Motala Arena

Motala Arena

Location	Vinnerstadsvägen, 591 45 Motala, Sweden
Coordinates	58°31′29″N 15°04′30″E
Capacity	8,000
Owner	Motala municipality
Operator	Piraterna motorcycle speedway
Opened	1972
Length	(291 metres) 0.291 km

Motala Arena or Autoexperten Arena for sponsorship purposes^[1] is a motorcycle speedway track located in the southern outskirts of Motala. The track is on the Vinnerstadsvägen road and forms part of the Dunteberget Motorstadion,^[2] which includes motocross and a smaller speedway track inside the standard track.^[3]

The stadium hosts the Piraterna speedway team that compete in the Swedish Speedway Team Championship^[4] and have been champions of Sweden on two occasions.^[5]

History

The stadium opened in 1972 and hosted significant speedway events such as a qualifying event for the World Championship from 1979^[6] to 1983^[7] and the semi final of the Junior European Championship in 2001.^[8]

Arguably its most valuable events held were the Swedish Individual Speedway Championship in 2006^[9] and in 2009 and 2010, it hosted the semi final of the World Championship qualifying known as the Grand Prix Challenge.

The record attendance was 6,800 on 4 September 2011.^[10]

In 2023, the track changed its name again (for sponsorship reasons) from the RMV SKOG Arena to the Autoexperten Arena.^[11] Also during 2023, questions arose over whether the Piraterna team would use the track in 2024 but eventually they came to an agreement with the Motala municipality to continue racing there.^[12]

Track records

• 291m Jonas Davidsson, 55.90 seconds, 7 June 2016

References

1. "RMV Skog Arena Motala". Zuzelend. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
2. "Dunteberget Motorstadion". Geoview. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
3. "Welcome to SMK Motala's website!". SMK Motala. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
4. "Speedway Around The Globe - Sweden". Speedway Star. 23 July 2022. pp. 38–39.
5. "MOTALA / PIRATERNA - Sweden". Speedway Plus. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
6. Oakes, Peter (1981). 1981 Speedway Yearbook. Studio Publications (Ipswich) Ltd. ISBN 0-86215-017-5.
7. "1983 season". Speedway.org. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
8. Bamford, Reg (2004). Speedway Yearbook. Tempus Publishing, Stroud. ISBN 978-0-7524-2955-7.
9. "HISTORICAL RESULTS 1948-2015". Speedway History. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
10. "Home". Piraterna Speedway Club. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
11. "The pirates' arena is changing its name again: That's what it will be called in 2023". MVT. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
12. "Smektala signs Vastervik extension". FIM. Retrieved 29 November 2023.