Herning, Uhre Speedway

Track Address: Uhrevej 78 7470 Karup

Herning MS

When Herning Motor Sport in the late 1960-es established a moto cross track in the moorland at Uhre near Karup, there already was an oval earth track, used for horse training. It was usable for other horsepowers than the living, and in 1969 it got converted to a 360 meters long speedway. A smaller track for the all over Denmark rapidly growing mini speedway for youngsters got added in 1974, now used for 80 cc and micro speedway.

  Uhre banen

The motor sports center at  Uhre in satellite view. The 500 cc track and the smaller track
for 80 og 50 cc speedway are surrounded by the moto cross track.

 April  26. 1969. Danish tournament: The very first meeting on Uhre speedway was a match in the first division between the home team “Uldjyderne” (the Woolers) and “Skovfolkene” (the forest people) from Frederiksborg Amts Motor klub.
The result was a great win 51 – 33 for the home team.
The track was said to be very fast, however somewhat loose in the surface, like all new tracks use to be.

Through the first couple of years it only had status as a training track, and as such no public attention was allowed at the meetings.The club had  more than two years discussion with various authorities before the track could be fully accepted and the doors could be opened for the official inauguration on 2. Easter day 1971.

April 12.  1971. Inauguration meeting:
Bright sunshine and good public attention framed the clubs reward for the hard voluntary work and the exhausting negotiations. The track was in perfect condition and good riding times got achieved, Best by Jorn Mogensen from Silkeborg, who with 75,6 seconds for 4 laps rode the first official track record.

Results:
Senior special 500 cc
.
1. Jorn Mogensen,              Silkeborg     20 point.
2. Niels Weiss,                     Herning      15 point.
3. Erling Rasmussen,          Fredericia   11 point.

Junior Special 500 cc.
1. Henning Jahn,                 Ikast            10 point.
2. Finn Thogersen,              Haderslev     7 point.
3. J. E. Krause Kjaer,            Aarhus          6 point.

Senior sport 250 cc.
1. Bent Sorensen,               Randers      19 point.
2. Ernst Jensen,                   Skive           13 point.
3. Leif Rasmussen,             Roskilde      10 point.

Junior sport 500 cc.
1. Kurt Fredriksen,             Silkeborg     19 point.
2. Peter Bang,                     Silkeborg     15 point.
3. Svend E. Sorensen,         Aalborg       12 point.

Senior Side car 500 cc.
1. Frank Damgaard / Henning Damsgaard,    Aarhus                        15 point.
2. Bent Jorgensen / Erik Ruge,                         Haderslev                   10 point.
3. Tom Nielsen / J. Voldsgaard,                        Silkeborg                      8 point.

April 15.1974.  Scandinavian meeting.
Near 6000 fans watched  Ole Olsen, Arne Andreasen and  Jørn Mogensen, all Denmark,  Anders Michanek from Sweden and the Norwegians Tore and Tomas Langli.
Ole Olsen was in great form and won all his  5 heats. Anders Michanek trailed him closely except in the first heat, where retired with engine failure. The rest of the field got left behind in clouds of dust.
A Junior sidecar class rode hard, close to violently, but apart from material scratched no har was done..

Results:
Expert 500 cc.
1. Ole Olsen,                       Denmark    25 point.
2. Anders Michanek,          Sweden      16 point.
3. Arne Andreasen,            Denmark.   13 point.

Senior special 500 cc.
1. Ole Hermansen,             Silkeborg    18 point.
2. Leif Berlin,                       Odense      16 point.
3. Jan René,                         Haderslev   11 point.

Junior special 500 cc.
1. John Rosenkrantz,          Fredericia   17 point.
2. Jan Norregaard,              Esbjerg       12 point.
3. Henning Jensen,             Herning        7 point.

Youngsters 50 cc.
1. Alf Busk,                          Silkeborg    15 point.
2. Torben Therkelsen,        Silkeborg    13 point.
3  Bent Rasmussen,            Herning        7 point.

Junior sidecar.
1. Niels Munk Nielsen / Poul Erik Nielsen  12 point.
2. Knud Jepsen / Ernst Andersen                  8 point.
3. Jens Mikkelsen / Frank Hansen                 4 point.

From 1974 the mini speedway has been home track for the team ”Mini uldjyderne”.

April 13. 1975. International speedway:
Once again Ole Olsen won the expert class with a wide margin, this time  ahead of the Swede Tommy Jansson and British Ray Wilson. Egon Müller from Germany crashed in a collision with Wilson’s rear wheel. He was sent to hospital in Herning. but nothing was broken.

Results: International expert 500 cc
1. Ole Olsen,                       Denmark    24 point.
2. Tommy Jansson,            Sweden       19 point.
3. Ray Wilson,                     England      17 point.
4. Kurt Bogh,                       Denmark      9 point.
5. Egon Müller,                   W. Germany 4 point.

Senior special 500 cc.
1. Ernst Bogh,                     Holsted       17 point.
2. Arne Andreasen,            Fredericia   15 point.
3. Ole Hermansen,             Silkeborg    14 point.

 Juni 7.1976, International expert meeting:
Before this meeting the club made changes to the track: A new wooden safety fence was erected and the track itself was improved so full throttle could be kept all the way round. Also facilities for the spectators were improved. After the initial 20 heats, a final heat was ridden with the four riders who achived the fastest heat winning times.
Andres Michanek blew two engines and borrowed a bike from Alf Busk.
Results:
1. Ole Olsen,                       Denmark    15 point.
2. Terry Betts,                     England      14 point.
3. M. Helminen,                  Finland       11 point.
4. Michael Lee,                   England      10 point.
5. Kurt Bogh,                      Denmark    10 point.
6. Gunnar Svendsen,         Denmark    10 point.

Final, fastest four:
1. Ole Olsen.

Junior special 500 cc.
1. Thomas Kjærgaard.

Youngsters 50 cc.
1. Tommy Knudsen,           Skaerbaek.

May 30. 1977 international meeting.
The meeting should have been a happy celebration of the clubs 40-years anniversary, but the joy vanished when the referee found the track in so bad condition, that he withdrew the track inspection report and ordered a new inspection before the next meeting. This meeting however got absolved.

Results:
International expert:

1. Michael Lee,                   England      14 point.
2. Terry Betts,                     England      13 point.
3. Ole Olsen,                       Danmark    11 point.

Junior special:  
1. Svend Lund,                   Esbjerg

Youngsters 50 cc:
1. Flemming Pedersen,      Esbjerg.
From 1978 to 1983 no meetings apart from compulsory tournament meetings were held on the Uhre Speedway
Then in 1979 – 1980  Herning Municipality made plans to develop the area around speedway- and moto cross tracks to a greater motor sports center.
The neighbor club in Hammerum (a suburb to Herning) was denied environmental permission for a new track of their own. The municipality suggested that the Hammerum club with only 8 riders should enter cooperation with Herning Motor Sport, The Hammerum club dennied and would  work to get their own track opened. Despite intervention from the Jutland Motor Union the negotiations stranded and the municipality shelved their plans.

 August 27.1983.
U21 Nations match Denmark – Sweden – Poland – W. Germany.

Before this meeting the Danish national junior team had lost three times in a row against Sweden in Sweden and was hungry for revenge. Now it was time to show strength against three nations of which one was Sweden. And revenge they got, although with the narrowest possible margin.
Only 400 fans attended the meeting, and the track was badly prepared. It took some time for the guests to adapt to it, before they could go full throttle. When they did, things went wrong out of bend four in heat four. Very close riding caused all four riders to tumble around in a big cloud of dust. All riders cold walk away from the scene, but two bikes were crushed beyond recognition.
Results:
1. Denmark                       36 point.                 2. Sweden                        33 point.
Peter Glanz                         11 point.                 Leif Wahlmann                     9 point.
Erik Olsen                             8  point.                 Michael Blixt                        8 point.
Peter Olsen                           6 point.                 Kenneth Nystrom                8 point.
Aksel Jepsen                          6 point.                 Stefan Karlsson                   4 point.
Knud Erik Knudsen               5 point.                 Conny Ivarsson                   4 point.

3. Poland                            26 point.                 4. W. Germany                 13 point.
Zenon Kasprzak                  15 point.                   Peter Hehlert                     7 point.
Henryk Bem                          5 point.                   Helmuth Balfanz                4 point.
Woiciech Zaluski                   4 point.                   Christoph Preis                  2 point.
Roman Feld                           3 point.                   Uwe Gessner                      0 point.

In 1984 the club acquired second hand a 200 m2 wooden building, which temporarily stood in mid Herning as a shop. It got erected as an angular club lodge with track office, cafeteria, cloak room, toilets and bath.

HMS saw in 1985 a number of members leave the club, not because they were tired of speedway or unhappy with the club.But as the only club in the northwestern part of Jutland, many of its members travelled more than 100 km. on the road for a training night on the Uhre track.
A newly opened club in Holstebro established a speedway at Skave near Holstebro. Therefore Herning members living in that area switched to the new club.
A pity for Herning Motor Sport, but seen from above positive, that in a time where many tracks met restrictions or closed due to environmental rules, a new track could cold open (see Holstebro in the menu left).

August 1-5. 1989 World Masters Games speedway:
Age is no hinderness for speedway riding. A proof was brought by the 5 days meeting where a number of former international super stars gathered first time since they stopped their carreers.
The initial round were ridden on Thursday night, among others with 57 years old Kaj “Blacksmith” from Ikast, who rode very skilled despite a minor slip. However the winner of the night was the somewhat younger Jens Peter Nielsen from Outrup Speedway Club.
He did not ride Friday night, where the list was supplied with some of HMS’s junior riders. One of them was Jens Peter Andersen who, in a heat with the club’s chairman 56 years old Bent Svenningsen, respectfully stayed behind him to the finish line loudly applauded by the spectators.

Sunday’s finals were attended by 2000 fans who in a fierce heat saw the returned Jens Peter Nielsen with 15 point beat
Jens Henry Nielsen with 14. The Russians Mihail Starotskin and Victor Kuznesov respectively scored 13 and 12 point.
In the interval an 80 cc heat was won by Jesper Pedersen ahead of Hans Knut.. The junior 500 cc rider rode a close heat won by Knud Lundager in front of Jens Peter Andersen, Kenneth Nielsen and Kjeld Mikkelsen.

Then came what everyone had been looking forward to:
Peter Collins, England, Ivan Mauger and Barry Briggs from New Zealand, Bengt Jansson, Anders Michanek og Bernt Persson from Sweden and Bruce Penhall from USA should meet Ole Olsen.
Penhall gave a fantastic show by winning a heat after more straights wheelies.
After the last heat Ole Olsen and Ivan Mauger stood tied, and a race-off was waited, but to the crowd’s disappointment they decided to let the result in their common heat decide, which gave the victory to Ole Olsen.

In 1998 a new referee’s box on top of a high tower  replaced the old wooden shed. It should be used first time at an old- boys meeting with this webmaster as referee. All leads and the switchboard were moved to the new tower, but the old shed still stood and blocked the view to the gates.
At time consuming but failed attempt to remove it, only delayed the opening. So what to do?
A present good referee colleague Tonny Grimstrup proposed a very untraditional alternative to cancelling of the meeting.
He took place at the infield stanchion at the gates, where I had eye contact with him. In his hand he had the switch, which was used to release the tape at training.
When the riders were ready at the tape. I lit the green light, and he released the tape and kept an eye on uneven start and how the riders finished. It was not strict to the rules, but it worked, an no one complained.

scanuhre0001

The new tall tower is giving a perfect view all over the track.
(pict; Motorbladet Jul/Aug. 1998)

Dansish Speedway League: 1994 – 2001
1994:  Herning in the league with Tony Rickardsson from Sweden as captain. Place no. 4.
1995: Tony Rickardsson continued.  Place no. 6.
1996:  After Brovst’s exit the league, Hans Nielsen joined the Herning team. Place no. 6.
1997: Swedih Conny Ivarsson and Bjorn Gustafsson, Polish Slawomir Drabik and Sebastian Ulamek were togehter with Jan Staechmann and Ronni Pedersen the core of the team. Place no. 5
1998: Jan Stæchmann continued as captain. Number of teams reduced to 7. Place no. 7. No relegation. 1999: With  Vojens entering the league, again 8 team. Herning place no. 7.
2000:  Place: No. 2 and Silver medals.
2001: Danish Open Speedway League, 5 Danish clubs, German Güstrow and Kaparne from Gothenburg. Place Nr. 4.

May 14. 1995, U21 World Championship quarter final:
Resultater:
1. Daniel Andersson,          Sweden      13 point.
2. Ronni Pedersen,             Denmark    13 point.
3. Marcus Andersson,        Sweden       12 point.
4. Kaj Laukkanen,               Finland       12 point.
5. Nicki Pedersen,               Denmark     9 point.
6. Anders Nielsen,              Denmark      9 point.
7. Tomas Olsson,                Sweden        8 point.
8. Frank Richt,                     Sweden        8 point.

May 28. 1995. Danish Championship final Day 2.
On day 1 at Frederikslyst the weather was not good. Luckily it was much better on day 2, where an exciting duel between Brian Andersen and Brian Karger evolved.
Results:
1. Brian Andersen,              Fredericia     11+14 = 25 (+3) point.
2. Brian Karger,                   Fredericia     10+15 = 25 (+2) point.
3. John Jørgensen,               Fjelsted         11+12 = 23 point.
4. Gert Handberg,               Herning           8+13 = 21 point.
These four riders proceeded to the Nordic Final in Holsted.

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