Vikingarna () 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 at the Örebro Motorstadion, 9 km west of

Örebro Örebro ( ; ) is the seventh-largest city in Sweden, the seat of Örebro Municipality, and capital of Örebro County. It is situated by the Närke Plain, near the lake Hjälmaren, a few kilometers inland along the small river Svartån, and ...

, near

Örebro Airport Örebro Airport is located 10 kilometers southwest of Örebro and is Sweden's 23rd-largest passenger airport and the fourth-largest cargo airport. It was opened in 1979. The airport handled approximately 150,000 passengers in 2019. Airlines and ...

in Sweden.

Season summary

History

1950 to 1954

The beginning of competitive league speedway in Örebro can be traced back to the

1950 Swedish speedway season The 1950 Swedish speedway season was the 1950 season of motorcycle speedway in Sweden. Individual Individual Championship The 1950 Swedish Individual Speedway Championship final was held on 20 October, in Stockholm. Helge Brinkeback won the S ...

. A club called Vikingarna racing at the Örebro Motorstadion in Adolfsberg finished last out of four teams in the second division. However, the following season in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

, was much improved to the degree that the team actually won the six team division. The team competed in the highest tier for the first time during the 1952 Swedish speedway season (called division 1 at the time) but struggled in the division and were eventually relegated. A young

Göte Nordin Göte Nordin (2 July 1935 – 21 November 2023) was a former motorcycle speedway rider from Sweden. He earned 45 caps for the Sweden national speedway team. Speedway career Nordin is a two times champion of Sweden, winning the Swedish Individ ...

rode for the club from 1952 to 1954 and he helped them win division 2 again in

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

. They returned to division 1 again for the 1954 Swedish speedway season but once again finished last. Swedish league participation suffered during the following years and Vikingarna were just one of several teams that failed to enter a team.

1961 to 1981

The team returned for the 1961 Swedish speedway season but once again dropped out afterwards, missing the 1962 to 1966 seasons. They were one of several teams that returned 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 ...

for the newly created four division league system, they were placed in division 3 west. A some stage during the latter part of the 1960s, the team moved from the Adolfsberg Motorstadion to a track at the

Trängens IP Trängens IP is a football stadium in Örebro, Sweden and the home stadium for the football team BK Forward. Trängens IP has a total capacity of 4,700 spectators. When BK played a qualification match to the second-highest division in Sweden, ...

. During the 1970s, they twice won division 3 in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

and

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

. In between (in 1975), work started on a new Örebro Motorstadion, also known as the Täby Motorstadion (the current venue); the site would offer speedway, motocross and karting. The name Täby relates to the nearby village parish and not the city.

1982 to 1986

The club remained in the third tier, which became known as the Division 2 because of the introduction of 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 ...

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. ...

. Two years later in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, they won division 2 but Örebro found itself without speedway once again from 1987 to 1988.

1989 to 2001

Racing returned to Örebro in the

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 ...

, with the team taking the city's name Örebro. However, in 1991, they were renamed Buddys and this was followed by another name change in 1994, to Team Viking. In

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 ...

, Team Viking won division 2, a feat they emulated 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 ...

, despite finishing last in 1996.

2002 to present

During the 2002 Swedish speedway season, the team reverted to their traditional name Vikingarna and won division 1 east (which was now the third tier). Riding for them that season was

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 ...

and

Robert Eriksson Robert Eriksson may refer to: * Robert Eriksson (politician) * Robert Eriksson (tennis) * Robert Eriksson (speedway rider) See also

* Matz Robert Eriksson, drummer of Swedish rock band The Hellacopters * Robert S. Erikson, political scientist ...

. As of 2023 the team continued to ride in the third tier (division 1).

2023 team

Ludvig Lindgren Ludvig Lindgren (born 23 September 1990 in Örebro, Sweden) is a motorcycle speedway rider. Career Lindgren won the 2008 Team U-19 European Champion title. He was a member of Sweden U-21 and U-19 national teams. In August 2008 it was ann ...

*Eric Persson *Benny Johansson *Sebastian Glimfjäll Johansson *Adrian George *Patrick Hamburg

Notable riders

References

{{Swedish speedway teams Speedway teams in Sweden Sport in Örebro Sports clubs and teams in Örebro County 1950 establishments in Sweden 20th-century establishments in Örebro County