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/127950
/ SPEEDWAY WORLD INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES p,.:>-- - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - (Left) Three-time World Champion Hans Nielsen roared to life In front of his home crowd and scored a big win at the Danish Grand Prix in Vojens , Denmark. (Above) Nielsen reaps the accolade of his popular victory. He now s its in fourth place in the se ries standings. By John Hipkiss VOjE\JS, DENMARK. jUl\'E 19 Da ne" H a n s ie lsen "" I , . i I proved he still has wha t it ~ tak es to match the best rid ers in the world with a su perb win in his home country during round three of the World Championship speedway series at Vojens Speedway Ce nt re in Vojens, Denma rk. N ie lsen-showed superb fo rm a t a tra ck o n wh ich h e h a s d om inated thr ou gh the yea rs. The win moved him in to third p lace in the overall standings at th e halfw a y p o int of th e World Champion ship Series . But with Swede Ton y Rick ardsson fini shing third on the night, and close rivals jimmy Nil sen a nd Billy Ha mill finis hing lower down the orde r, it leaves him a m a s s iv e 22 po in ts a he ad of Nilsen. Rickardsso n bans all talk of him w inn ing the title a t this stage, but it wou ld likely tak e some so rt of miracle to stop him. n:'1""'-I"" ai n A ~ ~ ~ 22 Rei gn in g champion Greg Ha ncock had his bes t meeting of the series, ge tting thro ugh to the Consolation Fina l an d finis hing sixth overall, but he now has to admit that his cha nces of reta ining th e title a re all bu t over. Hancock ha s been a ma jor cr it ic in th e w a r of wo rd s with the s po r t's a u t ho ri ties rega rding the new race format for GP raci ng, and it may n ot be so hard to understand his reasons wh y. In the firs t round in Pragu e he was forced out after only two races - an d the same happened to his fell ow Ca lifo rni an Billy Ha mill, the 1996 World Cha mpion, in this mee ting. And ye t ther e may be at least so me merit to Han cock's com plaints, and not only because of the fact that he has so far failed to reach an A Final. Many rid ers and fan s felt that the meeting was poor for th e majority of the qualifying heats, with a big and fas t trac k serv ing only to g ive the fastes t guys fro m th e ga te any ch ance of winning races. It seems that this era of ultra-fas t speed- way machines on big and flat tracks is reducin g the en tertai nme n t val ue that the series greatly enjoy ed just one year ago . aUALIAERS Chr is Lo uis , th e n ewl y cro w n ed British Cha m pion, had his best meeting of the series, taking the ru nner-up spot, and he started the racing in style with a good ride to take ou t Jason Crum p in the firs t race. Cru m p was left wit h no cha nce, as he was on the receiving end of Louis' aggression, and the same can be sai d of Craig Boyce, w ho was hit on the inside by Lars Gunnes tad . Brian Andersen was back in actio n af ter a n a sty s ho u lder in ju ry w h ich threat ened to bring his seaso n to an end - but h e respond ed in s ty le w it h a superb ride to pass Toni Kasper in a rare m om en t of exci te m e n t in th e ea r ly stages of heat tw o . In th e sa me ra ce, Mark Lorarn did well to hold off Zoltan Ad orjan for th ird after losing con trol and going to the fence. Andersen' s fellow Dane Brian Karger was a clea r wi nner of heat three, as he p u lled a hea d of Ryan Su lliva n, a n d Wo rl d Un der-2 1 Cha m pion j espe r B. Jensen tried everything to ge t the better of Armando Castagna , but there was no way thr ou gh . It was a miserable night for Po lish sensa tion Piotr Prota siewicz, who started w ith a nasty cras h in hea t four and was forced in to a last- cha nce race. He respo nded well to this, with an impressiv e win in hea t five , a race which saw the elimination of Boyce and Adorjan. Loram h e ld on to h is G ra n d Pri x p lace w it h his b rave race in heat si x, . wh en he passed Ulamek to get second; Ulam ek wa s force d ou t a lo ng w it h je nse n in a race won by Gunnes tad . The next tw o races were wo n by Lou is and the impressive Stefan Danno - bu t these we re no t races which included elimination, so the p ress u re was no t so great, and it was clear in the standard of entertainment as well: zero ! Heat nine was the next pressure race, wi th Lora m punchi ng the air as he went ov er the fi nish line fo r a win a fte r a tough first turn which saw him dive on the inside. Aussies Sullivan and Adams we re the unlucky ones on this occas ion, with Protasiewicz working hard ·to go throug h in second . Heat 10 needed to be rerun a fter the Italian , Cas tag na , went down in th e first turn and cau sed th e stop page of the race. He was allowed back in, bu t his nigh t was to end early along wi th Gunnestad 's, wit h And ersen an im pressive winner again. The mai n event was next, as the lop guys joined in the actio n, starting wit h Hancock in heat 11, and he wasted n o tim e in sig nali ng a w arn in g 10 th ose who had written him off by riding hard aga ins t Rickardsson and do ing w ell to . block him out. Danno wa s quick from the start of heat 12, and N ielsen worked hard to pass Nilsen for second place. Loram was the star of the sho w when it came to entertai nment, and he pulled off a br eathtakin g ride 10 pass Hamill in heat 13 afte r ga ting la st. It w as an im p or ta n t se co n d pl a ce, and Ton i Kasper wa s the surprise win ner .