Region Varde Elitesport and Outrup Speedway Club 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 ...

club southwest of

Outrup Outrup (or Ovtrup) is a town in Varde Municipality in the Region of Southern Denmark. The town has a population of 1,015 (1 January 2024).

in the

Varde Municipality Varde Municipality () is a '' kommune'' in the Region of Southern Denmark on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. Its mayor is Mads Sørensen, a member of the Venstre (Liberal Party) political party. The main town and sit ...

of Denmark, who compete in the Danish Speedway League. The team have won the Danish Speedway League title five times.

Track

The club's home venue is the Outrup Speedway Center, which is located less than 2 kilometres in a south westerly direction from the centre of Outrup, on Hennevej 35.

History

1973 to 1976

In 1961, a short lived club called Outrup Motor Sport was formed and they built a small dirt track described as being part of the Blåbjerg Klitplantage (dune plantations). Although the club soon folded the track location remained. It was this site that the Outrup Speedway Club (founded in November 1973) chose for the construction of a full size speedway track. After much work the new speedway track was opened on 3 July 1976. The following year in 1977, the club joined the league system called the Danish tournament and rode under the name Blabjergdrengene (the Blåbjerg Boys). The club had other teams called Vestjyderne (West Jutlanders) and Badderne rode in the lower divisions. 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 Blåbjerg Boys became champions of Denmark. This was the last season before professional league speedway arrived in Denmark.

1986 to 1998

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

was a pivotal year for the club because they rebuilt the stadium adjacent to the old track. The need for improved facilities and FIM licensing was the reason for the changes. Additionally, the professional Danish Speedway League or Superliga was created, of which Outrup Speedway Club were a founder member. However, their next Super League appearance was not until

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 ...

and the from

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

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 ...

1999 to 2013

The team won their second and third Danish Championships (first in the Super League) 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 ...

and

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

respectively. Their Danish contingent included Hans Clausen, Frede Schøtt, Aksel Jepsen, Tom P. Knudsen and Jan Andersen and foreign riders included

Rune Holta Rune Holta (born 29 August 1973 in Stavanger, Norway) is a speedway rider. He grew up in Randaberg, Norway, but has been a Polish citizen since 2002. Career In 1994, Holta finished runner-up to Mikael Karlsson in the final of the 1994 Spee ...

and Kai Laukkanen. The team lost their Super League place after finishing last in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

but made a quick return for

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 ...

2014 to present

In 2014, the club changed its name from the Outrup Speedway Club to Region Varde Elitesport. After signing Australians

Troy Batchelor Troy Matthew Batchelor (born 29 August 1987) is an Australian speedway rider. Career Australia Born in Brisbane, Queensland, Troy Batchelor enjoyed his first success when he won the 2001 Queensland and New South Wales Under-16 championshi ...

and

Sam Masters Samuel Peter Masters (born 23 May 1991) is an Australian motorcycle speedway rider who won the Premier League Riders' Championship in 2011. Masters is an Australian Champion having won the Championship in January 2017. Career Masters was bor ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, they won their fourth Championship and repeated the feat in

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, thanks to their Danish trio of Mikkel Bech, Mads Korneliussen and Hans Andersen.

Notable riders

* * * * * * * * * *

References

{{Danish speedway teams Speedway teams in Denmark Varde Municipality 1973 establishments in Denmark Sports clubs and teams established in 1973 Sport in the Region of Southern Denmark