1982 Individual Speedway World Championship

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).

The controversy did not end there because Penhall then quit speedway immediately to pursue an acting career (specifically for a role in CHiPs). The decision angered many in speedway circles with calls for the American to be stripped of his title.^[7]

• Top 16 Riders progress to British semi-finals

• Top 8 in each heat to Swedish final

• Top 32 to Continental semi-finals

Date	Venue	Winner	2nd	3rd
9 May	Stadion Wiener Neustadt	Karl Maier	Josef Aigner	Valery Gordeev
9 May	Motodrom Halbemond, Norden	Egon Muller	Georg Hack	Zenon Plech
9 May	Rhein-Main Arena, Diedenbergen	Henny Kroeze	Leonard Raba	Václav Verner
9 May	Hajdú Volán Stadion, Debrecen	Aleš Dryml Sr.	Mikhail Starostin	Zoltan Hajdu

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

• 2 June 1982
• Brandon Stadium, Coventry
• 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
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

• 13 March 1982
• Exhibition Ground, Brisbane
• Top 2 to Overseas final

• 27 February 1982
• Ruapuna Speedway, Christchurch
• Top 2 to Overseas final

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

• Top 4 over three meetings + Jan Andersson (seeded) to Nordic final
• R1 (25 May, Gamla Målilla Motorstadion, Målilla)
• R2 (26 May, Gubbängens IP, Stockholm)
• R3 (27 May, Grevby Motorstadion, Mariestad)

13 July Abensberger Stadion, Abensberg Top 8 to Continental final Pos. Rider Points 1 Viktor Kuznetsov 12+3 2 Marek Kepa 12+2 3 Rif Saitgareev 11 4 Václav Verner 10 5 Henny Kroeze 10 6 Georg Hack 10 7 Leonard Raba 9 8 Jindrich Dominik 8 9 Christian Brandt 7 10 Wojciech Zabialowicz 6 11 Petr Kucera 6 12 Anatolij Maxsimov 5 13 Alois Wiesböck 4 14 Zenon Plech 4 15 Alfred Siekierka 3 16 Egon Müller 0

13 July Santa Marina Stadium, Lonigo Top 8 to Continental final Pos. Rider Points 1 Valerij Gordeev 13 2 Francesco Biginato 12 3 Jiří Štancl 11 4 Aleš Dryml Sr. 11 5 Edward Jancarz 11 6 Michail Starostin 10 7 Gianni Famari 9 8 Josef Aigner 8+3 9 Emil Sova 8+2 10 Roman Jankowski 8+1 11 Istvan Sziracky 4 12 George Gilgenreiner 4 13 Ferenc Farkas 2 14 Karl Maier 2 15 Piotr Belajev (res) 2 16 Zoltan Hajdu 1 17 Zoltán Adorján 1 18 Christoph Betzl (res) 1

• 4 July 1982
• White City Stadium, London
• 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

• 4 July 1982
• Fjelsted Speedway Stadium, Harndrup
• 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 Hautamaki	2
15	Dag Haaland	1
16	Roy Otto	1

• 25 July 1982
• Alfred Smoczyk Stadium, 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

• 23 July 1982
• Vetlanda Motorstadion, 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