Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

SPEEDWAY .W C orld hampionshipIndividual Series Round 1:PolishGrand Prix , that prestigiou s A-fina l berth, and h e seemed content not to take any chances and se ttle for the 16 Grand Prix points fo r a fo u rt h - p la ce fin is h . La st yea r Hamill ma naged overall fifth pl ace in the series, finishing behind his countryman an d British league clubmate Greg Han cock. Hancock was den ied the op portunity of join in g Hamill in the A final when he scored a zero in h is las t qu alifying heat, bu t the 25-year-old and reigning U.S. N ati onal Ch ampion took ad van ta ge o f the extremely muddy conditions an d a mistake by Gollo b in the B final to sneak into third place after running in last place for the first lap. That earned h im 12 GP p oin ts and can be co nsidered a rea so na ble s ta rt in th e kn owled ge th at he ha s the w orld -class po ten tial to improve as the series progresses. (Left) Danish rider Tommy Knudsen (left) added a third Grand Prix title to his collection with a victory at the opening round of the World Champions hip Individual Series In-Wroclaw, Poland . Former World Champion Tony Rlckardsson (right) of Sweden finished s econd. (Below) Reigning World Champion Hans Nielsen of Denmark (left) leads Team Exlde's Billy Hamill. Nielse n was third in the A Final and Hamill was fourth. By Joh n Hlp klss WROCLAW, POLAND, MAY21 h at a d ifference 12 months can ma k e . At le a st th at is wh at Tommy Knudsen ca n beli eve afte r p ick in g up hi s thir d G rand Prix w in a n d b e com in g the cha mpion of the. Polish Gr and Pr ix in Wr oclaw. For it was here in Wroclaw in 1995 that any aspirations of be comin g th e first-ever Wor ld Grand Prix cha mpion wer e effectively wi ped ou t w hen a secon d-ri de crash saw him sus tai n a damaged sho ulder. But in '96, in fro nt of a 27,000-strong crowd , the 34-yea r-old Dane sto rmed to three impressive race wins to lea d the pack at the halfway stage. He looked head and shou lders above the rest of the fie ld, incl u ding reigning World Cham pion an d country ma n Hans Nielsen who had already run in th ir d pl ace in hi s seco n d rid e. The only other rider at thi s stage who h ad ridd en impres s ivel y enough to suggest he had designs on the meeting had been Swed en 's Henka Gu stafsson, but Lad y Luck was certai nly not in his corner as h e s im p ly su ffe re d one o f those nights where the gremlins pla yed mor e of a role than h is opponents. W 4 QUA LIFYING HEATS In the ve ry fir st heat on the la rge Polish circuit, Gu stafsson failed to success fu lly negotiate th e secon d turn as Nielsen's ba ck wheel flipped around in front of him. Th e Sw ede cr ashed ou t and although he w as the cause of the stop p age clearly felt a little aggrfeved and even attempted to come out for the rerun. He convincingly won his second . r id e and was giV ing chase to Brita in ' s bri ghte st h op e, Ga ry Ha velo ck, in h is third before a wiring problem cau sed th e Swede to p ull up. His next rid e sa w him line up alongsi d e Knu d s en , a n d it wa s a relief to Gustafsso n that he managed to es ta blish an un as s a il a b le lea d a s h is b ike began to fade as the finish app roached. Knudse n h a d to settle fo r t hird place behin d American Bill y Hamill w ho h ad been solidl y scoring in e ac h of h {s outings. That is the name of th e game in th e Grand Pri x se r ies, to sco re in eac h heat and accu m ulate e no ugh p o ints t o _ e ns u re an A-fin al b erth . Knud s en ad ded another point in his las t outing when he met Nielsen and Polis h hom e lad Gollob. As the rider s came to th e tapes the chants of "Tommy, Tommy" were eq ua lly d ivided b etwen Go llo b and Knudsen. Th e Dan e rid es Po lis h Leagu e s p ee d way for Wroclaw and w as well -supp ort ed throu ghout th e meeting. Already into d ouble figures, Knudsen seemed content with his th ird place, ahe ad of Gr eg H ancock, who, fourth ov era ll in th e se ries la st ye ar, had lik e Hamill scored in each of hi s previous four rides. Goll ob' s win over N ielsen m ov ed him into double figures, but he failed to GRAND PRIX HEATS W hil e referee Gra ha m Brod ie wa s confirmi ng the fina l fini sh ing positions after the 20 h e a t s, th e threa te n ing incl ement weather gathered over the t r a ck and tr e a te d the cro wd to an im p romp tu electric s to rm, the like of which had n ot been se en before. The dark Polish skies lit up as the lightning flash ed ove r the pi ts, and with stea dy rain fa lling the fou r riders for the D final wer e called in to position. Ma rvyn Cox, Jaso n Cru mp, Leig h Adam s and Joe Screen h ad reco rd ed just one heat w in betwen them, that in hea t 15 when Adam s triump hed over ielsen . That w a s t he o n e br ig h t se cu re h is berth in th e A fina l at the expense of Ton y Rickardsson, who had also attaine d 10 p oints over the heats. Ricka rdsson's earlier victory ov er the Pole put him into the posit ion of being unable to se lect gate p ositions as his three rivals in th e A final - Knudsen; Ni elsen, and Ham mill, a ll previo u s Grand Pr ix winner s - h ad all fin ished on 11 points api ece. : Hamill, whose ventu res in the Wreclaw-staged opening round last sea son w e r e limited to just two hea ts a s a rese rve replacement for Knudsen and a third place in the D final, was the pick of th e American trio thi s time round. Solid scoring in ea ch heat earned him moment of an otherwise di sappointing debut GP for Adams, who w as denied a second heat win in his final ride after leading for the best p art of heat 17 before his engine packed up. But there was more heartbreak waiting round the corner in the D fin a l when Screen ju mped out of the traps. Adams went for and successively achieved the big sweep around the outside while his fellow Australian Crump surge d up the inside of Screen. As the tw o Australians prepared to attack the third tum, Crump's footpeg tangled with Adam s' front wheel throwing Adams off the m ach ine into the fence and bouncing him back onto

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