Soviet Union national speedway team

Soviet Union
SWC Wins	0 Best result World Cup silver medal (1964, 1966, 1971, 1972, 1975)

The Soviet Union national speedway team were one of the leading nations who competed in international team motorcycle speedway.

History

The Soviet Union speedway team (which was comprised predominantly of Russian riders but also Ukrainian, Latvian and Belarus riders) first competed in the 1961 edition of the Speedway World Team Cup, where they finished second in the East European round.^[1] Throughout the history of World Team Cup, the team were regular World Cup contenders from 1961 until their final World Cup in 1983.^[2] They reached the final on 12 occasions, winning the silver medal five times, in 1964, 1966, 1971, 1972, 1975 and the bronze medals three times, in 1967, 1969 and 1973.^[3][4]

The team also reached the final of the Speedway World Pairs Championship in 1973 and 1974.

Following the Dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991, the riders then competed for their new speedway nations of the Russia, Ukraine and Latvia.

Major world finals

World team Cup

Year	Venue	Standings (Pts)	Riders	Pts
1964	Abensberg Speedwaystadion	1. Sweden (34) 2. Soviet Union (25) 3. Great Britain (21) 4. Poland (16)	Igor Plekhanov	8
			Gennady Kurilenko	8
			Yuri Chekranov	6
			Boris Samorodov	3
1965	Kempten Speedway	1. Poland (38) 2. Sweden (34) 3. Great Britain (18) 4. Soviet Union (7)	Gennady Kurilenko	2
			Yuri Chekranov	2
			Vladimir Sokolov	2
			Igor Plekhanov	1
			Viktor Trofimov	0
1966	Wrocław Stadion Olimpijski	1. Poland (40) 2. Soviet Union (26) 3. Sweden (22) 4. Great Britain (8)	Boris Samorodov	10
			Igor Plekhanov	6
			Viktor Trofimov	6
			Farid Szajnurov	4
1967	Malmö Malmö Stadion	1. Sweden (32) 2. Poland (26) 3. Great Britain (19) 4. Soviet Union (19)	Igor Plekhanov	9
			Viktor Trofimov	4
			Boris Samorodov	3
			Gabdrakhman Kadyrov	2
			Farid Szajnurov	1
1969	Rybnik Rybnik Municipal Stadium	1. Poland (31) 2. Great Britain (23) 3. Soviet Union (23) 4. Sweden (12)	Vladimir Smirnov	9
			Gennady Kurilenko	8
			Valeri Klementiev	5
			Yury Dubinin	1
			Viktor Trofimov	0
1971	Wrocław Stadion Olimpijski	1. Great Britain (37) 2. Soviet Union (22) 3. Poland (19) 4. Sweden (18)	Grigory Khlinovsky	8
			Vladimir Smirnov	7
			Vladimir Gordeev	4
			Anatoly Kuzmin	3
1972	Olching Olching Speedwaybahn	1. Great Britain (36) 2. Soviet Union (21) 3. Poland (21) 4. Sweden (18)	Anatoly Kuzmin	6
			Viktor Trofimov	5
			Viktor Kalmykov	5
			Grigory Khlinovsky	5
1973	London Wembley	1. Great Britain (37) 2. Sweden (31) 3. Soviet Union (20) 4. Poland (8)	Valery Gordeev	7
			Vladimir Paznikov	5
			Grigory Khlinovsky	4
			Aleksandr Pavlov	2
			Viktor Trofimov	2
1974	Silesian Stadium	1. England (42) 2. Sweden (31) 3. Poland (13) 4. Soviet Union (10)	Mikhail Krasnov	5
			Valery Gordeev	4
			Viktor Kalmykov	1
			Anatoly Kuzmin	0
1975	Norden Motodrom Halbemond	1. England (41) 2. Soviet Union (29) 3. Sweden (16) 4. Poland (9)	Valery Gordeev	8
			Grigory Khlinovsky	8
			Viktor Trofimov	8
			Vladimir Gordeev	5
1976	London White City Stadium	1. Australia (31) 2. Poland (28) 3. Sweden (26) 4. Soviet Union (11)	Valery Gordeev	5
			Grigory Khlinovsky	2
			Vladimir Gordeev	2
			Vladimir Paznikov	2
			Viktor Trofimov	0
1981	Olching Olching Speedwaybahn	1. Denmark (36) 2. England (29) 3. West Germany (28) 4. Soviet Union (3)	Viktor Kuznetsov	2
			Nikolay Kornev	1
			Anatoly Maksimov	0
			Mikhail Starostin	0
			Valery Gordeev	0

World Pairs finals

• 1973 (4th)
• 1974 (6th)

International caps

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.^[5]

Key

• Russian unless stated
• (E) - Estonian
• (G) - Georgian
• (L) - Latvian
• (U) - Ukrainian

References