United States
Nation colorWhite
SWC Wins5 (1982, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1998)
World Championships
Team (SWC) 5 4 7
Pairs 3 2 3

The United States national speedway team are an international motorcycle speedway team governed by the American Motorcyclist Association. They compete in the major international speedway competitions, including the Speedway World Cup and Speedway of Nations and the former events the Speedway World Team Cup and the Speedway World Pairs Championship.

History

After Jack Milne and his brother Cordy Milne had finished first and third at the 1937 World Final (with another American Wilbur Lamoreaux finishing second),[1] the U.S. went into the speedway wilderness until the early 1970s, when international riders such as world champions Barry Briggs and Ivan Mauger from New Zealand began visiting the Costa Mesa Speedway in Los Angeles. Scott Autrey's appearance in the 1976 World Final in Poland, was the first American appearance since Ernie Roccio had finished 15th in 1951.[2]

Autrey, who in the mid-1970s had campaigned hard and successfully to have American riders included in the Speedway World Championship, signalled an American resurgence in speedway and was soon followed by others, such as 1981 and 1982 world champion Bruce Penhall, brothers Kelly and Shawn Moran, Bobby Schwartz, Dennis Sigalos, Lance King, 1993 Individual Speedway World Championship world champion Sam Ermolenko, Rick Miller, 1996 world champion Billy Hamill, and four times world champion Greg Hancock all going on to be regarded as some of the world's best speedway riders.[3]

Major tournament wins

Speedway World Cup

The team has won the Speedway World Team Cup on five occasions, including their first win in 1982 which gave the U.S. the "Triple Crown" of speedway by winning the Individual, World Pairs and World Team Cup in the same year.[4][5] The U.S. were a major force in the early 1990s, winning 3 out of 4 tournaments. Key riding members of the title wins include Billy Hamill (4 wins), Sam Ermolenko and Greg Hancock (both 3 wins).

The finals of both the 1985 and 1988 World Team Cups were held at the Veterans Memorial Stadium in Long Beach, California.[6][7]

Year Venue Standings (Pts) Riders Pts
1982 United Kingdom
London
White City Stadium		 1. United States United States (37)
2. Denmark Denmark (24)
3. West Germany West Germany (18)
4. Czech Republic Czechoslovakia (17)		 Kelly Moran10
Bruce Penhall10
Bobby Schwartz9
Shawn Moran8
Scott Autrey0
1990 Czech Republic
Pardubice
Svítkov Stadion		 1. United States United States (37)
2. England England (34)
3. Denmark Denmark (30)
4. Czech Republic Czechoslovakia (19)		 Kelly Moran12
Sam Ermolenko11
Shawn Moran10
Billy Hamill4
Rick Miller0
1992 Sweden
Kumla
Kumla Speedway		 1. United States United States (39)
2. Denmark Denmark (33)
3. England England (31)
4. Sweden Sweden (17)		 Greg Hancock11
Sam Ermolenko10
Billy Hamill10
Ronnie Correy5
Bobby Ott3
1993 England
Coventry
Brandon Stadium		 1. United States United States (40)
2. Denmark Denmark (38)
3. Sweden Sweden (28)
4. England England (14)		 Sam Ermolenko11
Bobby Ott11
Billy Hamill10
Greg Hancock10
Josh Larsen-
1998 Denmark
Vojens
Vojens Speedway Center		 1. United States United States (28)
2. Sweden Sweden (24)
3. Denmark Denmark (23)
4. Poland Poland (17)
5. Germany Germany (14)
6. Czech Republic Czech Republic (14)
7. Hungary Hungary (6)		 Billy Hamill16+1
Greg Hancock12+5
Sam Ermolenko-

Titles

World Pairs Championship

Year Venue Standings (Pts) Riders Pts
1981 Poland
Chorzów
Stadion Śląski		 1. United States United States (28)
2. New Zealand New Zealand (22)
3. Poland Poland (21)
4. Czech Republic Czechoslovakia (18)
5. Denmark Denmark (17)
6. England England (9)
7. West Germany West Germany (3)		 Bruce Penhall 14
Bobby Schwartz 9
1982 Australia
Sydney
Liverpool City Raceway		 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)		 Dennis Sigalos 18
Bobby Schwartz 12
1992 Italy
Lonigo
Santa Marina Stadium		 1. United States United States (23+3)
2. England England (23+2)
3. Sweden Sweden (22)
4.Italy Italy (18)
5. Denmark Denmark (16)
6. New Zealand New Zealand (14)
7. Australia Australia (10)		 Greg Hancock 11+3
Sam Ermolenko 9
Ronnie Correy 3

International caps (as of 2022)

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
Autrey, Scott22
Bast, Bart3
Bast, Steve5
Burmesiter, Tyson1
Chrisco, Keith1
Cook, John49
Correy, Ronnie23
Curoso, Mike1
Ermolenko, Charles9
Ermolenko, Sam51
Faria, Mike7
Fisher, Ryan8
Green, Randy3
Gresham, Steve20
Hamill, Billy29
Hancock, Greg39
Ingalls, Kenny3
Ingels, Eddie3
Janniro, Billy11
Keeter, DeWayne2
Kerr, Chris3
King, Lance47
Kosta, Larry4
Lamoreaux, Wilbur3
Larsen, Josh11
Lucero, Steve3
Manchester, Chris3
Miller, Rick34
Milne, Cordy3
Milne, Jack3
Moran, Kelly47
Moran, Shawn74
Nicol, Doug4
Odom, Donny1
Ott, Bobby15
Oxley, Brad12
Penhall, Bruce34
Pfetzing, Robert9
Preston, Ron14
Pyeatt, Denny10
Schwartz, Bobby74
Sigalos, Dennis52
Venegas, Charlie1
Wells, Ricky4
Werner, Brent15
Woods, Rick3

See also

References

  1. ↑ "HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK". Speedway.org. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
  2. ↑ Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. pp. 20–21. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
  3. ↑ "WORLD FINALS 1936-1994" (PDF). Speedway Researcher. Retrieved July 10, 2021.
  4. ↑ Matthews/Morrison, Peter/Ian (1987). The Guinness Encyclopaedia of Sports Records and Results. Guinness Superlatives. p. 290. ISBN 0-85112-492-5.
  5. ↑ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  6. ↑ "1985 WORLD TEAM CUP". International Speedway. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  7. ↑ "1988 WORLD TEAM CUP". International Speedway. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  8. ↑ "ULTIMATE RIDER INDEX, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved October 8, 2023.
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