FIM SPEEDWAY STARS OF THE CENTURY | IVAN MAUGER

When it comes to FIM Speedway’s World Final era, New Zealand great Ivan Mauger stands head and shoulders above the rest. He remains the only rider to have won speedway’s biggest prize three years in a row from 1968 to 1970, before becoming the sport’s first six-time world champion by winning three more in 1972, 1977 and 1979.While Mauger passed away in April 2018, aged 78, FIMSpeedway.com was determined to tell the story of the 20th century’s greatest speedway rider in his own words – as we have with all of our FIM Speedway Stars of the Century.Therefore, we are pleased to bring you some extracts from the Kiwi icon’s fantastic 2010 autobiography, The Will to Win, with the kind permission of Ivan’s wife Sarah (Raye) Mauger, who we acknowledge as the copyright holder of the book – written by Ivan alongside speedway journalist Martin Rogers. Enjoy a breathless insight into what makes an FIM Speedway world champion and get a taste of his incredible recipe for success in the final chapter of FIM Speedway's Stars of the Century series, celebrating 100 years of the sport in 2023 …

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FIM SPEEDWAY STARS OF THE CENTURY | NICKI PEDERSEN

Triple world champion Nicki Pedersen is one of the most talked-about riders in the history of FIM Speedway, and with good reason. With three Speedway GP World Championships and four FIM Speedway World Cup gold medals, he belongs among the sport’s all-time greats.He made history once again this summer as the FIM SWC’s first-ever rider-manager for Denmark and, even at 46, he shows no signs of slowing down on the track.PAUL BURBIDGE caught up with him as part of FIMSpeedway.com’s Stars of the Century series, celebrating 100 years of the sport …Firstly Nicki, how were you first introduced to speedway?“I got introduced by my local bank. They invited me and my brother Ronni out to try a speedway bike. Before that, we were on mopeds or motocross bikes, riding in the fields.“We didn’t really know anything about speedway, but the local bank took us along to the track and we got hooked straight away.“It was actually Fionia Bank, which became my sponsor nearly 15 years later – after I became world champion for the first time in 2003. It was nice that I got introduced to the sport by them and later we worked together again.”You are not short of speedway legends in Denmark. But which rider did you look up to as a kid?“That was (1991 FIM Speedway world champion) Jan O Pedersen for sure. He was from the same village, Middelfart, and the same club that I rode for in Fjelsted. He was a racer. He wasn’t the biggest guy in the world either, so he had this racing style that I liked and copied a little.”

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FIM SPEEDWAY STARS OF THE CENTURY | JASON CRUMP

With three Speedway GP World Championships and a joint-record 23 Speedway GP victories to his name, Australia’s greatest-ever speedway rider Jason Crump is one of the most decorated stars of the SGP era.His 10 straight seasons in the world’s top three from 2001 to 2010 is only equalled by five-time FIM Speedway world champion Ove Fundin. As part of speedway’s 100th anniversary celebrations in 2023, FIMSpeedway.com’s PAUL BURBIDGE caught up with Crump for the latest instalment of our Stars of the Century series …As the son of former world No.3 Phil Crump, it’s not hard to figure out how you were introduced to the sport. But what were your first memories of speedway as a child?“The first memories I have of speedway are probably from Swindon (UK), where my dad raced. As a kid, I started going to speedway pretty much from when I was born. I guess the noise wasn’t something that was different for me. I remember a bit about the racing at Swindon. Then the memories started to get much clearer as I got older.“There was a huge number of American riders in the UK at that time and they were all pretty cool guys. For me, that meant I got stickers and caps and things like that from all those guys. Those are my earliest memories of speedway.”While most people first encounter their speedway heroes as fans, is it fair to say meeting riders alongside your dad allowed you to get to know them in a different way or on a different level?“They were all good riders and people that were fortunately more than just riders for me. I would be able to meet them and get to talk to them because my dad was a rider.“It’s the weirdest thing, isn’t it? You look at world champions like Bruce Penhall, Ivan Mauger, Peter Collins, Erik Gundersen, Hans Nielsen and Barry Briggs and they were people I had known for a long, long time. I can always remember saying hello to Ivan or Briggo from when I could talk.“For me, growing up with those guys around me as people I knew meant I had a different introduction to speedway compared to most riders I suppose.”

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FIM SPEEDWAY STARS OF THE CENTURY | TONY RICKARDSSON

The Speedway GP era has produced some of the sport’s all-time greats, but none of them have won more world titles than Swedish icon and FIM Speedway global ambassador Tony Rickardsson.  The Avesta-born legend raced and innovated his way to a record six FIM Speedway World Championships. His Cardiff wall of death, F1-style motorhome and speedway showmanship took the sport to the next level. And now TR is helping the next generation of stars as the founding father of the brand-new FIM SGP4 project – an entry-level championship aimed at riders aged 11-13 launched alongside global promoter Warner Bros. Discovery Sports and the FIM. PAUL BURBIDGE caught up with him ahead of Saturday’s DeWalt FIM Speedway GP of Poland – Torun …Well Tony, it’s 18 years since you won your sixth and final FIM Speedway World Championship, but your run as Sweden’s most recent world champion could end on Saturday. Polish icon Bartosz Zmarzlik heads into the DeWalt FIM Speedway of Poland – Torun with a six-point advantage over Fredrik Lindgren. Can Freddie end Sweden’s wait for a Speedway GP world champion? “He has nothing to lose really. From Freddie’s point of view, he just has everything to win in Torun. That’s sometimes a lot easier as a rider compared to what Zmarzlik has to do.  “Of course, Zmarzlik is already defending the title, but he had it in the bag and suddenly there was a hole in the bag, the title fell out of it, and they are racing for it again. Who would have thought that a couple of weeks back?! “I am sure Freddie will just go there to put himself in the best position possible and try to win the meeting. That’s what he has to do. Then he just has to hope Zmarzlik doesn’t make the final. “This is the opportunity he has been waiting for and Freddie has had a long, tough career. I think he is just going to go for it. Who knows? I think he has a pretty good chance actually.” How much would a Lindgren Speedway GP world-title win lift Swedish speedway? “It would be just awesome for Swedish speedway if we had Freddie as world champion. It will help to create the interest we need to get speedway kick-started again here in Sweden. In that sense, I am really hoping Freddie can win the title. If we had a world champion like Freddie, I am sure he would be a great ambassador for the sport.” 

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FIM SPEEDWAY STARS OF THE CENTURY | OLE OLSEN

Father of Danish speedway, Ole Olsen put Denmark on the FIM Speedway map when he became the nation’s first world champion in 1971.  The three-time World Final winner has since managed his country during their decade of dominance in the 1980s, before launching the FIM Speedway Grand Prix series in 1995 and bringing speedway to some of the world’s most famous areas. As speedway celebrates 100 years of racing, PAUL BURBIDGE caught up with a man who has changed the sport forever – and built the iconic stage for Saturday’s DeluxeHomeart FIM Speedway GP of Denmark - Vojens … Firstly Ole, I would like to find out more about how your racing journey started. How did you get into speedway? “That goes back a long time. In Denmark, we didn’t have so much regular speedway. People raced on flat dirt tracks and the tracks varied in sizes. They raced on 250cc and 500cc standard bikes. Then there was a sidecar competition and the expert class – five or six senior riders, who did three or four heats. It was all mixed up in one big day. In the end, they also had cars on the track – Mini Coopers. That was how I started in my local town Haderslev.  “When I was about seven or eight, I was out there with a rake. They had two meetings per year on the track. The kids came out and raked the track because it was a farmer’s field. There were cows feeding there. When these meetings came – one in the spring and one later in the year – we had to rake the track and help to put hay bales up as fencing. They gave us a free ticket as payment and that’s where it all started.  “My idol in those days was Arne Pander. He was very fast around these tracks. They had some handicap racing as well – some of the riders were on the third turn when others were still at the starting line. He did five laps and passed them all. I thought he was fantastic. “When I got older, I delivered newspapers in the morning. I went to school and then after school, I had a job delivering groceries. That’s where I met one guy, whose father had a garage on my route. One day, I rode up there on the bike to deliver some groceries and I saw this guy come out from the side of the garage, spraying dirt as he rode this 175cc bike. “He came out and asked, ‘Do you like this?’ I loved it. The guy let me sit on the bike. I was 14 then and he said, ‘If you like this, you should be a member of Haderslev Motorsport (HMS), and then you can ride these bikes.’  “There was a new class coming – a junior or novice one. I went home and told my parents I wanted to do motor racing and they looked at me, thinking I was nuts and asked me how I would get the money.” You got into some trouble in your younger days, and it nearly ended your motorcycling career before it started. What happened? “I got into a bad crowd. We used to ‘borrow’ some petrol for our bikes. We led under cars in the parking spots and drew petrol out of the tanks. Then the police got involved with that. They caught us. It only happened a few times, but that’s what changed things.  “My parents told me I couldn’t ride. But then one day my mother said she wanted to talk to me. She told me that if I could get out of this world with these bad people I was mixing with, I could save money and buy a bike and try motorcycle racing if I wanted. I said, ‘Oh, thank you! I will do that.’ “I found new mates and really worked to save some money. I bought a bike when I was 15 – this old 175cc Husqvarna. I took it out in a quarry close to us and rode it there until the tank was empty. That’s how I got into it, and I got into this motorsport club. It took off from there. “In 1963, I got a licence. You had to be 16 to have a licence. I started in 1964 and in 1965, I could start on the 500s. I saved money to buy a Jawa speedway bike. That’s when I started that, and I won the Danish Junior Championship in 1965.” 

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Stars of the century