a motorcycle sport. Speedway races are usually held on tracks surfaced with cinders; they may also be held on an ice track of a stadium or on dirt or grass tracks. As a rule, racers use motorcycles in the 500-cc class, with four-stroke-cycle single-cylinder engines that run on methanol. Models used include the Jawa from Czechoslovakia, the Japa and the Weslake from Great Britain, and the Wernece from the Federal Republic of Germany.
Held on a course measuring 280–400 m long, the races consist of a series of heats, usually 13 to 20. Four racers compete in each heat, which permits all participants to race one another. World speedway championships have been held as individual competitions since 1934, as team competitions since 1960, and as team competitions between pairs since 1970. They have been held on ice since 1966 and on dirt tracks, for a distance of 1,000 m, since 1971. Most victories in world speedway championships have been won by contenders from Great Britain, New Zealand, Sweden, Australia, Poland, and, in races on ice, the USSR. G. F. Kadyrov is a six-time world champion.