Piraterna are a Swedish

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 based in

Motala Motala () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Motala Municipality, Östergötland County, Sweden with a municipal population of 43,717 inhabitants in 2024. It is the third largest city of Östergötland, following Linköping and N ...

, Sweden The team are two times champions of Sweden. and compete in the

Elitserien Elitserien (literally, "the Elite League") is the name of several Swedish nationwide sport leagues. In many sports, Elitserien is the highest league, with the second highest named Allsvenskan. Elitserien leagues at present: * Elitserien (badmint ...

History

1949 to 1951

Piraterna made their league debut during the

1949 Swedish speedway season The 1949 Swedish speedway season was the 1949 season of motorcycle speedway in Sweden. Individual Individual Championship The 1949 Swedish Individual Speedway Championship final was held on 21 October in Stockholm. Olle Nygren won the inaugura ...

, finishing 8th in a ten team division. The following season in

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

, the club won their first honours in the newly created division 2. However after 1951, the club would not ride in the league system for 20 years.

1971 to 1999

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

the team returned to league action competing in division 3, and two years later in

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

gained promotion to division 2. The club continued to race and despite a division 2 win in 1980 they never competed in the top division, which became the

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

. The team then dropped out of the league in 1997 before returning in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

and winning division 2 in

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

2000 to present

Piraterna started the new millennium in the second tier known as 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 ...

and in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

led by

Freddie Lindgren Jan Fredrik Tobias (Freddie) Lindgren (born 15 September 1985) is a Swedish motorcycle speedway rider. He has won the silver medal and the bronze medal twice at the Speedway World Championship, in addition to the world team championship in 2015 ...

they finally achieved promotion to the Elitserien. In

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

and

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, they achieved third place finishes. In

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, they had a new look squad that included former world champion

Greg Hancock Gregory Alan Hancock (born June 3, 1970, in Whittier, California) is a former professional motorcycle speedway rider from the United States. As of 2023, he was one of only six riders to have won the individual World Championship four or more ti ...

, polish rider

Maciej Janowski Maciej Janowski (born 6 August 1991 in Wrocław, Polandwww.janowskiracing.com
Retrieved on 2008-07-04 ...

, and two sets of brothers

Piotr Pawlicki Jr. Piotr Pawlicki (born 30 November 1994) is a Polish speedway rider. Career Born in Leszno, he is the son of former rider Piotr Pawlicki Sr. and the younger brother of Przemysław Pawlicki. He won the Polish Under-21 Championship in 2011, emul ...

Przemysław Pawlicki Przemysław Pawlicki (born 5 September 1991)''Świat Żużla'', No 1 (77) 2009, pages 14-15 is a motorcycle speedway rider from Poland. Career Pawlicki passed his speedway license (''Licencja "Ż"'') in 2008, as a 16-year-old. On 20 July 20 ...

Jonas Davidsson Jan Jonas Daniel Davidsson (born 7 August 1984 in Motala, Sweden) is a Swedish former motorcycle speedway rider. He earned 14 caps for the Sweden national speedway team. Career Davidsson came to prominence after reaching three World Under 21 ...

and

Daniel Davidsson Daniel Jan Johan Davidsson (born 17 March 1983 in Motala, Sweden) is a former motorcycle speedway rider from Sweden. Career Davidsson came to prominence after reaching the World Under 21 final in 2002 and 2004. In between the two finals he si ...

. The club won their first

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 ...

after winning the Elitserien title, beating

Indianerna Indianerna (the Indians) are a Swedish motorcycle speedway team based in Kumla, Sweden. The club's official name is Kumla MSK and it was founded in 1936 which makes the club one of the oldest motorsport clubs in Sweden. They are two times Swedi ...

93-87. After a second place finish in 2012, they won a second title in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

. In 2017, they were relegated but returned to the Elitserien in 2019.

Season summary

Previous teams

2015 team * * * * * * * * * 2022 team * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 2023 team * * * * * * * * * * *

Notable riders

References

{{Swedish speedway teams Speedway teams in Sweden Sport in Motala Sports clubs and teams in Östergötland County 1949 establishments in Sweden 20th-century establishments in Östergötland County