Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

.SPEEDWAY·. ..World 1ndiVidual ChampiOnship. series Round 4: Swedish Grand Prix (Left) Billy Hamill (center) became the first American to win a World Speedway Grand Prix In 1996 after storming to the A-Final victory at the Swedish Grand Prix. Sweden's Henka Gustafsson (left) was second while Poland's Tomasz Gollob (right) was third. (Below) Hamill (left) flashed Into the lead over Gustafsson (center) and Gollob (right) In the rerun of the A-FinsI. The rerun was necessitated sfter American Greg HancOCk crashed and was excluded. Heat three was all set to produce the first major shock when Swedish favorites Peter Karlsson and Henrik Gustafsson, second and third in Germany, found themselves trailing Arne.can Sam Ermolenko, anxious to put a disastrous 1996 series behind him, and Andy Smith. Until, that is, when Smith, perhaps a little distracted by the lifting Ermolenko, went sliding into the safety fence. His three opponents were ruled back to the start for a rerun, and Gustafsson took full advantage to win by a clear margin. Ermolenko, tp.eanwhile, had to work hard to pass Karlsson after missing out on half a chance when the current Wolverhampton star lifted on the first lap. As the last four riders took to the track for the first time, the first major shock - possibly of the whole series unraveled. With Nielsen lining up on the outside, his three opponents all delivered him a taste of his own medicine as they took him wide. With the Main Dane losing the all-important drive, it allowed Rickardsson, much to the excitement of the Swedish crowd, to take up the initiative. Hamill produced a solid second place, leaving Nielsen battling to pass and fill in Marvyn Cox for third. This , By John Hipkiss LlNKOEPING, SWEDEN, AUG. 10 wenty-six-year-old Californian Billy Hamill described the Swedish Grand Prix round at Linkoeping as "something of a roUercoaster meeting," and for many of his rivals it was certainly a white-knuckle ride as the 1996 series once again became an open affair. Victory for Hamill in a rerun A final that had seen Team Exide partner Greg Hancock take a fall was just what the doctor had ordered after Hamill's fluridden performance in Germany one round earlier. With GP leader Hans Nielsen producing his worst performance ever in a Grand Prix round - the world of speedway has now endured 10 such meetings - Hamill dosed a 23-point deficit down to a mere seven points, moving into second overall in the process and displacing Tony Rickardsson, who missed out on an ideal opportunity to capitalize on Nielsen's nightmare. QUALIFYING HEATS The sun-kissed meeting was to throw up many shocks, but Hancock's opening-heat win was not one of them. Perhaps the ease in which he had coasted home was startling to some as Australian pairing Leigh Adams (second) and Jason Crump (third) took their places in the 16-strong lineup after both Tommy Knudson (Denmark) and Gary Havelock (England) were again forced to sit out the meeting due to injury. Wild card Tomasz GoUob endorsed the F1M's decision to use him ahead of an alternative Swedish rider as he opened a healthy lead over the English pairing of Mark Loram and Joe Screen in heat two. With the luxury of the knowledge that he already has a berth in next year's series, Gollob's victory was a good tryout for him in top-level competition, and he will have learned that you must maintain full concentration throughout the distance - a mistake on the last tum could so easily have been punished had his opponents been more in contention. (Below) With the victory, Hamill now has a fighting chance at gaining the World Championship. He now sits seven points adrift of series leader Hans Nielsen. was the point where whispers of an off night for Nielsen began to echo through the crowd. Those whispers increased in resonance just one heat later when a clearly unsatisfactory start was allowed to go unpunished by referee Graham Brodie. Gustafsson took full advantage again and raced to win number two, with Hancock in his wake. Nielsen was a long way back, but clear of Screen, and the Dane had to be satisfied with third place again, his worst-ever start.in a GP round. Gollob leveled with front-runner Gustafsson as the two unbeaten riders when he ensured that a reasonable margin of sunlight shone between himself and Adams. Ermolenko had to settle for a third-place victory over the ever-struggling Cox. Jason Crump provided an upset for Rickardsson when he headed home the Swede in heat seven while his Australian teammate, Craig Boyce, was enduring a disastrous meeting. Boyce had switched back to his first-choice machine after being forced to jump on

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