The 1978 Individual Speedway World Championship was the 33rd edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Ole Olsen won his third world crown. The final was sponsored by the Sunday Mirror and was attended by 86,500. Gordon Kennett took silver on the day of his 25th birthday and American Scott Autrey won the bronze medal run-off defeating Dave Jessup and Jerzy Rembas.^[7] Dave Jessup was effectively denied a World title when after leading in heat 3 he suffered a bike malfunction and finished last in the heat. He then scored 11 points from his remaining rides which would have been enough to take the crown if he had won heat 3.^[8]

British Qualification

The British qualifying rounds for the World Championship doubled up as qualifying rounds for the Volkswagen/Daily Mirror Grand Prix. Therefore, many non-British riders such as Ivan Mauger and Phil Crump rode in these meetings scoring points towards the Volkswagen/Daily Mirror Grand Prix qualification - but their scores didn't count towards World Championship qualification.

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Preliminary Round
16 April	Rye House Stadium	Ted Hubbard	Kelvin Mullarkey	Vic Harding
16 April	Boston	Steve Weatherley	Tom Owen	Chris Turner
20 April	Teesside	Mike Sampson	Phil Collins	Paul Tyrer
23 April	Mildenhall	Martin Yeates	Richard Greer	Bob Coles
27 April	Oxford	Dave Perks	Geoff Bouchard	Steve Finch
Qualifying Round
11 May	Wimbledon	Peter Collins	Bob Kilby	Dave Jessup
11 May	Sheffield	Ivan Mauger	Doug Wyer	Steve Bastable
12 May	Hackney	Dave Jessup	Terry Betts	Finn Thomsen
13 May	Belle Vue	Peter Collins	Chris Morton	Bobby Beaton
13 May	Kings Lynn	Michael Lee	John Titman	Malcolm Simmons
13 May	Coventry	Alan Molyneux	Keith White	Billy Sanders
15 May	Reading	Gordon Kennett	Billy Sanders	John Davis
15 May	Exeter	Phil Crump	Václav Verner	Mike Farrell
15 May	Birmingham	Ray Wilson	John Titman	Mike Lanham
16 May	Leicester	Scott Autrey	John Titman	Les Collins
17 May	Poole	Tony Davey	Václav Verner	Malcolm Simmons
17 May	White City Stadium	Kai Niemi	Gordon Kennett	Ila Teromaa
17 May	Hull	Ivan Mauger	Bobby Beaton	Graham Drury
18 May	Swindon	Peter Collins	Jan Andersson	Dave Perks
18 May	Ipswich	John Louis	Michael Lee	Tony Davey
19 May	Wolverhampton	Gordon Kennett	Hans Nielsen	Jim McMillan
19 May	Bristol	Joe Owen	Tormod Langli	Reg Wilson
20 May	Cradley Heath	Alan Grahame	John Davis	Bruce Cribb
20 May	Halifax	Eric Broadbelt	Ian Cartwright	Phil Collins
Semi-Finals
12 July	Poole	Tony Davey	Gordon Kennett	Dave Jessup
13 July	Sheffield	Peter Collins	Chris Morton	Michael Lee
Final
16 August	Coventry	Michael Lee	Dave Jessup	Malcolm Simmons	result

British Final

• August 16, 1978
• Coventry, Brandon Stadium
• First 4 to World Final

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) Michael Lee	14		3					3					3	3					2			14	1
	(5) Dave Jessup	12		2			3					1					3					3	12	2
	(16) Malcolm Simmons	11				0				3	3						2			3			11	3
4	(9) Gordon Kennett	10			2		2						2					3		1			10	4	3
5	(1) Steve Bastable	10	3				1				2				1				3				10	5	2
6	(12) Chris Morton	10			E					2		3			2						3		10	6	1
7	(13) Tony Davey	8				3	0							2		3					0		8	7
8	(15) John Davis	8				2			2			2						2	0				8	8
9	(10) Les Collins	7			3			0						1			1		2				7	9
10	(6) Peter Collins	6		1				3			E							E			2		6	10
11	(8) Reg Wilson	6		0						0			3			2			1				6	11
12	(2) Doug Wyer	4	1					2				X				1				E			4	12
13	(14) Alan Grahame	4				1		1					0		0							2	4	13
14	(4) Jim McMillan	3	2							1				0				T				0	3	14
15	(11) John Louis	3			1				0		1					0						1	3	15
16	(3) Dave Morton	3	0						1				1				0				1		3	16
R1	(R1) Phil Collins	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2) Trevor Geer	0																					0	R2
R3	(R3) Mick Bell	1																1					1	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

m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fell • ns - non-starter • nc - non-classify

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

Swedish Qualification

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Semi-Finals
5 May	Avesta	Anders Michanek	Christer Sjösten	Borje Flingberg
7 May	Malilla	Tommy Nilsson	Sören Karlsson	Stefan Salomonsson
7 May	Visby	Jan Andersson	Conny Samuelsson	Sören Sjösten
Final
30 May	Kumla	Anders Michanek	Jan Andersson	Bernt Persson

Swedish Final

• May 30, 1978
• Kumla
• First 7 to Nordic Final + 1 reserve

Pos.	Rider	Total
1	Anders Michanek	14
2	Jan Andersson	14
3	Bernt Persson	11
4	Tommy Nilsson	11
5	Lars Ericsson	10
6	Sören Karlsson	10
7	Christer Sjösten	10
8	Bo Wirebrand	8
9	Bengt Jansson	6
10	Stefan Salomonsson	6
11	Hasse Holmqvist	5
12	Conny Samuelsson	5
13	Borje Klingberg	4
14	Gert Carlsson	3
15	Tommy Pettersson	1
16	Sören Sjösten	1
17	Lars-Åke Andersson	1

New Zealand Final

• February 11, 1978
• Wellington
• Marked in green, to Austral-Asian Final

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Larry Ross	3,3,3,3,3	15
2	Barry Briggs	2,3,3,2,2	12
3	Mike Fullerton	1,3,2,3,3	12
4	Mitch Shirra	3,2,E,3,3	11
5	Roger Wright	2,3,3,1,2	11
6	Colin Tucker	3,2,2,2,2	11
7	Colin Farquharson	1,1,3,2,3	10
8	James Moore	3,1,0,0,2	6
9	Allan Brown	0,0,2,3,1	6
10	Greg Joynt	1,2,2,0,0	5
11	Paul Fewinks	2,2,0,1,F	5
12	Max Brown	F,0,1,2,1	4
13	Gavin Miller	2,1,1,0,0	4
14	Cliff Anderson	0,0,1,1,1	3
15	Patrick Pawson	1,E,1,1,0	3
16	Kris Berrigan	0,1,0,0,1	2
R1	Robin Adlington

Intercontinental Round

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
American Final
29 December 1977	Santa Ana	?	?	?
Australasian Final
18 February	Auckland	Mitch Shirra	Mick McKeon	John Titman
Danish Final
15 May	Fjelsted	Bent Rasmussen	Kristian Præstbro	Hans Nielsen
Nordic Final
8 June	Norrköping	Ole Olsen	Bernt Persson	Finn Thomsen
Intercontinental Final
2 July	Fredericia	Ole Olsen	Ivan Mauger	Scott Autrey

Australasian Final

• February 12, 1978
• Auckland
• First 4 to Intercontinental Final

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Mitch Shirra	2,2,3,3,3	13
2	Mick McKeon	3,3,2.5,2,1	11.5
3	John Titman	2,3,T,3,3	11
4	Mike Farrell	3,1,1,3,3	11
5	Mike Fullerton	1,3,3,1,2	10
6	Phil Herne	1,2,2,3,2	10
7	John Boulger	3,3,2,T,1	9
8	Billy Sanders	3,T,3,F,3	9
9	Colin Farquharson	0,2,2,2,2	8
10	Roger Wright	1,1,2.5,1,1	6.5
11	Robert Maxfield	1,1,1,2,1	6
12	Larry Ross	2,E,E,2,2	6
13	James Moore	2,1,1,1,0	5
14	Colin Tucker	0,2,1,0,0	3
15	Allan Brown	0,0,0,0,0	0
16	Lloyd Cross	F,-,-,-,-	0
R1	Greg Joynt	0,0,1,T	1
R2	Cliff Anderson	0,0,0	0

Danish Final

• May 15, 1978
• Fjelsted
• First 2 to Nordic Final (Ole Olsen and Finn Thomsen seeded to Nordic final)

Pos.	Rider	Heat Scores	Total
1	Bent Rasmussen		13+3
2	Kristian Præstbro		13+2
3	Hans Nielsen		12+3
4	Mike Lohmann		12+2
5	Alf Busk		12+1
6	Bo Petersen		10
7	Finn Rune Jensen		9
8	Knud Ellegaard		8
9	Klaus Lohmann		6
10	Kurt Bøgh		4
11	Steen Mastrup		4
12	Arne Kruse		4
13	Erling Rasmussen		3
14	Gunnar Svendsen		3
15	Bent Nørregaard-Jensen		3
16	Jens Kjaer		2

Nordic Final

• June 8, 1978
• Norrköping
• First 9 to Intercontnental Final

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) Ole Olsen	15	3					3				3				3				3			15	1
	(7) Bernt Persson	14		3					3					3	3					2			14	2
	(9) Finn Thomsen	11			2		2						3					3		1			11	3	3
4	(15) Kai Niemi	11				3			2			2						1	3				11	4	2
5	(4) Ila Teromaa	10	2							3				2				2				1	10	5
6	(8) Tommy Nilsson	10		2						2			2			2			2				10	6
7	(13) Kristian Præstbro	9				1	3							1		1					3		9	7
8	(16) Anders Michanek	8				2				1	2						3			0			8	8
9	(3) Jan Andersson	6	1						0				1				2				2		6	9	3
10	(6) Tom Godal	6		1				1			3							0			1		6	10	2
11	(11) Sören Karlsson	6			3				1		0					0						2	6	11	1
12	(14) Bent Rasmussen	5				0		0					0		2							3	5	12
13	(10) Christer Sjösten	4			0			2						0			1		1				4	13
14	(1) Lars Ericsson	3	0				1				1				1				0				3	14
15	(5) Audun Ove Olsen	1		0			0					1					0					0	1	15
16	(12) Stein Roar Pedersen	1			1					0		0			0						0		1	16
R1	(R1) Bo Wirebrand	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2) Runo Wedin	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

m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fell • ns - non-starter • nc - non-classify

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

Intercontinental Final

• July 2, 1978
• Fredericia
• First 7 to World Final + 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
	(3) Ole Olsen	13	2						3				2				3				3		13	1	3
	(11) Ivan Mauger	13			3				2		2					3						3	13	2	2
	(1) Scott Autrey	11	3				X				3				2				3				11	3	3
4	(16) Ila Teromaa	11				3				3	1						1			3			11	4	2
5	(13) Jan Andersson	11				2	2							3		2					2		11	5	1
6	(9) Anders Michanek	10			2		1						3					3		1			10	6
7	(5) John Titman	10		2			3					1					2					2	10	7
8	(6) Bernt Persson	9		3				3			0							2			1		9	8
9	(2) Kai Niemi	8	1					2				2				1				2			8	9
10	(12) Steve Gresham	7			X					1		3			3						X		7	10
11	(4) Finn Thomsen	5	0							2				2				E				1	5	11
12	(15) Mike Farrell	5				1			1			0						1	2				5	12
13	(10) Mick McKeon	3			1			1						1			0		0				3	13
14	(8) Kristian Præstbro	2		0						0			1			0			1				2	14
15	(7) Mitch Shirra	1		1					F					-	-					-			1	15
16	(14) Tommy Nilsson	1				0		0					0		1							0	1	16
R1	(R1) Bert Rasmussen	0					0								0								0	R1
R2	(R2) Tom Jenssen	0												0						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

m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fell • ns - non-starter • nc - non-classify

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

Continental Round

Date	Venue	Winner	Runner-up	3rd place
Preliminary Round
22 April	Slany	Boleslaw Proch	Jerzy Kochman	Rudi Muts
23 April	Maribor	Jan Hadek	Sandro Pastoreli	Angel Jeftimov
Quarter-Finals
7 May	Varese	Egon Muller	Grigory Khlinovsky	Jerzy Rembas
7 May	Miskolc	Mikhail Starostin	Andrzej Huszcza	Václav Verner
7 May	Krumbach	Georg Hack	Ales Dryml, Sr	Nikolay Kornev
7 May	Częstochowa	Marek Cieślak	Jiří Štancl	Zdeněk Kudrna
Semi-Finals
28 May	Norden	Alois Wiesböck	Egon Muller	Ryszard Fabiszewski
28 May	Pocking	Hans Wassermann	Jiří Štancl	Marek Cieślak
Final
2 July	Prague	Hans Wassermann	Jiří Štancl	Marek Cieślak

Continental Final

• July 2, 1978
• Prague
• First 6 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
	(5) Hans Wassermann	14		3			2					3					3					3	14	1
	(9) Jiří Štancl	14			3		3						3					3		2			14	2
	(11) Marek Cieślak	11			1				3		3					3						1	11	3
4	(16) Petr Ondrašík	11				3				2	1						2			3			11	4
5	(1) Jan Verner	11	3				1				2				2				3				11	5
6	(7) Jerzy Rembas	9		2					0					3	3					1			9	6
7	(8) Zdeněk Kudrna	9		1						3			2			1			2				9	7
8	(2) Boleslaw Proch	8	2					2				2				2				0			8	8
9	(14) Alois Wiesböck	6				2		3					F		1							0	6	9
10	(4) Francesco Biginato	6	1							1				0				2				2	6	10
11	(10) Janosz Sziracky	5			0			1						2			1		1				5	11
12	(13) Nikolay Kornev	4				1	0							1		0					2		4	12
13	(6) Emil Sova	4		0				0			0							1			3		4	13
14	(3) Ryszard Fabiszewski	4	0						2				1				0				1		4	14
15	(12) Egon Muller	2			2					0		E			E						-		2	15
16	(15) Piotr Pyszny	2				X			1			1						0	0				2	16
R1	(R1) Bogusław Nowak	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2) Georg Hack	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

m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t - exclusion for touching the tapes • x - other exclusion • e - retired or mechanical failure • f - fell • ns - non-starter • nc - non-classify

gate A - inside

gate B

gate C

gate D - outside

World Final

• 2 September 1978
• London, Wembley Stadium^[9]

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
	(15) Ole Olsen	13				3			2			2						3	3				13	1
	(13) Gordon Kennett	12				2	3							2		2					3		12	2
	(2) Scott Autrey	11	3					2				1				3				2			11	3	3
4	(12) Dave Jessup	11			E					3		3			3						2		11	4	2
5	(9) Jerzy Rembas	11			3		1						3					1		3			11	5	1
6	(1) Malcolm Simmons	10	2				2				2				2				2				10	6
7	(6) Michael Lee	9		3				1			3							2			0		9	7
8	(14) Ivan Mauger	8				F		3					2		0							3	8	8
9	(16) John Titman	7				1				2	F						3			1			7	9
10	(3) Anders Michanek	7	1						3				0				2				1		7	10
11	(4) Ila Teromaa	6	0							1				3				F				2	6	11
12	(11) Jan Verner	5			2				1		1					0						1	5	12
13	(8) Marek Cieślak	5		2						0			1			1			1				5	13
14	(10) Jan Andersson	3			1			0						1			1		0				3	14
15	(7) Jiří Štancl	2		1					0					0	1					0			2	15
16	(5) Petr Ondrašík	0		F			0					0					0					0	0	16
R1	(R1) Steve Bastable	0																					0	R1
R2	(R2) Bernt Persson	0																					0	R2
R3	(R3) Zdeněk Kudrna	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

References