SPEEDWAY/NEWS/OTHER: Top 30 All-Time World Speedway: Jan Osvald Pedersen

Jan Osvald Pedersen is another speedway rider in the series of top riders in the history of speedway. The Danish competitor has individual as well as team successes with his country’s national team.

• Career beginnings
• International successes
• Current chapter in the life of a Danish legend
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Career beginnings

Jan Osvald Pedersen was born on November 9, 1962, in the Danish city of Middelfart. From an early age, he showed great interest in motorization, driving vehicles like a car or a small tractor when he was just a few years old. However, he rode his first small motorcycle, given by his grandfather, at the age of six. He grew up near the family vegetable farm, next to which a small track allowed the young Dane to conduct his first training sessions. He began serious speedway racing on the track in Fjelsted in 1976. The biggest idol for the young talent at that time was another Danish rider who was achieving success on the world stage – Ole Olsen.

He started his racing adventure on mini-tracks, where he won many titles. In the 1979 and 1980 seasons, he won the title of Danish Individual Champion in his age category, which was an optimistic forecast for the next stage of his career. His first major success on a large track was achieved in 1981, where he won a bronze medal in the Danish Youth Individual Championships. A year later, he debuted in the European Junior Individual Championship competition and finished in fifth place. The 1985 season was marked by his debut in the World Individual Championships final, where he finished ninth. In the following season, together with the rest of the Danish national team, he achieved a gold medal in the Team World Championships.

International successes

The first significant success in the career of the talented rider from a city located on Funen by the Little Belt was winning the silver medal in the World Individual Championships in 1986 on the track in Chorzów. Jan Osvald Pedersen then placed just behind his compatriot – Hans Nielsen, while the British rider Kelvin Tatum stood on the lowest step of the podium. The Dane was somewhat in the shadow of the competition for the triumph in the World Championship of his compatriots – Erik Gundersen and the aforementioned Hans Nielsen. As it turned out, it was an exceptionally successful season for him since he, along with the Danish national team, won the gold medal in the Team World Championships, and he repeated this feat the following year and in 1988, where he won another medal in the World Individual Championships.

The representative of the country of Hamlet could celebrate winning the bronze medal. The winner turned out to be Erik Gundersen, and the silver went to Hans Nielsen, confirming the dominance of the Danish nation in the World Championship. Jan Osvald Pedersen, despite great potential for success, was regularly plagued by injuries that excluded him from key tournaments. One such example was an injury suffered five days before the next final tournament for the World Individual Championship title in Munich. A season later, in 1990, history repeated itself, with the difference that it happened ten days before the decisive confrontation. The Danish gem, however, managed to win the gold medal alongside Hans Nielsen during the World Pairs Championship in Landshut, Germany, and he replicated the success the following year in Poznań, where his partner was once again Nielsen.

As it turned out, 1991 was the most successful year of his career. Before the World Individual Championship final in Gothenburg, Sweden, learning from previous seasons marked by injuries, he did not want to risk another injury just before the start of the tournament, so he avoided riding in less prestigious events. Time showed that this decision fully paid off, as Pedersen dominated the competition and defeated rivals such as Tony Rickardsson, Tommy Knudsen, Per Jonsson, and Hans Nielsen. This victory brought him immense fame and confirmed his status as one of the best riders of his era. It was logical that the new champion’s victory sparked interest among Polish clubs, exemplified by an invitation for Pedersen to a friendly match in Zielona Góra between the local FALUBAZ and the English club Wolverhampton Wolves.

He appeared in the Polish Team Championships competition a year later when he was contracted by ROW Rybnik, but he played in only two second-league matches, scoring 18 points and 3 bonuses, which gave him a race average of 2.625. From 1983 to 1991, he competed in the British league, where he mainly represented the club Cradley Heath Heathens, with which he won a championship title (1983), two silver medals (1986, 1987), and three bronze medals (1988, 1989, 1991). The exception was the 1984 season when he was loaned to Sheffield Tigers.

Just eight months after winning the championship title, he competed in an event on the Lovelbanen track near Viborg. The event turned out to be very unlucky for the Dane, who was involved in an accident with Peter Ravn, resulting in four broken vertebrae. This accident forever ended his speedway career. Surgery performed in Danish Aarhus went successfully, but it was only after four years of long and arduous rehabilitation that the deserving rider noticed significant progress in his return to health. It’s worth mentioning that the former speedway rider is still recovering to full fitness after the unfortunate incident. Jan Osvald Pedersen is one of speedway’s legends, whose achievements have permanently etched into the history of the sport. Although his career was relatively short, he managed to win numerous valuable titles and gained recognition from fans worldwide. He was known for his extraordinary precision and riding technique, which were the foundation of his successes.

Current stage of life

After ending his career, Pedersen tried his hand as a rally driver, but his love for speedway proved stronger, as he became a coach for teenage riders from his country. In 2011, he came with his protégés for training in Gniezno, and two months later returned to the oval at Wrzesińska Street 25, doing his first laps after a several-year hiatus. As it turned out, he also raced in Great Britain, where he, along with Sam Ermolenko, staged demonstration races during the breaks between heats of the friendly tournament F.A.S.T Golden Hammers. Two years ago, he also became the head of the Danish club Munkebo Speedway Club, which currently competes on the second tier – Division 1. As you can see, the former champion’s immense love for speedway has not faded, and in the memory of many fans around the world, races with his participation, such as the one below, will remain.

Łukasz Rusiecki