Phil Crump	3,3,3,3,2	14
3	Gary Guglielmi	1,3,3,3,1	11
4	Steve Regeling	2,2,1,3,3	11
5	John Titman	3,2,2,2,2	11
6	Ron Schleib	1,3,2,1,3	10
7	Phil Herne	2,2,3,2,1	10
8	Neil Coddington	3,1,2,0,2	8
9	Glyn Taylor	2,1,1,2,X	6
10	Peter Byrne	1,0,0,0,3	4
11	Les Sawyers	2,X,0,2,0	4
12	Mark Johns	0,1,0,1,2	4
13	Graeme Robertson	0,2,0,1,1	4
14	David Foot	1,1,1,0,1	4
15	Steve Baker	0,0,2,0,0	2
16	Peter Carswell	0,0,1,1,0	2
R1	Mark Stevens
R2	Gary Finglas

New Zealand Qualification

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
South Island Final
16 January	Christchurch	Larry Ross	Roger Wright	Alan Mason
North Island Final
24 January	Kihikihi	Mitch Shirra	David Bargh	John Goodall
New Zealand Final
27 February	Christchurch	Larry Ross	Ivan Mauger	Mitch Shirra

New Zealand Final

• 27 February 1982
• Christchurch

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Larry Ross		15
2	Ivan Mauger		14
3	Mitch Shirra		13
4	David Bargh		12
5	Alan Mason		11
6	Roger Wright		10
7	Max Brown		9
8	Greame Stapleton		8
9	Kevin Browne		6
10	Trevor Chapman		5
11	Graham Taylor		4
12	Greg Joynt		4
13	Gavin Rhodes		4
14	Lance Begbie		2
15	Steve Hann		1
16	Vayne Brown		0
R1	Philip McClintock		2
R2	Craig Blacket		0

Intercontinental Round

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Danish Final
11 May	Fredericia	Erik Gundersen	Bo Petersen	Hans Nielsen
American Final
12 June	Long Beach	Dennis Sigalos	Shawn Moran	Kelly Moran
Nordic Final
4 July	Fjelsted	Hans Nielsen	Erik Gundersen	Bo Petersen
Overseas Final
4 July	White City	Dave Jessup	Kenny Carter	Bruce Penhall
Intercontinental Final
23 July	Vetlanda	Les Collins	Kenny Carter	Dennis Sigalos

Danish Final

• May 11, 1982
• Fredericia
• First 6 to Nordic final

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Erik Gundersen	13+3
2	Bo Petersen	13+2
3	Hans Nielsen	13+1
4	Ole Olsen	11
5	Preben Eriksen	10
6	Tommy Knudsen	10
7	Finn Thomsen	9
8	Bent Rasmussen	8
9	Jens Rasmussen	7
10	Alf Busk	7
11	Finn Rune Jensen	5
12	Helge R. Hansen	4
13	Jens Henry Nielsen	4
14	John Eskildsen	3
15	Hans Albert Klinge	3
16	Rene Chistiansen	0

American Final

• June 12, 1982
• Long Beach
• First 3 to Overseas final plus 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Dennis Sigalos	3,3,3,3,3	15
2	Shawn Moran	2,2,3,3,3	13+3
3	Kelly Moran	3,2,2,3,3	13+2
4	Scott Autrey	3,3,3,2,2	13+1
5	John Cook	1,3,1,3,2	10
6	Mike Faria	2,1,2,2,3	10
7	Bobby Schwartz	3,3,1,X,1	8
8	Mike Curosco	0,2,3,1,1	7
9	Brad Oxley	2,1,0,1,2	6
10	Alan Christian	2,F,2,1,0	5
11	Gene Woods	1,0,2,E,1	4
12	Mike Bast	X,2,1,0,0	3
13	Steve Lucero	1,0,0,2,0	3
14	Dave Sims	0,E,1,0,1	2
15	Steve Gresham	1,1,0,-,-	2
16	Paul Orlandi	0,1,F,-,-	1
R1	Keith Christo	2,2	4
R2	John Sandona	0,1,0	1

Nordic Final

• July 4, 1982
• Fjelsted
• First 6 to Intercontinental final + 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Hans Nielsen	12+3
2	Erik Gundersen	12+2
3	Bo Petersen	11+3
4	Kai Niemi	11+2
5	Ole Olsen	11+1
6	Jan Andersson	10+3
7	Tommy Knudsen	10+2
8	Richard Hellsen	10+1
9	Preben Eriksen	10+0
10	Lillebror Johansson	6
11	Bjorn Andersson	5
12	Ari Koponen	5
13	Tommy Nilsson	3
14	Pekka Hautamaeki	2
15	Dag Haaland	1
16	Roy Otto	1

Overseas Final

• July 4, 1982
• London, White City Stadium
• First 10 to Intercontinental final plus 1 reserve

Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	21
	(2) Dave Jessup	13	2					3				3				3				2			13	1
	(16) Kenny Carter	12				1				2	3						3			3			12	2
	(12) Bruce Penhall	11			3					3		2			3						0		11	3
4	(10) Larry Ross	10			2			1						3			1		3				10	4
5	(8) Andy Grahame	8		1						1			2			3			1				8	5
6	(13) Kelly Moran	8				2	1							1		2					2		8	6
7	(3) Dennis Sigalos	8	0						3				0				2				3		8	7
8	(14) Phil Crump	8				0		2					3		0							3	8	8
9	(5) Les Collins	7		3			2					1					0					1	7	9	3
10	(1) Peter Collins	7	3				0				0				2				2				7	10	2
11	(6) Shawn Moran	7		2				0			1							3			1		7	11	1
12	(9) Alan Grahame	6			1		3						1					0		1			6	12
13	(11) Ivan Mauger	6			0				2		2					0						2	6	13
14	(15) Billy Sanders	5				3			1			0						1	0				5	14
15	(4) Chris Morton	5	1							0				2				2				0	5	15
16	(7) Phil Collins	1		0					0					0	1					0			1	16
R1	(R1) Michael Lee	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2) Scott Autrey	0																					0	R2
R3	(R3) Gary Guglielmi	0																					0	R3
R4	(R4) Mitch Shirra	0																					0	R4
Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	21

m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fell • ns - non-starter • nc - non-classify

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

Intercontinental Final

• July 23, 1982
• Vetlanda
• First 11 to World final plus 1 reserve

Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	21
	(7) Les Collins	12		3					2					3	3					1			12	1
	(3) Kenny Carter	11	2						3				2				2				2		11	2
	(8) Dennis Sigalos	10		2						3			3			2			0				10	3	3
4	(1) Hans Nielsen	10	3				1				2				2				2				10	4	2
5	(13) Kelly Moran	9				3	3							0		3					0		9	5
6	(10) Bruce Penhall	9			3			3						1			1		1				9	6
7	(16) Dave Jessup	8				2				0	3						3			0			8	7
8	(9) Kai Niemi	7			0		2						0					3		2			7	8
9	(12) Phil Crump	7			1					1		3			1						1		7	9
10	(2) Jan Andersson	7	1					1				1				1				3			7	10
11	(11) Peter Collins	6			2				1		0					0						3	6	11	3
12	(6) Andy Grahame	6		0				0			1							2			3		6	12	2
13	(4) Bo Petersen	6	0							2				2				0				2	6	13	1
14	(15) Larry Ross	5				1			0			0						1	3				5	14
15	(14) Ole Olsen	4				0		2					1		0							1	4	15
16	(5) Erik Gundersen	3		1			0					2					0					0	3	16
R1	(R1) Tommy Knudsen	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2) Shawn Moran	0																					0	R2
Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	21

m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fell • ns - non-starter • nc - non-classify

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

Continental Round

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Preliminary Round
24 April	Amsterdam	Alfred Siekierka	Václav Verner	Petr Kucera
25 April	Pardubice	Petr Ondrašík	Viktor Kuznetsov	Milan Špinka
25 April	Targovishte	Roman Jankowski	Mikhail Starostin	Jan Verner
26 April	Osijek	Josef Aigner	Valery Gordeev	Nikolaj Manev
Quarter-Finals
9 May	Wiener Neustadt	Karl Maier	Josef Aigner	Valery Gordeev
9 May	Norden	Egon Muller	Georg Hack	Zenon Plech
9 May	Diedenbergen	Henny Kroeze	Leonard Raba	Václav Verner
9 May	Debrecen	Aleš Dryml Sr.	Mikhail Starostin	Zoltan Hajdu
Semi-Finals
13 July	Abensberg	Viktor Kuznetsov	Marek Kepa	Rif Saitgareev
13 July	Lonigo	Vladimir Gordeev	Francesco Biginato	Jiří Štancl
Final
25 July	Leszno	Jiří Štancl	Edward Jancarz	Václav Verner

Continental Final

• July 25, 1982
• Leszno
• First 5 to World final plus 1 reserve

Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	21
	(1) Jiří Štancl	15	3				3				3				3				3				15	1
	(10) Edward Jancarz	11			2			3						3			1		2				11	2	3
	(5) Václav Verner	11		3			1					3					2					2	11	3	2
4	(16) Georg Hack	10				1				2	1						3			3			10	4
5	(13) Mikhail Starostin	9				2	0							2		2					3		9	5	3
6	(2) Emil Sova	9	1					2				1				3				2			9	6	2
7	(15) Henny Kroeze	8				3			0			2						3	0				8	7
8	(9) Aleš Dryml Sr.	8			1		2						3					2		X			8	8
9	(7) Valery Gordeev	7		2					3					0	2					X			7	9
10	(11) Viktor Kuznetsov	7			0				1		2					1						3	7	10
11	(4) Jiří Dominik	7	2							3				1				1				E	7	11
12	(12) Marek Kepa	6			3					0		0			1						2		6	12
13	(8) Leonard Raba	4		1						1			1			0			1				4	13
14	(3) Francesco Biginato	3	0						2				0				0				1		3	14
15	(14) Rif Saitgareev	3				0		0					2		0							1	3	15
16	(6) Gianni Famari	1		0				1			0							E			0		1	16
R1	(R1) Christian Brandt	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2) Roman Jankowski	0																					0	R2
R3	(R3) Wojciech Żabiałowicz	0																					0	R3
Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos	21

m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fell • ns - non-starter • nc - non-classify

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

World Final

• August 28, 1982
• Los Angeles, Memorial Coliseum^[7]
• Referee: () Torrie Kittlesen
• Attendance: 40,000 (approx)

Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos
1	(13) Bruce Penhall	14				2	3							3		3					3		14	1
2	(15) Les Collins	13				3			3			1						3	3				13	2
3	(4) Dennis Sigalos	12	3							2				2				2				3	12	3
4	(1) Kelly Moran	11	2				1				3				3				2				11	4
5	(8) Kenny Carter	10		3						3			3			Fx			1				10	5
6	(10) Dave Jessup	8			3			2						0			3		0				8	6
7	(16) Hans Nielsen	8				1				0	2						2			3			8	7
8	(5) Jan Andersson	8		1			2					2					1					2	8	8
9	(12) Jiří Štancl	7			0					1		3			1						2		7	9
10	(7) Edward Jancarz	7		2					2					1	2					0			7	10
11	(9) Georg Hack	6			2		0						2					1		1			6	11
12	(14) Kai Niemi	5				0		3					1		0							1	5	12
13	(2) Peter Collins	5	1					0				0				2				2			5	13
14	(11) Phil Crump	4			1				1		1					1						0	4	14
15	(6) Václav Verner	2		0				1			0							x			1		2	15
16	(3) Mikhail Starostin	0	0						0				0				0				0		0	16
	(17) Emil Sova	0																					0
	(18) Andy Grahame	0																					0
Placing	Rider	Total	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	Pts	Pos

Television

During the meeting, scenes for an episode of the American television drama series CHiPs were filmed in the pits. One of the stars of CHiPs was World Champion Bruce Penhall who portrayed cadet–probationary officer Bruce Nelson. The episode centered on Nelson winning the World Final, with Penhall acting as Nelson in between races. Actual television coverage of the meeting was also used in the episode, with dubbed over commentary. The episode, which was episode 5 of season 6 ("Speedway Fever") aired in the USA on November 7, 1982, was Penhall's debut in the series.

Penhall later admitted that it felt strange having a bodyguard and having to do make up for shoots in between races, stating that he was nervous enough riding in the World Final in front of his home crowd without the pressure of a television acting debut.

References