Speedway World Cup
| Sport | Motorcycle speedway |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2001 |
| Director | Phil Morris |
| Motto | No brakes, no gears, no fear |
| No. of teams | 9 national teams |
| Continent | World |
| Most recent champion(s) |
 Poland (2016) |
| Most titles |
Poland (7 times) |
| TV partner(s) | BT Sport (UK) |
| Related competitions |
Speedway Grand Prix |
| Official website | Website |
The Speedway World Cup is an annual speedway event held each year in different countries. The first edition of the competition in the current format was in 2001 and it replaced the old World Team Cup competition which was amalgamated with the World Pairs Championship.
The final tournament usually lasts for about a week with four meetings held in six or seven days. It starts with two first round "events", each consisting of four national teams. The winners of these events will qualify automatically for the final, while those who finish second and third will have to compete in the race-off. Last place finishers will be eliminated. The top two in the race-off will join the event winners in the final. The winners of the final will carry home the Ove Fundin Trophy, named after one of the all-time greats of speedway who won the world championship five times.
The two events are held in different countries, normally in one of the countries that compete in that event. The race-off and the final is held in another country that did not host an event. For example, in the 2014 competition, Great Britain and Sweden hosted the two events, while Poland hosted both the race-off and final. Since 2013 the host nation has been seeded direct to the final.
Each of the four meetings is competed between four national teams, and each national team will be represented by four riders; there shall be no substitute rider:
The meetings last for 20 heats with one rider for each competing team will race in each heat. Each rider is scheduled to race in five heats and face each of the opposing nations' riders once during the meeting. Teams score 3 points if their rider wins a heat, 2 points if their rider finishes second, 1 for a third-place finish, and none if their rider finishes last or is excluded from a heat.
If a team fall six points behind the leader then they are allowed to make tactical substitutions, replacing a rider who is possibly out of form for one who is playing better in the hope of closing the gap on the leader. Each team is also allowed to play one "joker" if they fall six points behind the leader. With the joker, a team will score double the points their finishing position is usually worth, so if their rider finishes first, they will pick up six points instead of the normal three. This is a controversial rule but was implemented with the intention of keeping interest in meetings that may have been a foregone conclusion. No jokers are allowed to be used during heats 17-20 though a tactical substitute may still be used. The final four heats are nominated by their team managers. The lowest scoring team has first pick followed the team in third place, then the second place team, and finally the leading team.
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Wikipedia