Ikaros Smederna
| Ikaros Smederna | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Club information | |||||
| Track address | Smedstadion Tommy Janssons väg Eskilstuna |
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| Country |
 Sweden
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| Founded | 1951 | ||||
| League | Elitserien | ||||
| Website | Official site | ||||
| Club facts | |||||
| Colours | Red, Black and White | ||||
| Track size | 335 metres | ||||
| Track record time | 58.0 | ||||
| Track record date | 2013 | ||||
| Track record holder | Kenni Larsen | ||||
| Major team honours | |||||
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Ikaros Smederna is a motorcycle speedway club based in Eskilstuna, Sweden. The club competes in the highest speedway league in Sweden, Elitserien and race its home matches at Smedstadion outside Eskilstuna. Ikaros Smederna was formerly known as just Smederna but after making a sponsorship deal with company Ikaros in the fall of 2008 the club changed its name. However, this did not have the wanted effect on the club economy and in July 2009 the club went bankrupt and withdrew from Elitserien to restart in Division 1. Smederna has won two Swedish team championships, in 1973 and 1977, and was the home club of three individual world champions, Billy Hamill, Mark Loram and Nicki Pedersen.
In 1948 the speedway team Griparna (English: the Griffins) started to race in the Swedish leagues. The team was co-run by motorcycle sport clubs SMK Södermanland, Nyköpings MS and Eskilstuna MK and was based in Nyköping, however some of their home matches took place in Eskilstuna. 1951 the team changed name to Smederna (English: the Blacksmiths) and started to race all home matches in Eskilstuna. Until 1953 the home track had been Tunavallens B-plan which was not an actual speedway arena. But that year Smederna moved to the new speedway arena Snälltorpet. But Smederna would only race at Snälltorpet for a few years before closing the team down in 1955.
After eight years SMK Södermanland decided take up speedway again and in 1963 Smederna started in the third and lowest division in Swedish speedway. In 1967 the club advanced to the second division and in 1971 to the first and highest division. In the seventies Smederna would have its first and biggest time of glory with a couple of team championship medals. In 1973 Smederna managed to win the club’s first championship and in the following three years the team was participating in the medal fight with a silver medal in 1975 as highest result. In the spring of 1976 Smederna and the whole town of Eskilstuna was hit by a big tragedy when local superstar Tommy Jansson crashed to death in a world championships qualification at Gubbängen, . It was a big blow for the speedway sport in the city and there was a big decrease in the attendance figures. In spite of the tragedy Smederna continued to be one of Sweden’s best speedway clubs for a couple of years with the gold medal in 1977 as best result.
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