Andreas Karl Rune Jonsson (born 3 September 1980 in Stockholm, Sweden)[1] is a Swedish former international motorcycle speedway rider.[2] He was a member of the Sweden speedway team that won the World Cup in 2003, 2004 and 2015.[3] He earned 26 caps for the Sweden national speedway team.[4]
Career summary
Jonsson excelled at Under-21 level winning two Swedish U21 Championships in 1998 and 2000,[5] three Scandinavian titles and the 2000 Speedway Under-21 World Championship.[6] He began his career in his native Sweden riding for Rospiggarna in 1996 nut would be a regular rider in the British and Polish leagues. He started in Britain in 1998 for the Coventry Bees[7] and one year later in 1999 in Poland for Stal Gorzów Wielkopolski.
He soon became one of the sports leading riders and first participated in the Speedway Grand Prix (the World Championship) in 2001. He would remain a Grand Prix rider for 16 consecutive years until the end of the 2016 season.
He won the $100,000 first prize on offer at the 100th Speedway Grand Prix, billed as the 'Richest Minute in Motorsport'[8] and won eight Grand Prix events in total. His greatest achievement came in 2011, when he was the World Championship runner-up behind Greg Hancock.
In addition to nearly becoming the World individual champion he did win three World team Championships (Speedway World Cup) with Sweden in 2003, 2004 and 2015. He medalled another ten times.[9]
Andreas Jonsson has also won the Swedish Championship on seven occasions in 2006, 2007, 2009,
2010, 2011, 2013 and 2016.[10]
In late-August 2019, he announced his retirement from motorcycle speedway.[11]
Speedway Grand Prix results
| Year | Position | Points | Best Finish | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 24th | 7 | 11th | One ride as a wild card in Sweden |
| 2002 | 14th | 70 | 4th | |
| 2003 | 10th | 76 | 4th | |
| 2004 | 7th | 97 | 2nd | |
| 2005 | 8th | 80 | 2nd | |
| 2006 | 4th | 119 | Winner | Won home event in Malilla (Sweden) |
| 2007 | 10th | 90 | Winner | Won events in Copenhagen (Denmark) and Gelsenkirchen (Germany) |
| 2008 | 7th | 100 | 4th | |
| 2009 | 5th | 116 | Winner | Won event in Vojens (Denmark) |
| 2010 | 9th | 95 | Winner | Won event in Bydgoszcz (Poland) |
| 2011 | 2nd | 125 | Winner | Won events in Terenzano (Italy), Torun (Poland) and Gorican (Croatia) |
| 2012 | 9th | 88 | 2nd | |
| 2013 | 13th | 64 | 7th | |
| 2014 | 6th | 103 | Winner | Won event in Vojens (Denmark) |
| 2015 | 10th | 88 | 3rd | |
| 2016 | 14th | 53 | 8th | |
| 2018 | =19th | 7 | =9th | 1 event only |
| Race no. | Grand Prix | Pos. | Pts. | Heats | Draw No |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 /11 |  Italian SGP
|
10 | 7 | (2,2,2,0,1) | 8 |
| 2 /11 |  European SGP
|
14 | 4 | (2,1,1,X,-) | 16 |
| 3 /11 |  Swedish SGP
|
12 | 5 | (2,1,0,0,2) | 3 |
| 4 /11 |  Danish SGP
|
1 | 16 | (0,2,1,3,2) +2 +3 | 15 |
| 5 /11 |  British SGP
|
13 | 5 | (2,1,1,X,1) | 1 |
| 6 /11 |  Czech Rep. SGP
|
10 | 7 | (3,1,3,X,-) | 15 |
| 7 /11 |  Scandinavian SGP
|
injury → (19) Peter Karlsson | 13 | ||
| 8 /11 |  Latvian SGP
|
8 | 8 | (3,2,0,1,2) +0 | 1 |
| 9 /11 |  Polish SGP
|
4 | 11 | (1,3,0,3,2) +2 +0 | 9 |
| 10 /11 |  Slovenian SGP
|
10 | 6 | (1,3,2,0,0) | 4 |
| 11 /11 |  German SGP
|
1 | 21 | (3,1,3,3,3) +2 +3 | 9 |
| permanent speedway rider | |
| wild card, track reserve or qualified reserve | |
| rider not classified (track reserve who did not start) |
See also
References
- ^ Oakes, P.(2006). Speedway Star Almanac. ISBN 0-9552376-1-0
- ^ Montague, Trevor (2004). The A-Z of Sport. Little, Brown. p. 522. ISBN 0-316-72645-1.
- ^ Bamford, Robert (2007-03-01). Tempus Speedway Yearbook 2007. NPI Media Group. ISBN 978-0-7524-4250-1.
- ^ "Ultimate rider index, 1929-2022" (PDF). British Speedway. Retrieved 7 September 2024.
- ^ "Individual Swedish Junior Championships". Speedway Fansite. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
- ^ Oakes, P (2005). British Speedway Who's Who. ISBN 0-948882-30-1.
- ^ "Bees sign Denmark shooting star Charlie". Coventry Evening Telegraph. 11 February 1999. Retrieved 29 August 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Jonsson wins top prize". SpeedwayWorld.tv. 2007-10-14. Retrieved 2007-10-26.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Speedway World Cup Nations" (PDF). motorsporttop20. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
- ^ "Individual Swedish Championship". Historia Sportu Zuzlowego. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
- ^ "Andreas Jonsson lägger av" (in Swedish). SVT Sport. 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.