The World Longtrack Final and the elusive 'Triple Crown'
By Tracy Holmes

Ivan Mauger was the only rider to ever win three straight World Speedway Finals, 1968, 1969, 1970. Hans Nielsen got the closest ever to equalling that record; winning 1986, 1987, then putting up the winning score in 1988 but lost the run-off to Erik Gundersen. Hold that thought.

In the twenty-six World Longtrack Finals, 1971-1996, no-one, not even Mauger could win that elusive grand prize. It had, however, been done twice in the European Finals, 1957-1970. Josef Hofmeister, 1958, 1959, 1960. Then Manfred Poschenrieder, 1966, 1967, 1968. Amazing records that have stood the test of time. [ The GP era is a whole different game ]

Let's look at who had the 'Triple Crown' in sight but lost out. First up, Ivan Mauger. Winning 1971 & 1972, he failed to qualify for 1973. Next up, Egon Muller. Winning 1974 & 1975, he won the 'Grand Final' in 1976, but that was only enough for the Bronze Medal behind Ivan Mauger and Ole Olsen.

Karl Maier would be next in line. Winning 1987 & 1988, he took the Bronze Medal in 1989, 5 points behind the winner, Simon Wigg. And it was the 'Wonderful Wiggy' himself to be the next contender. Winning 1989 & 1990, he wasn't in the 1991 mix, finishing midfield.

However, Wiggy then got the closest anyone would ever get. Winning 1993 & 1994, he lost the Gold Medal run-off in 1995 to Kelvin Tatum. So close and yet so far, the 'Triple Crown' stayed forever in Longtrack's top drawer.

With the last World Final being held in 1996, the 'Triple Crown' remained elusive, remaining the exclusive property of European winners Hofmeister & Poschenrieder.

Year	1st Place	2nd Place	3rd Place
European Final
1957	Basse Hveem	Josef Hofmeister	Egil Bratvold
1958	Josef Hofmeister	Aulis Tuominen	Josef Kamper
1959	Josef Hofmeister	Anti Pajari	Olle Nygren
1960	Josef Hofmeister	Josef Seidl	Josef Sinzinger
1961	Timo Laine	Ove Fundin	Erling Simonsen
1962	Bertil Strid	Josef Seidl	Timo Laine
1963	Bertil Strid	Kurt W Petersen	Manfred Poschenrieder
1964	Kurt W Petersen	Olavi Turunen	Manfred Poschenrieder
1965	Bjorn Knutson	Timo Laine	Josef Seidl
1966	Manfred Poschenrieder	Kurt W Petersen	Jon Odegaard
1967	Manfred Poschenrieder	Don Godden	Jon Odegaard
1968	Manfred Poschenrieder	Don Godden	Kurt W Petersen
1969	Don Godden	Jon Odegaard	Kurt W Petersen
1970	Jon Odegaard	Don Godden	Hans Zierk
World Final
1971	Ivan Mauger	Manfred Poschenrieder	Runo Wedin
1972	Ivan Mauger	Manfred Poschenrieder	Jon Odegaard
1973	Ole Olsen	Hans Siegl	Manfred Poschenrieder
1974	Egon Muller	Ivan Mauger	Alois Wiesbock
1975	Egon Muller	Ivan Mauger	Ole Olsen
1976	Ivan Mauger	Ole Olsen	Egon Muller
1977	Anders Michanek	Hans Siegl	Ole Olsen
1978	Egon Muller	Alois Wiesbock	Peter Collins
1979	Alois Wiesbock	Anders Michanek	Ole Olsen
1980	Karl Maier	Egon Muller	Alois Wiesbock (disqualified), Josef Aigner & Christoph Betzl
1981	Mike Lee	Christoph Betzl	Anders Michanek
1982	Karl Maier	Alois Wiesbock	Egon Muller
1893	Shawn Moran	Jiri Stancl	Karl Maier
1984	Erik Gundersen	Egon Muller	Karl Maier
1985	Simon Wigg	Jiri Stancl	Peter Collins
1986	Erik Gundersen	Peter Collins	Marcel Gerhard
1987	Karl Maier	Simon Wigg	Shawn Moran
1988	Karl Maier	Klaus Lausch	Chris Morton
1989	Simon Wigg	Ales Dryml	Karl Maier
1990	Simon Wigg	Karl Maier	Hans-Otto Pingel
1991	Gerd Riss	Ales Dryml	Jan O Pedersen
1992	Marcel Gerhard	Mitch Shirra	Karl Maier
1993	Simon Wigg	Karl Maier	Marcel Gerhard
1994	Simon Wigg	Andre Pollehn	Gerd Riss
1995	Kelvin Tatum	Simon Wigg	Walter Scherwitski
1996	Gerd Riss	Bernd Diener	Robert Barth

And to finish, Erik Gundersen may have been the one to do it but; winning on his debut 1984, the defender was home favourite in 1985 until the Semi-Final. Crashing in practice, Erik was unable to take his place. Nae bother, as the Danes would surely seed him to the Esbjerg World Final.

Certainly, the programme writers thought so as Erik Gundersen appears in the programme as Number 8. But no, Finn Rune Jensen took the coveted place, he appears in the programme as reserve, Number 20, leaving the Longtrack world reeling in shock. That's no slight on Jensen, it's just that Erik was the reigning World Champion. And I'm also not saying that Erik would have won. But I do feel he was robbed of the opportunity.

Fast forward, one year later, Erik was unbeaten for his second Title. Could he have won the 'Triple Crown'? Yet another one of the Speedway world's many ifs, buts and maybees. Maybees not though! 

This article was first published on 1st March 2026