Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127862
SPEEDWAY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP QUAUFIER SERIES GP CHALLENGE Wiener Neustadt, Austria (Lett) Piotr Prot asiewicz (foreg round) leads Stefan Danno (left), Henka Gustaf sso n (right) an d Leigh Adams (far right) at the GP Challenge in Wiener Neustadt, Austria . Protasiewicz . and Danne went on to become the two qua lifiers for Ihe 1998 World GP ., Series. By John Hlpklss WIENERNEUSTADT, AUSTRIA, ocr.4 aving been part of the GP setu p in 1997 by virtue of his World Junior title the season before, Piotr Protasie wicz of Polan d reveled on the slick, we ll-watered Wien er Neu stadt cir cuitto ou tpoint a number o f much more fan cied opponents in the last of the GP rou nd s for the season. Beaten only by To mas Topinka in the only race the Czech ho peful man aged to win, Pro tas iewicz beat his nearest riv al (a nd th e o ther automa tic GP qualifier), Stefa n Danno, in their opening heat. By that duel, the Houdini of GP speedway, Andy Smith, had already set his stall out by winning the opening heat after havin g to work hi s wa y arou nd the fa s ttrapping Piot r Swi st. It wa s Significant that the two other rid ers in that opening heat , Sam Ermolenko and the flu-ridden Ch ris Louis, were two of the pre-meeting favo rites. Brit ain's Kelvin Tatum, fresh fro m a three-week layoff due to a niggling ba ck in jury, w a s d en ied th e three points that were origi na lly credited to his sco recard when his bike was weig hed in six pounds lighter tha n it had be en at the officia l scrutineering. The re sulting disqualification gave Peter Karlsson a boost, as hi s seco nd p lace was sudd enly wort h three poi nts , while Joe Screen also picked u p a much- needed poi nt. For bot h riders, the rest of the m eet in g was not to tu r n o ut quite so happily. . 00 O nce Protas ie wi cz and Danna r-, 0\ 0\ ,..... N N .... QJ .n o .... u o 32 r .{mped hom e w e ll clea r of Leigh Ada ms a nd Henrik Gustafsso n - two rid ers with much more GP experience ~ it was becoming eviden t th at any premat ch predi ctio ns would be well off tar- (Above) Sam d istracl the Aussie from his task of starting with an all-important win. Fortu nes turned arou nd somewhat in h eat fiv e w he n Adams produced a Erm olcnko's chances fo r B seed ing Int o the '98 GPs were ruined much more inspired ride to win from as the Ameriean was the ou tside.by a good distance. Whether Tatum's exclusion had pl ayed on his mind is uncertain, bu t he was so filledin with di rt tha t he wa s forced to pull u p on th e thi rd la p . Th is meant a s ing le point for Ermolenko, bu t the American was already clea rly upset with the way his afternoon was go ing. An irresponsibly pla ced cameram an d elayed the start of heat six by positioning hi mself right in fro nt of th e green hopeles sly oulmolored all day. Ermo lenko sco red seven po in ts on the day to t ie for seventh place. (Righi) (Left to right) Oanno. Pro ta s ie wicz and GP reserves Cra ig Boyce and leigh Ad ams pos e for a picture TIle Grand Prix Seeding System get. Craig Bo yce w on th e battle to th e first turn in heat four after a brave look up th e in s id e from Se bas tian Ulamek, the fastest rider in practice. The Pol e s o o n dropped off the pa ce, bu t his countryman [a cek Kryzyza niak then gave Boyce a couple of scares, alt ho ugh he also wa s not troubleso me enoug h to 8 2 2 1 Top eight from t 997 Grand Pnx Series Top two from Intercontinental Final Top two fro m Continental Final Under·21 World Champion 2 Top 2 from GP Challe_ 1 WlId card entry from hosting GP country 16 r iders for 199 8 W orld Championship Individual Series on lhe Victory rostrum. light, to the annoyance of Protasiewicz, and once th e start was made, Protas iewicz lost ground to Topinka. Badgering him all th e way, Protasiewicz could n't make it tw o for two, and nei th er co uld Smith, who end u red an alIEnglis h battle wit h Screen for a single po int. A very ragged start in heat seven saw Bo yce cree ping ever fo rwa r d a t th e tapes (and receiving a warning from refe re e Frank Ebdo n after th e r ace ) . It appeared to catch Slawomir Drabi k ou t, as he was left at the sta rt, onlv to eventua lly ge t a wa y b ut p ull o u t within a lap. Louis tried every thi ng he could to prevent Boyce from being the only rid er to be u nbeaten LIfter two rides, but the Aussie was on a mission. Dan na came from ou t of no w here in h eat e ig ht to wres tle the lead fro m Kryzyzani ak, w hile Karlsson fell to last. Heat nin e needed tw o att empts to get s ta rte d afte r Erm o le n ko fell when he m et traffic on the first tum. On the seco nd go , the fo rmer Wo rld Champion switched clev erly to the inside bu t was still no mat ch for Gustafsson , wh o wa s bus y p owering away fro m Screen a t midtrack befor e Screen came to an early hal t. An extremely tight first tum in heat 10 res ulted in Danno gai ning the ini tiative and becoming the firs t rider to head Boyce. Smith, battli ng for every point, also fou nd a route past, relegat ing the meeting lead er to thi rd in the heat and opening the chase righ t back u p again. Adams took the bes t pa rt of the firs t lap of heat 11 to work his way around the outsi de of Karlsson and Louis befo re es tablishing a big lead to ge t level wi th his feHow Aussie on seven poin ts. Protasiewicz won the battle of the Po les in heat 12, his se co nd ra ce w in being enough to give him join t overall lead wit h Dann a , who was to maintain his grou nd in the meeting with a tapesto-flag wi n in heat 13 afte r withs tanding an ea rly cha llenge from Ermolenko. Ula mek had the Polish fans on their feet in heat 14 as he fended off a d etermined Smi th, but coping with Karlsso n as well was unma nag eable. Afte r su rrendering the lead , Ula mek fou gh t back and held a reasonable ad vantage before