{{Short description|Motorcycle speedway track in Vojens, Denmark}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}} {{Use British English|date=April 2024}} {{Infobox motorsport venue | name = Vojens Speedway Center | image = File:VojensSpeedway.jpg | caption = The main track is on the left and the smaller track is on the right | fullname = | location = Tinglykke 9, 6500 [[Vojens]], Denmark | coordinates = {{coord|55|14|10|N|9|16|58|E|}} | built = | opened = 21 September 1975 | renovated = | expanded = | closed = | website = {{URL|vojensspeedwaycenter.dk}} | capacity = 15,000 | operator = [[Vojens Speedway Klub]]<br />(1976–2011)<br />[[Denmark national speedway team|Denmark national team]]<br /> (1975–)<br />[[Sønderjylland Elite Speedway]]<br />(2020–) }} The '''Vojens Speedway Center''' is a [[Motorcycle speedway]] track located in [[Vojens]], Denmark.<ref>[http://www.speedway.dk/index.php/en/ Official Site]</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.speedwayplus.com/Vojens.shtml |title=Vojens (Denmark) |website=Speedway Plus |access-date=21 April 2024}}</ref> The track has been part-owned since its opening by Denmark's first three time [[Speedway World Championship|Speedway World Champion]] [[Ole Olsen (speedway rider)|Ole Olsen]].
== Track == The Speedway Center is a {{convert|300|m|yd|abbr=off}} long track which opened in September 1975 and has a spectator capacity of approximately 15,000. Since its opening it has hosted numerous Danish national and international meetings including hosting the [[Danish Individual Speedway Championship|Danish Championship]] in 1977, 1979 and 1981.<ref>{{cite web |last=Paaske |first=Lars |title=VM i speedway skal afgøres på dansk legendes hjemmebane |website=DR |date=13 September 2025 |url=https://www.dr.dk/sporten/motorsport/vm-i-speedway-skal-afgoeres-paa-dansk-legendes-hjemmebane |language=da |access-date=13 September 2025}}</ref>
== World Championship meetings == The Speedway Center hosted the Speedway World Final in 1988 and again in 1994, the final time the World Championship was held in the single meeting format before the advent of the [[Speedway Grand Prix]] series in 1995. It hosted the Final of the [[Speedway World Pairs Championship|World Pairs Championship]] in 1979 and 1993, the [[Speedway World Team Cup|World Team Cup]] in 1983, 1986 (round 2 of 3), 1991 and 1998, as well as the [[Speedway World Cup|World Cup]] in 2003, 2008 and 2010. The Center also hosted the [[Speedway Grand Prix of Denmark]] from 1995 until 2002 and has hosted the [[Speedway Grand Prix of Nordic]] (with the exception of [[2013 Speedway Grand Prix|2013]]) since 2009.
A [[Danish people|Danish]] rider or the [[Denmark national speedway team|Danish team]] has won at least one of each of the types of World Finals held in Vojens as well as at least one Danish and Nordic Grand Prix.
The Speedway Center has also twice hosted the [[Individual Speedway Junior World Championship|Under-21 World Championship]] Final, including the inaugural Final in 1977 when it was known as the European Under-21 Championship. On that occasion the meeting had to be called to a halt after only 12 heats had been run due to heavy rain. Denmark's [[Alf Busk]], who to that point was undefeated on 9 points was declared the winner.
The rain was a future pointer to racing at Vojens with many meetings having to be postponed due to the weather. British television commentator [[Dave Lanning]] reported that there was a near riot when the [[1979 Speedway World Pairs Championship|1979 World Pairs Final]] was postponed for a day due to rain, and two years later there were chaotic scenes at the [[1981 Intercontinental Final|1981]] [[Intercontinental Final]] when the riders refused to come out for their second round of heats in protest over the conditions. The 16 riders voted 14-2 not to ride with only Ole Olsen and fellow Dane [[Hans Nielsen (speedway rider)|Hans Nielsen]] wanting to continue. It was only after the riders were threatened with disqualification did they agree to finish the meeting. The Final was the last qualifying round for the [[1981 Individual Speedway World Championship|1981 World Championship Final]] to be held at the [[Wembley Stadium (1923)|Wembley Stadium]] in [[England]] six weeks later.
== Speedway World Finals == Since its opening, the Vojens Speedway Center has hosted 13 [[Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme|FIM]] World Finals in each of the major competitions. It also hosted numerous World Championship qualifying rounds including the Nordic and [[Intercontinental Final]]s (Individual World Championship) and the Race-Off for the Speedway World Cup (the Race-Off is generally held at the same venue of the WC Final). Fittingly, the first World Championship Final held at the track, the 1979 World Pairs Final, was won by Danes Hans Nielsen and the track's owner Ole Olsen.
The 1994 Individual World Final, the last time the championship was run as a single meeting, saw a three-way runoff for the championship with [[Sweden]]'s [[Tony Rickardsson]] defeating local favourite Hans Nielsen and the surprise of the meeting, [[Australia]]'s [[Craig Boyce]]. This was the first of Rickardsson's record-equalling 6 World Championships, a record he jointly holds with [[New Zealand]]'s [[Ivan Mauger]].
The Vojens Speedway Center was announced as the host track for the Race-Off and Final of the [[2015 Speedway World Cup]]. The Danish team, which received automatic qualification into the Final as the host nation, were unsuccessful in defending the title they had won the [[2014 Speedway World Cup|2014]] title in [[Poland]] with [[Sweden national speedway team|Sweden]] emerging victorious by 2 points over the Danes with [[Poland national speedway team|Poland]] and [[Australia national speedway team|Australia]] finishing in 3rd and 4th.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20150610034405/http://www.speedwaygp.com/swc/results/109 2015 Speedway World Cup Final results]}}</ref>
=== Individual World Championship === * [[1988 Individual Speedway World Championship|1988]] - {{flagicon|DEN}} [[Erik Gundersen]] – 14+3pts * [[1994 Individual Speedway World Championship|1994]] - {{flagicon|SWE}} [[Tony Rickardsson]] – 12+3pts
=== World Pairs Championship === * [[1979 Speedway World Pairs Championship|1979]] - {{flagicon|DEN}} [[Denmark national speedway team|Denmark]] ([[Ole Olsen (speedway rider)|Ole Olsen]] / [[Hans Nielsen (speedway rider)|Hans Nielsen]]) – 25pts * [[1993 Speedway World Pairs Championship|1993]] - {{flagicon|SWE}} [[Sweden national speedway team|Sweden]] ([[Tony Rickardsson]] / [[Per Jonsson]] / [[Henrik Gustafsson]]) – 26pts
=== World Team Cup === * [[1983 Speedway World Team Cup|1983]] - {{flagicon|DEN}} [[Denmark national speedway team|Denmark]] ([[Erik Gundersen]] / [[Hans Nielsen (speedway rider)|Hans Nielsen]] / [[Ole Olsen (speedway rider)|Ole Olsen]] / [[Peter Ravn (speedway rider)|Peter Ravn]] / [[Finn Thomsen]]) – 32pts * [[1986 Speedway World Team Cup|1986]]* - {{flagicon|DEN}} [[Denmark national speedway team|Denmark]] ([[Hans Nielsen (speedway rider)|Hans Nielsen]] / [[Erik Gundersen]] / [[Tommy Knudsen]] / [[Jan O. Pedersen]] / [[John Jørgensen]]) – 130pts * [[1991 Speedway World Team Cup|1991]] - {{flagicon|DEN}} [[Denmark national speedway team|Denmark]] ([[Jan O. Pedersen]] / [[Hans Nielsen (speedway rider)|Hans Nielsen]] / [[Tommy Knudsen]] / [[Gert Handberg]] / [[Brian Karger]]) – 51pts * [[1998 Speedway World Team Cup|1998]] - {{flagicon|USA}} [[United States national speedway team|United States]] ([[Billy Hamill]] / [[Greg Hancock]] / [[Sam Ermolenko]]) – 28pts <small>''* Vojens hosted Round 2 of the 3 round 1986 World Team Cup Final''</small>
=== World Cup === * [[2003 Speedway World Cup|2003]] - {{flagicon|SWE}} [[Sweden national speedway team|Sweden]] ([[Andreas Jonsson]] / [[Mikael Max]] / [[Peter Ljung (speedway rider)|Peter Ljung]] / [[Peter Karlsson (speedway rider)|Peter Karlsson]] / [[David Ruud]]) – 62pts * [[2008 Speedway World Cup|2008]] - {{flagicon|DEN}} [[Denmark national speedway team|Denmark]] ([[Nicki Pedersen]] / [[Bjarne Pedersen]] / [[Kenneth Bjerre]] / [[Niels Kristian Iversen]] / [[Hans N. Andersen]]) – 49pts * [[2010 Speedway World Cup|2010]] - {{flagicon|POL}} [[Poland national speedway team|Poland]] ([[Rune Holta]] / [[Jarosław Hampel]] / [[Tomasz Gollob]] / [[Adrian Miedziński]] / [[Janusz Kołodziej (speedway rider)|Janusz Kołodziej]]) – 44pts * [[2015 Speedway World Cup|2015]] - {{flagicon|SWE}} [[Sweden national speedway team|Sweden]] ([[Antonio Lindbäck]] / [[Andreas Jonsson]] / [[Linus Sundström]] / [[Fredrik Lindgren (speedway rider)|Fredrik Lindgren]]) – 34pts
=== Speedway of Nations === * [[2022 Speedway of Nations|2022]] - {{flagicon|AUS}} [[Australia national speedway team|Australia]] ([[Jack Holder]] / [[Max Fricke]])
=== Individual Under-21 World Championship === * [[1977 Individual Speedway Junior European Championship|1977]] - {{flagicon|DEN}} [[Alf Busk]] – 9pts * [[1999 Individual Speedway Junior World Championship|1999]] - {{flagicon|ENG}} [[Lee Richardson (speedway rider)|Lee Richardson]] – 13pts
== Speedway Grand Prix == Vojens has hosted 17 SGP events since 1995.
* [[1995 Speedway Grand Prix of Denmark]] - {{flagicon|DEN}} - [[Hans Nielsen (speedway rider)|Hans Nielsen]] * [[1996 Speedway Grand Prix of Denmark]] - {{flagicon|USA}} - [[Billy Hamill]] * [[1997 Speedway Grand Prix of Denmark]] - {{flagicon|ENG}} - [[Mark Loram]] * [[1998 Speedway Grand Prix of Denmark]] - {{flagicon|DEN}} - [[Hans Nielsen (speedway rider)|Hans Nielsen]] * [[1999 Speedway Grand Prix of Denmark]] - {{flagicon|SWE}} - [[Tony Rickardsson]] * [[2000 Speedway Grand Prix of Denmark]] - {{flagicon|USA}} - [[Greg Hancock]] * [[2001 Speedway Grand Prix of Denmark]] - {{flagicon|SWE}} - [[Tony Rickardsson]] * [[2002 Speedway Grand Prix|2002]] [[Speedway Grand Prix of Denmark]] - {{flagicon|SWE}} - [[Tony Rickardsson]] * [[2009 Speedway Grand Prix of Nordic]] - {{flagicon|SWE}} - [[Andreas Jonsson]] * [[2010 Speedway Grand Prix of Nordic]] - {{flagicon|POL}} - [[Tomasz Gollob]] * [[2011 Speedway Grand Prix of Nordic]] - {{flagicon|USA}} - [[Greg Hancock]] * [[2012 Speedway Grand Prix of Nordic]] - {{flagicon|DEN}} - [[Michael Jepsen Jensen]] * [[2014 Speedway Grand Prix|2014]] [[Speedway Grand Prix of Nordic]] - {{flagicon|SWE}} - [[Andreas Jonsson]] * [[2019 Speedway Grand Prix of Denmark]] - {{flagicon|POL}} - [[Bartosz Zmarzlik]] * [[2021 Speedway Grand Prix of Denmark]] - {{flagicon|RUS}} - [[Artem Laguta]] * [[2022 Speedway Grand Prix of Denmark]] - {{flagicon|POL}} - [[Bartosz Zmarzlik]] * [[2023 Speedway Grand Prix of Denmark]] - {{flagicon|DEN}} - [[Leon Madsen]] * [[2024 Speedway Grand Prix of Denmark]] - {{flagicon|ENG}} - [[Robert Lambert (speedway rider)|Robert Lambert]]
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Danish speedway teams}} {{Motorcycle speedway tracks in Denmark}} [[Category:1975 establishments in Denmark]] [[Category:Speedway venues in Denmark]] [[Category:Sports venues completed in 1975]] [[Category:Sports venues in the Region of Southern Denmark]] [[Category:Buildings and structures in Haderslev Municipality]]