ŻUŻEL/NEWS/OTHER: Top 30 All-time Global Speedway: Jan Osvald Pedersen

Jan Osvald Pedersen is another speedway rider from the series of top racers in the history of speedway. The Danish athlete has individual as well as team successes along with his national team.

• Career Beginnings
• International Successes
• Current Chapter in the Life of the Danish Legend
• Follow our official profiles on social media
  

Career Beginnings

Jan Osvald Pedersen was born on November 9, 1962, in the Danish city of Middelfart. From a young age, he showed a great interest in motorization, as he was driving vehicles like cars or small tractors at just a few years old. However, he rode his first small motorcycle, gifted by his grandfather, when he was six years old. He grew up near a family vegetable farm, next to which a small track was created that allowed the young Dane his first training sessions. He began serious racing in speedway on the Fjelsted track in 1976. His biggest idol at the time was another Danish rider who was achieving global successes – Ole Olsen.

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

International Successes

The first significant success in the talented rider’s career from a city located on Funen by the Little Belt was winning a silver medal in the Individual World Championships in 1986 on the Chorzów track. Jan Osvald Pedersen placed just behind his compatriot – Hans Nielsen, while the British rider, Kelvin Tatum, took the lowest step of the podium. The Dane was somewhat overshadowed in the rivalry for triumph in the world championship by his compatriots – Erik Gundersen and the aforementioned Hans Nielsen. It turned out to be an exceptionally successful season for him, as he, along with the Danish team, won the World Team Championships gold medal, a feat repeated the following year and again in 1988, when he won another medal in the Individual World Championships.

The representative of the Hamlet country could then celebrate winning a bronze medal. The winner turned out to be Erik Gundersen, while the silver went to Hans Nielsen, confirming the dominance of the Danish nation in the world championship. Despite great capabilities for success, Jan Osvald Pedersen was regularly plagued by injuries that excluded him from key tournaments. One such example was the injury sustained five days before another final tournament for the Individual World Championship title in Munich. The following season, in 1990, history repeated itself, with the difference that it happened ten days before the decisive confrontation. The Danish diamond managed, however, to win a gold medal along with Hans Nielsen during the World Pairs Championship in German Landshut, and repeated the success the following year in Poznań’s Golęcin. Pedersen’s partner was again Nielsen.

As it turned out, the year 1991 was the most successful in his career. Before the final of the Individual World Championships in Swedish Goeteborg, learned by previous injury-plagued seasons, he avoided low-prestige events to prevent another injury just before the start of the tournament. Time showed that this decision fully defended itself, as Pedersen dominated the competition and overcame opponents like 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 logically followed that the victory of the new champion aroused interest among Polish clubs, manifested by an invitation for Pedersen to a friendly match in Zielona Góra between the local FALUBAZ and the English Wolverhampton Wolves.

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

Only 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 unfortunate for the Dane, who was involved in an accident with Peter Ravn, resulting in the fracture of four vertebrae. This accident ended his speedway career forever. The surgery in Danish Aarhus was successful, but it took four years of long and arduous rehabilitation before the deserving rider noticed significant progress in his recovery. It’s worth adding that the former speedway rider is still regaining full fitness after the unfortunate incident. Jan Osvald Pedersen is one of the legends of speedway, whose achievements are eternally etched in the history of the sport. Although his career was relatively short, he managed to earn numerous valuable titles and gain recognition among fans worldwide. He was renowned for his extraordinary precision and riding technique, which were the foundation of his success.

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 students for training in Gniezno, and two months later he returned to the oval at Wrzesińska Street 25 and ran his first laps after a break of several years. It turned out he was also racing in the UK, where together with Sam Ermolenko he ran demonstration races during the intervals of the F.A.S.T Golden Hammers friendly tournament. Two years ago, he also became the head of the Danish club Munkebo Speedway Club, which currently competes at the second-tier level – Division 1. As you can see, the former champion’s great love for speedway sport hasn’t faded, and some fans around the world will remember races featuring him, such as the one below.

Łukasz Rusiecki