Sten Lundin

This article describes the Swedish motor sportsman; for the US politician with a similar-sounding name, see Stan Lundine .

Sten Lundin at a motorcycle race in the Netherlands (1956)

Sten "Storken" Lundin (born November 20, 1931 in Stockholm ; † June 3, 2016 ) was a Swedish motocross driver and two-time motocross world champion in the 500 cc class (1959 and 1961). Lundin was mainly active in the 1950s and 1960s and then largely withdrew from active competitive sports. In addition to motocross, he was also active as an enduro driver and was also a driver in car races, especially in the 1960s.

Career

Sten Lundin was born on November 20, 1931 and started his racing career as a teenager on AJS 350 bikes , without rear suspension and various other modifications. At the beginning of his competitive time, an agreement was reached with the Ceriani factory in Italy , which was closed in 1980 and manufactured motorcycle forks specifically for Lundin. Ceriani subsequently produced the forks for numerous internationally known motorcycle brands. Lundin was particularly active as a motocross driver in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1955 he was part of the successful Swedish team led by Bill Nilsson and Lasse Gustafsson , which won the Motocross des Nations of 1955 in Randers , Denmark . He had previously won the Swedish championship in the same year, which he won two more times in the 500 cc class in 1958 and 1961. He mostly worked for the Uppsala MCK team. Also in 1955 he was the first Swede to win a Grand Prix abroad ( Imola ), where he later won three more times (until 1965).

In the course of his career he also rode motorcycles from the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA), with which he also won various races. At the first European Motocross Championship in 1955, Lundin received the bronze medal; two years later he also received the bronze medal at the first Motocross World Championship in 1957. He also won this at the World Championships in 1958, 1962 and 1964. Other notable placements were silver medals at the World Championships in 1960 and 1963, as well as the two gold medals already mentioned at the World Championships in 1959 on a Monark and 1961 on a Lito . In addition to the Team World Championship (Motocross des Nations) won in 1955, he also won the gold medal with the Swedes at the World Championships in 1958, 1961 and 1962. In 1967 he won the FIM Europe Cup on a 750 cm³ machine. In 1961 he was one of two winners of the Svenska Dagbladet gold medal alongside the speedway driver Ove Fundin . In the course of his active career, he won 24 grands prix.

From 1963 he appeared as a car racing driver, taking part in the Midnattssolsrallyt , the midnight sun rally , in 1965 and 1966 . He also took part in Norwegian rallies, was second in the Finnish championship in Riihimäki with a VW 1500 in 1963 , and achieved a stage win with a VW 1600TL at the RAC Rally of 1965, in which he was eighth overall. In 1966, his last year as a racing car driver, he took part in the Rallye dei Fiori in the Italian Alps with a Renault . During a period of eight years (1957 to 1964) he never finished worse than third in the final ranking of the Grand Prix Overall World Cup. In the 1970s he was jointly responsible for the development of the Yamaha HL 500 when he worked as a service employee at Hallman & Eneqvist Motor AB . The Swedish motocross rider Bengt Åberg won the world championship title in the 500 cc class in 1969 and 1970 with a Yamaha HL 500 .

After he was active as a motorcycle racing driver from 1949 to 1972 and as a car racing driver from 1963 to 1966, he largely withdrew from active competitive sport and spent his private life collecting old motorcycles, among other things. With a large part of it he won various competitions; the oldest piece is a Royal Enfield (500 cc four-valve engine) from 1930, which he acquired when he was 16. In 2002 the Swedish Post issued a stamp with Sten Lundin as a motif. Sten Lundin died on June 3, 2016 at the age of 84 in his Swedish homeland, leaving behind his wife Britt, their son Kenneth, and two grandchildren.

Web links

Commons : Sten Lundin  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Sten "Storken" Lundin presenteras! (Swedish)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ MOTOCROSS DES NATIONS WINNERS / RIDERS / TRACKS (1947–2015) ( Memento of the original from June 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed June 6, 2016 
2. ↑ Sten Lundin on NE.se (Swedish), accessed June 6, 2016
3. ↑ Bragdguldvinnaren Sten Lundin är död (Swedish), accessed June 6, 2016