United States national speedway team

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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.

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

History

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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

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Speedway World Cup

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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  
London
White City Stadium
1.   United States (37)
2.   Denmark (24)
3.   West Germany (18)
4.   Czechoslovakia (17)
Kelly Moran 10
Bruce Penhall 10
Bobby Schwartz 9
Shawn Moran 8
Scott Autrey 0
1990  
Pardubice
Svítkov Stadion
1.   United States (37)
2.   England (34)
3.   Denmark (30)
4.   Czechoslovakia (19)
Kelly Moran 12
Sam Ermolenko 11
Shawn Moran 10
Billy Hamill 4
Rick Miller 0
1992  
Kumla
Kumla Speedway
1.   United States (39)
2.   Denmark (33)
3.   England (31)
4.   Sweden (17)
Greg Hancock 11
Sam Ermolenko 10
Billy Hamill 10
Ronnie Correy 5
Bobby Ott 3
1993  
Coventry
Brandon Stadium
1.   United States (40)
2.   Denmark (38)
3.   Sweden (28)
4.   England (14)
Sam Ermolenko 11
Bobby Ott 11
Billy Hamill 10
Greg Hancock 10
Josh Larsen -
1998  
Vojens
Vojens Speedway Center
1.   United States (28)
2.   Sweden (24)
3.   Denmark (23)
4.   Poland (17)
5.   Germany (14)
6.   Czech Republic (14)
7.   Hungary (6)
Billy Hamill 16+1
Greg Hancock 12+5
Sam Ermolenko -

Titles

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Preceded by World Champions
1982 (1st title)
Succeeded by
  Denmark
Preceded by World Champions
1990 (2nd title)
Succeeded by
  Denmark
Preceded by
  Denmark
World Champions
1992 (3rd title)
1993 (4th title)
Succeeded by
Preceded by
  Denmark
World Champions
1998 (5th title)
Succeeded by

World Pairs Championship

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Year Venue Standings (Pts) Riders Pts
1981  
Chorzów
Stadion Śląski
1.   United States (28)
2.   New Zealand (22)
3.   Poland (21)
4.   Czechoslovakia (18)
5.   Denmark (17)
6.   England (9)
7.   West Germany (3)
Bruce Penhall 14
Bobby Schwartz 9
1982  
Sydney
Liverpool City Raceway
1.   United States (30)
2.   England (22)
3.   Denmark (21)
4.  Australia (16)
5.   Finland (16)
6.   New Zealand (13)
7.   Czechoslovakia (8)
Dennis Sigalos 18
Bobby Schwartz 12
1992  
Lonigo
Santa Marina Stadium
1.   United States (23+3)
2.   England (23+2)
3.   Sweden (22)
4.  Italy (18)
5.   Denmark (16)
6.   New Zealand (14)
7.   Australia (10)
Greg Hancock 11+3
Sam Ermolenko 9
Ronnie Correy 3

International caps (as of 2022)

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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, Scott 22
Bast, Bart 3
Bast, Steve 5
Burmesiter, Tyson 1
Chrisco, Keith 1
Cook, John 49
Correy, Ronnie 23
Curoso, Mike 1
Ermolenko, Charles 9
Ermolenko, Sam 51
Faria, Mike 7
Fisher, Ryan 8
Green, Randy 3
Gresham, Steve 20
Hamill, Billy 29
Hancock, Greg 39
Ingalls, Kenny 3
Ingels, Eddie 3
Janniro, Billy 11
Keeter, DeWayne 2
Kerr, Chris 3
King, Lance 47
Kosta, Larry 4
Lamoreaux, Wilbur 3
Larsen, Josh 11
Lucero, Steve 3
Manchester, Chris 3
Miller, Rick 34
Milne, Cordy 3
Milne, Jack 3
Moran, Kelly 47
Moran, Shawn 74
Nicol, Doug 4
Odom, Donny 1
Ott, Bobby 15
Oxley, Brad 12
Penhall, Bruce 34
Pfetzing, Robert 9
Preston, Ron 14
Pyeatt, Denny 10
Schwartz, Bobby 74
Sigalos, Dennis 52
Venegas, Charlie 1
Wells, Ricky 4
Werner, Brent 15
Woods, Rick 3

See also

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References

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  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.