Örnarna () is a

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four clockwise, anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that ...

team from

Mariestad Mariestad () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Mariestad Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 16,611 inhabitants in 2019. Until 1997 it was the capital of the former Skaraborg County and an episcopal see in the ...

in Sweden, representing Mariestads MK, who compete in the

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

. Their home track is at the

Grevby Motorstadion Grevby Motorstadion is a motorcycle speedway track located about 10 kilometres north of Mariestad. The facility is in a remote location just off the European route E20. The stadium hosts the Örnarna speedway team that competes in the Swedish ...

which is located to the north of Mariestad.

History

1949–1969

Örnarna was founded in 1949. The club's debut season in the Swedish league was during the 1950 season, where they competed in division 2B. However, the club did not compete for the next seven years. When they returned for the 1958 Swedish speedway season they won their first honours after finishing top of division 2. The club remained in division 2 and repeated the success in

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

, which resulted to promotion to the highest division for the first time. The club signed Bengt Svensson and Per-Tage Svensson but struggled in division 1, before being relegated in

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

. In

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

, they once again won division 2.

1970–1979

The club spent the 1970s largely in division 1 (led by Karl-Erik Claesson and Börje Klingberg) but experienced limited success. In

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

, the club signed Peter Karlsson and in

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

, they finished second in division 1, their highest ever placing at the time. Peter Karlsson, together with Niklas Karlsson and

Kelvin Tatum Kelvin Martin Tatum Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 8 February 1964) is a former British international motorcycle speedway and grasstrack rider. He earned 65 international caps for the England national speedway team. Career Tatum atte ...

then helped the team finish runner up again in

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

1990–1999

The title still eluded the club in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

after another second place finish. Peter Karlsson's younger brother Mikael Karlsson and

Niklas Klingberg Niklas Johan Borje Klingberg (born 6 February 1973) is a Swedish former motorcycle speedway rider. He earned 11 caps for the Sweden national speedway team. Career Klingberg was a member of Sweden team at Speedway World Cups. He was Swedish C ...

began to improve their averages and after signing American Rick Miller and Christer Rohlén, they finally won the Elitserien for the first time during the

1992 Swedish speedway season The 1992 Swedish speedway season was the 1992 season of motorcycle speedway in Sweden. Individual Individual Championship The 1992 Swedish Individual Speedway Championship final was held in Mariestad on 6 September. John Cook won the Swedish ...

. They then proceeded to win three more

Swedish Speedway Team Championship The Swedish Speedway Team Championship is the team championship of motorcycle speedway, speedway in Sweden. History The Championship was introduced in 1950. In 1982 the Championship was renamed with a new league called the Elitserien (speedwa ...

s in

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

and

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

2000–present

The millennium started badly and without the Karlsson brothers the club were relegated. The team then spent the majority of the next two decades in the Allsvenskan, with the exception of 2018 to 2021, when they dropped out of league. The club have since returned to the Allsvenskan, and finished 4th during the

2022 Swedish Speedway season The 2022 Swedish speedway season was the 2022 season of speedway in Sweden. In March 2022, Vetlanda were declared bankrupt and would not compete during the season. Individual Individual Championship The 2022 Swedish Individual Speedway Champ ...

Season summary

Teams

2022 team

* Joel Andersson * Ludvig Lindgren * Valentin Grobauer *

Matic Ivačič Matic Ivačič (born 8 September 1993) is a motorcycle speedway rider from Slovenia. He is a four-time national champion. Honours In 2020, Ivačič became the Slovenian National Champion after winning the Slovenian Individual Speedway Cham ...

* Erik Persson * Max Belsing * Tomasz Orwat * Alexander Jakobsson Sundkvist * Glenn Moi

Notable riders

{{columns-list, colwidth=15em, *{{player, , SWE, Karl-Erik Claesson *{{player, , SWE, Niklas Karlsson *{{player, , SWE, Peter Karlsson *{{player, , SWE, Börje Klingberg *{{player, , SWE,

*{{player, , SWE, Bengt Larsson *{{player, , USA, Rick Miller *{{player, , SWE, Christer Rohlén *{{player, , SWE,

Mikael Max Karl Mikael Karlsson (born 21 August 1973), who later rode under the name Mikael Max, is a Swedish former international motorcycle speedway rider. He earned 21 caps for the Sweden national speedway team. Career After first riding a speedway ...

*{{player, , SWE, Per-Tage Svensson *{{player, , ENG,

*{{player, , POL,

Patryk Dudek Patryk Dudek (; born 20 June 1992) is a Polish motorcycle speedway rider who is a member of the Poland national speedway team, Polish national speedway team. Career Dudek's father, Sławomir Dudek, Sławomir, was a professional rider and P ...

*{{player, , UKR, Andriy Karpov

References

{{Reflist {{Swedish speedway teams Speedway teams in Sweden Sports clubs and teams in Västra Götaland County Mariestad 1949 establishments in Sweden 20th-century establishments in Skaraborg County