Per Jonsson
Encyclopedia
Per Jonsson is a former speedway
rider who won the Speedway World Championship
in 1990, and finished runner-up in 1992.
In 1985
, his second season with the Reading Racers
, the team won six major trophies. In 1993, he won the World Pairs Championship
with Tony Rickardsson
and reserve Henrik Gustafsson
, and also won the British League Riders Championship. His career was cut short when a crash during a league meeting in Poland in 1994 left him using a wheelchair for the rest of his life. In recognition of his contribution to the city of Toruń, in April 2010 one of the streets was named after him.
Per Jonsson became the first rider in history to win both the World and World Under-21
Championships. He won the Under-21 title in 1985
at Abensberg
, West Germany
when the title was still known as the European Speedway Under 21 Championship*. He then added to this with his 1990 World Championship
win at the Odsal Stadium
in Bradford
, England
.
Per Jonsson's first appearance in a World Final was in 1987
at Amsterdam
's Olympic Stadium. The final was held over two days and the 22 year old finished 5th on both days and was classed as 5th overall. He qualified for the 1988 World Final
at Vojens
in Denmark
and equaled his 1987 result by finishing in 5th place. He missed the 1989 season, preferring to enjoy the joys of fatherhood but came back to international speedway with a bang in 1990. He qualified for his third World Final by finishing 2nd in both the Scandinavian and Intercontinental Finals and then went one better in Bradford becoming Sweden's first Speedway World Champion since Anders Michanek
in 1974
.
Following this, Jonsson captained the Swedish team
on a short tour of Australia
in January 1991. Sweden, who's lineup was Jonsson, Henrik Gustafsson
, Jimmy Nilsen
, Tony Rickardsson
, Conny Ivarsson, Erik Stenlund and Peter Nahlin
defeated the Aussies
(who fielded 14 riders over the series) 3-2 in the five match series with Jonsson topping the averages for both teams with 16.4 per test.
Jonsson failed to place in the 1991 World Final
at home in Göteborg, Sweden finishing in just 9th place while fellow Swede's Tony Rickardsson and Jimmy Nilsen finished in 2nd and 5th respectively. His 1992 World Final
got off to a bad start in Wrocław, Poland
when he failed to score in his first ride. He then came back to win three of his last four rides to finish in a clear 2nd place behind England
's Gary Havelock
* The European Under 21 Championship was renamed the World Under 21 Championship in 1988. All winners of the European title before 1988 are generally classed as World Under-21 Champions
Motorcycle speedway
Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. Speedway motorcycles use only one gear and have no brakes and racing takes place on a flat oval track usually...
rider who won the Speedway World Championship
Speedway World Championship
The World Championship of Speedway is an international competition between the highest ranked motorcycle speedway riders of the world. Today, it is organised as a series of Speedway Grand Prix events, where points are awarded according to performance in the event and tallied up at the end of each...
in 1990, and finished runner-up in 1992.
In 1985
1985 Individual Speedway Junior European Championship
The 1985 Individual Speedway Junior European Championship-World final:*July 14, 1985 Abensberg, Motorstadion...
, his second season with the Reading Racers
Reading Racers
Reading Racers were a British motorcycle speedway team. Formed in 1968, they won four British League titles during their history...
, the team won six major trophies. In 1993, he won the World Pairs Championship
Speedway World Pairs Championship
The Speedway World Pairs Championship was an annual speedway event held each year in different countries. The first competition was held in 1968 and the final competition was held in 1993. From 1994 it was merged with the World Team Cup.- Rules :...
with Tony Rickardsson
Tony Rickardsson
Tony Rickardsson is a retired Swedish motorcycle speedway rider. He is widely acknowledged as being the most successful speedway rider of the current era, having won six Speedway World Championship titles in 15 attempts. He has two daughters, Michelle and Natalie with his wife Anna...
and reserve Henrik Gustafsson
Henrik Gustafsson
Henrik Anders Gustafsson is an international Motorcycle speedway rider who won the 1993 World Pairs Championship with Tony Rickardsson and the Speedway World Team Cup with Sweden in 1994 and 2000...
, and also won the British League Riders Championship. His career was cut short when a crash during a league meeting in Poland in 1994 left him using a wheelchair for the rest of his life. In recognition of his contribution to the city of Toruń, in April 2010 one of the streets was named after him.
Per Jonsson became the first rider in history to win both the World and World Under-21
Individual Speedway Junior World Championship
The Individual Speedway Junior World Championship is an annual speedway event held each year organized by the International Motorcycling Federation since 1977...
Championships. He won the Under-21 title in 1985
1985 Individual Speedway Junior European Championship
The 1985 Individual Speedway Junior European Championship-World final:*July 14, 1985 Abensberg, Motorstadion...
at Abensberg
Abensberg
Abensberg is a town in the Lower Bavarian district of Kelheim, in Bavaria, Germany, lying around 30 km southwest of Regensburg, 40 km east of Ingolstadt, 50 northwest of Landshut and 100 km north of Munich...
, West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
when the title was still known as the European Speedway Under 21 Championship*. He then added to this with his 1990 World Championship
1990 Individual Speedway World Championship
The 1990 Individual Speedway World Championship.-Continental Final:*August 12, 1990 Norden, Motodrom Halbemond-North American Final:*June 2, 1990 Long Beach, Veterans Memorial Stadium-Scandinavian Final:*June 9, 1990 Linköping, Motorstadium...
win at the Odsal Stadium
Odsal Stadium
Odsal Stadium is a stadium situated in Odsal, Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. The venue is used for rugby league and has been the home ground of Bradford Bulls/Bradford Northern since 1934...
in Bradford
Bradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Per Jonsson's first appearance in a World Final was in 1987
1987 Individual Speedway World Championship
The 1987 Individual Speedway World Championship was contested for the one and only time over two days. The scores from both meetings were combined to produce the eventual winner.-Day 1:*September 5, 1987 Amsterdam, Olympic Stadium-Day 2:...
at Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
's Olympic Stadium. The final was held over two days and the 22 year old finished 5th on both days and was classed as 5th overall. He qualified for the 1988 World Final
1988 Individual Speedway World Championship
The 1988 Individual Speedway World Championship.-World final:*September 3, 1988 Vojens, Vojens Speedway Center...
at Vojens
Vojens
Vojens Municipality , was a municipality in the former South Jutland County on the Jutland peninsula in south Denmark. The municipality, which existed from 1970 to 2006, covered an area of 298 km², and had a total population of 16,792...
in Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
and equaled his 1987 result by finishing in 5th place. He missed the 1989 season, preferring to enjoy the joys of fatherhood but came back to international speedway with a bang in 1990. He qualified for his third World Final by finishing 2nd in both the Scandinavian and Intercontinental Finals and then went one better in Bradford becoming Sweden's first Speedway World Champion since Anders Michanek
Anders Michanek
Anders Michanek is a Speedway rider. In 1974 he won the Speedway World Championship in his Swedish homeland with a maximum score of 15 points. He also won the World Pairs Championship with the late Tommy Jansson in 1973 and 1975 and with Sören Sjösten in 1974.Michanek had a very successful career...
in 1974
1974 Individual Speedway World Championship
The 1974 Individual Speedway World Championship.-World final:*September 6, 1974 Göteborg, Ullevi...
.
Following this, Jonsson captained the Swedish team
Sweden national speedway team
Sweden are one of the major teams in international speedway. They have been managed by Mats Olsson, who is currently in his 2nd spell, since 2005 after he quit in 2000...
on a short tour of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in January 1991. Sweden, who's lineup was Jonsson, Henrik Gustafsson
Henrik Gustafsson
Henrik Anders Gustafsson is an international Motorcycle speedway rider who won the 1993 World Pairs Championship with Tony Rickardsson and the Speedway World Team Cup with Sweden in 1994 and 2000...
, Jimmy Nilsen
Jimmy Nilsen
Jimmy Nilsen is a former international motorcycle speedway rider from Sweden. He was Swedish Champion in 1996 after finishing 3rd in 1994. Nilsen also rode in five World Finals as well as representing Sweden in Test Matches....
, Tony Rickardsson
Tony Rickardsson
Tony Rickardsson is a retired Swedish motorcycle speedway rider. He is widely acknowledged as being the most successful speedway rider of the current era, having won six Speedway World Championship titles in 15 attempts. He has two daughters, Michelle and Natalie with his wife Anna...
, Conny Ivarsson, Erik Stenlund and Peter Nahlin
Peter Nahlin
Peter Nahlin is a former Motorcycle speedway rider who became the 1988 World Under-21 Champion.-Sweden:...
defeated the Aussies
Australia national speedway team
Australia are one of the major teams in international speedway. The team is managed by former rider, three time Australian Champion and 1994 World #3 Craig Boyce and captained by three time Speedway World Champion Jason Crump...
(who fielded 14 riders over the series) 3-2 in the five match series with Jonsson topping the averages for both teams with 16.4 per test.
Jonsson failed to place in the 1991 World Final
1991 Individual Speedway World Championship
The 1991 Individual Speedway World Championship.-World final:*August 31, 1991 Göteborg, Ullevi...
at home in Göteborg, Sweden finishing in just 9th place while fellow Swede's Tony Rickardsson and Jimmy Nilsen finished in 2nd and 5th respectively. His 1992 World Final
1992 Individual Speedway World Championship
The 1992 Individual Speedway World Championship.-World final:*August 29, 1992 Wrocław, Olympic Stadium...
got off to a bad start in Wrocław, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
when he failed to score in his first ride. He then came back to win three of his last four rides to finish in a clear 2nd place behind England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
's Gary Havelock
Gary Havelock
Robert Gary Havelock is a speedway rider who currently captains the Redcar Bears in the British Premier League...
* The European Under 21 Championship was renamed the World Under 21 Championship in 1988. All winners of the European title before 1988 are generally classed as World Under-21 Champions
World final appearances
- 19871987 Individual Speedway World ChampionshipThe 1987 Individual Speedway World Championship was contested for the one and only time over two days. The scores from both meetings were combined to produce the eventual winner.-Day 1:*September 5, 1987 Amsterdam, Olympic Stadium-Day 2:...
-
AmsterdamAmsterdamAmsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, Olympic Stadium - 5th - 22pts - 19881988 Individual Speedway World ChampionshipThe 1988 Individual Speedway World Championship.-World final:*September 3, 1988 Vojens, Vojens Speedway Center...
-
VojensVojensVojens Municipality , was a municipality in the former South Jutland County on the Jutland peninsula in south Denmark. The municipality, which existed from 1970 to 2006, covered an area of 298 km², and had a total population of 16,792...
, Speedway Center - 5th - 9pts - 19901990 Individual Speedway World ChampionshipThe 1990 Individual Speedway World Championship.-Continental Final:*August 12, 1990 Norden, Motodrom Halbemond-North American Final:*June 2, 1990 Long Beach, Veterans Memorial Stadium-Scandinavian Final:*June 9, 1990 Linköping, Motorstadium...
-
BradfordBradfordBradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
, Odsal StadiumOdsal StadiumOdsal Stadium is a stadium situated in Odsal, Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. The venue is used for rugby league and has been the home ground of Bradford Bulls/Bradford Northern since 1934...
- Winner - 13pts+3pts - 19911991 Individual Speedway World ChampionshipThe 1991 Individual Speedway World Championship.-World final:*August 31, 1991 Göteborg, Ullevi...
-
Göteborg, UlleviUlleviUllevi is a stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden. The stadium was built for the 1958 FIFA World Cup, but since then Ullevi has also hosted the 1995 World Championships in Athletics and the 2006 European Championships in Athletics, the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup finals in 1983 and 1990, the UEFA Euro 1992...
- 9th - 7pts - 19921992 Individual Speedway World ChampionshipThe 1992 Individual Speedway World Championship.-World final:*August 29, 1992 Wrocław, Olympic Stadium...
-
Wrocław, Olympic Stadium - 2nd - 11pts - 19931993 Individual Speedway World ChampionshipThe 1993 Individual Speedway World Championship.-World final:*August 29, 1993 Pocking, Rottalstadion...
-
PockingPockingPocking is a town in the district of Passau, in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is situated about 30 km south-west of Passau, close to the Austrian border.-History:...
, Rottalstadion - 9th - 7pts