Wolverhampton Olympique
Freddie Lindgren six time winner | |
| Category | motorcycle speedway |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Inaugural season | 1966 |
| Folded | 2023 |
The Wolverhampton Olympique was an individual motorcycle speedway event that was hosted annually in the Midlands.[1]
History
The event was first run in October 1966 by the Newcastle Diamonds club at their home venue Brough Park. At the time both Newcastle Diamonds and Wolverhampton Wolves were owned by the same promoter Mike Parker. In 1969, Parker sold his interest in Newcastle Diamonds and a number of his assets were transferred to Wolverhampton Wolves, two of which were the Olympique event and the licence of speedway rider Ole Olsen.
With the closure of Wolverhampton in 1980 the meeting was transferred to Birmingham but when Wolves re-opened in 1984 Peter Adams brought it back to Monmore Green Stadium in Wolverhampton.
The last Olympique was held in 2023, because Monmore Green's owners Entain announced that the venue would only be used by greyhound racing during 2024.[2] It was won by Australian Zach Cook.[3]
Past winners
| Year | Venue | First | Second | Third |
| 1966 | Brough Park | Barry Briggs | Peter Kelly | Nigel Boocock |
| 1967 | Brough Park | Anders Michanek | Ivan Mauger | Nigel Boocock |
| 1968 | Brough Park | Not staged | ||
| 1969 | Brough Park | Not staged | ||
| 1970 | Monmore Green Stadium | Ole Olsen | Ivan Mauger | Ronnie Moore |
| 1971 | Monmore Green Stadium | Ole Olsen | Barry Briggs | Bernt Persson |
| 1972 | Monmore Green Stadium | Ole Olsen | Terry Betts | Ivan Mauger |
| 1973 | Monmore Green Stadium | Ole Olsen | Peter Collins | Chris Pusey |
| 1974 | Monmore Green Stadium | Ole Olsen | Peter Collins | Terry Betts |
| 1975 | Monmore Green Stadium | Ole Olsen | Billy Sanders | Sören Sjösten |
| 1976 | Monmore Green Stadium | Peter Collins | Ole Olsen | Chris Morton |
| 1977 | Monmore Green Stadium | Billy Sanders | Gordon Kennett | Dave Jessup |
| 1978 | Monmore Green Stadium | Gordon Kennett | Ole Olsen | Ila Teromaa |
| 1979 | Monmore Green Stadium | Phil Crump | Bruce Penhall | Jan Andersson |
| 1980 | Monmore Green Stadium | Les Collins | Bobby Schwartz | Tommy Knudsen |
| 1981 | Monmore Green Stadium | Mitch Shirra | Hans Nielsen | Dave Jessup |
| 1982 | Monmore Green Stadium | Hans Nielsen | Alan Grahame | Tommy Knudsen |
| 1983 | Birchfield Ladbroke Stadium | Not staged | ||
| 1984 | Monmore Green Stadium | Hans Nielsen | Shawn Moran | Preben Eriksen |
| 1985 | Monmore Green Stadium | Not staged | ||
| 1986 | Monmore Green Stadium | Not staged | ||
| 1987 | Monmore Green Stadium | Sam Ermolenko | Hans Nielsen | Jan O Pedersen |
| 1988 | Monmore Green Stadium | Hans Nielsen | Sam Ermolenko | Mike Faria |
| 1989 | Monmore Green Stadium | Jan O Pedersen | Ronnie Correy | Hans Nielsen |
| 1990 | Monmore Green Stadium | Ronnie Correy | Billy Hamill | John Jørgensen |
| 1991 | Monmore Green Stadium | Greg Hancock | Ronnie Correy | Sam Ermolenko |
| 1992 | Monmore Green Stadium | Ronnie Correy | Sam Ermolenko | Gary Havelock |
| 1993 | Monmore Green Stadium | Joe Screen | Sam Ermolenko | Peter Karlsson |
| 1994 | Monmore Green Stadium | Jason Crump | Peter Karlsson | Joe Screen |
| 1995 | Monmore Green Stadium | Greg Hancock | Peter Karlsson | Joe Screen |
| 1996 | Monmore Green Stadium | Not staged | ||
| 1997 | Monmore Green Stadium | Mikael Karlsson | Sam Ermolenko | Jesper B Jensen |
| 1998 | Monmore Green Stadium | Greg Hancock | Mark Loram | Peter Karlsson |
| 1999 | Monmore Green Stadium | Peter Karlsson | Joe Screen | Greg Hancock |
| 2000 | Monmore Green Stadium | Peter Karlsson | Nicki Pedersen | Jesper B. Jensen |
| 2001 | Monmore Green Stadium | Mikael Karlsson | Sam Ermolenko | Jason Crump |
| 2002 | Monmore Green Stadium | Mikael Karlsson | Peter Karlsson | Paul Hurry |
| 2003 | Monmore Green Stadium | Mikael Max | Peter Karlsson | Leigh Adams |
| 2004 | Monmore Green Stadium | David Howe | Peter Karlsson | Scott Nicholls |
| 2005 | Monmore Green Stadium | Freddie Lindgren | Hans Andersen | Travis McGowan |
| 2006 | Monmore Green Stadium | Peter Karlsson | Freddie Lindgren | Theo Pijper |
| 2007 | Monmore Green Stadium | Freddie Lindgren | Scott Nicholls | Chris Harris |
| 2008 | Monmore Green Stadium | Postponed | ||
| 2009 | Monmore Green Stadium | Freddie Lindgren | Chris Harris | Scott Nicholls |
| 2010 | Monmore Green Stadium | Freddie Lindgren | Chris Harris | Scott Nicholls |
| 2011 | Monmore Green Stadium | Freddie Lindgren | Scott Nicholls | Chris Harris |
| 2012 | Monmore Green Stadium | Scott Nicholls | Ricky Wells | Danny King |
| 2013 | Monmore Green Stadium | Postponed | ||
| 2014 | Monmore Green Stadium | Postponed | ||
| 2015 | Monmore Green Stadium | Freddie Lindgren | Ricky Wells | Chris Harris |
| 2016 | Monmore Green Stadium | Jacob Thorssell[4] | Freddie Lindgren | Chris Harris |
| 2017 | Monmore Green Stadium | Not staged | ||
| 2018 | Monmore Green Stadium | Chris Harris | Kyle Howarth | Ricky Wells |
| 2019 | Monmore Green Stadium | Not staged | ||
| 2020 | Monmore Green Stadium | Not staged due to the COVID-19 pandemic | ||
| 2021 | Monmore Green Stadium | Scott Nicholls[5] | Nick Morris | Rory Schlein |
| 2022 | Monmore Green Stadium | Nick Morris[6] | Tom Brennan | Luke Becker |
| 2023 | Monmore Green Stadium | Zach Cook[3] | Rory Schlein | Tom Brennan |
Results by Rider
| Country | Driver | First | Second | Third | Podium |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olsen, Ole | 6 | 2 | 0 | 8 | |
| Lindgren, Freddie | 6 | 2 | 0 | 8 | |
| Karlsson (Max), Mikael | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| Karlsson, Peter | 3 | 5 | 2 | 10 | |
| Nielsen, Hans | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | |
| Hancock, Greg | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 | |
| Nicholls, Scott | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | |
| Correy, Ronnie | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | |
| Ermolenko, Sam | 1 | 5 | 1 | 7 | |
| Harris, Chris | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | |
| Collins, Peter | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | |
| Morris, Nick | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| Briggs, Barry | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| Sanders, Billy | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| Kennett, Gordon | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| Pedersen, Jan O | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Crump, Jason | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| Michanek, Anders | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Crump, Phil | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Collins, Les | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Shirra, Mitch | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Howe, David | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Thorssell, Jacob | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| Cook, Zach | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
References
- ^ "Year by Year". Speedway Researcher. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
- ^ "Wolves bow out at Monmore". British Speedway. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
- ^ a b "Cook delight with Olympique win". British Speedway. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
- ^ "Jacob Thorssell claims speedway Olympique Individual Championship". Shropshire Star. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
- ^ "Monmore fan Scott Nicholls is the Olympique champion". Express and Star. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
- ^ "Ladbrokes Olympique". British Speedway. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
Much of this information has been taken from the Wolverhampton Wolves Olympique programme dated 11 October 2016.