Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

and Armando Cas tagna mad e progress. Martin Dugard was the unl uckiest man in the early s tages, as he was a clear leader of heat six befo re his bike failed , se nding him out of the competition. In the same race, Craig Boyce was exclu ded , and this left Andv Smi th and Zoltan Adorjan to make progress. Hamill made another perfect ga te in hea t seven and p ulled clea r of Screen, .A n d e r se n a nd Je nsen , a nd th is was enoug h to tak e the Californian thro ug h (Above) And what of BillyHamill (2) and Greg Hancock (1)1 The American hopefuls st ruggled jus t enough on the ir home track to do no better than the consolation final, seriously hampering their efforts to better their World title cha nces. (left) Bad day at the office: Although he failed eve n to make the sem ifinals at Coventry, World Championsh ip se ries points leade r Tony Rickardsson st ill holds a 10-point lead over fellow Swede J immy Nilsen. T!'e pair's home GP at Linkoping, Sweden, is next on the sc hedule. (Right, left to right) Runner-up Nilsen, winner Crump and third-placed Tomasz Gollob take to the Coventry podium. to th e main event. The next pressure ra ce ca me in heat n in e, w hen Adams a nd Ado rja n went ou t, Danno passing Adams in style with Andersen leading the wa y. Jensen wa s su perb aga in in heat 10 and finis hed second after startin g in last place. Gustafsson won, and th at m eant bad n ews for Sm ith a n d Castagna . MAIN EVENT Former World Champion Hans Nielse n entered th e a ction in heat 11 and looked "ra ce-rusty," as he finished last , wit h Ha mill lead ing for his third successive win to go through to hea t 17. Sulliv an co n t in u e d hi s s te a dy progress with an impressive ride in heat 12 to get the better of Tomasz Goll ob , w ho wa s making his first appearance of the night. Rickard sson start ed in hea t 13 and sent out a warning to his rival s with a su perb rid e, passin g Andersen and go, through to join Hamill in a supe rb heat17 lineup. Han cock also fire d a warning shot with a clea r w in in his firs t ride, heat 14, wi th Danno seco nd and Crump controve rsially exclu ded af te r a clash w it h Gustafsson . Jense n's entertaining nigh t ca me to an end in heat 15 w he n he went out alongsi de C h ris Lo u is; Nilsen an d Crump we n t thro ugh . ielsen recovered from his first- race d isa ppoi ntment w hen he wo n heat 16 in style, and Mark Lora m worked hard to pass Gus tafsson, w ho wen t out of the event along w ith Scree n. Go llob was a co mfortable wi nn er of hea t 17, w ith ' Hamill suffering his firs t defeat of the n ig ht - but he s till wen t throu gh to heat 22. Rickardsson trailed in last , bu t tha t was no d isast er, as he had ano ther chance in heat 20. Han cock secu red his semi fina l pla ce with an impress ive win in heat 18, and aga in this was from the ga te, wi th very little passing to report. Andersen a nd Loram were su rp rise failures in heat 19, with Danna and Nilsen go ing throu gh . Th ere was controversy in heat 20, as Nie lsen went d o w n in a d e s p erat e move, trying to win a re prieve, but the referee excluded him, and his nig ht was over. Rickardsson also went ou t in thi rd p lace, wit h Su llivan and Crum p going th rough in w ha t many beli eved was a shocking result. To be sure, Nielsen was quit e unhappy wit h the nig ht's tum of eve nts, and he criticized the race track as well. "The Coventry tra ck is a lot narrower than before, and I'm not too imp ressed wi th it," Nielsen said . " It has made it a lot mo re diff icult to pass. Gates on e and fou r were extreme ly difficult, and I had ga te one tw ice. I mad e a good start in m y last rid e , but I couldn 't ge t a ny speed ou t of the seco nd tum. Ov erall , I felt the track was too slick, and I didn't feel it was a grea t spec tacle. I am a lso d isappointed that I cou ld n' t make th e most of Ton y bein g kno cked ou t early." If Rickard sson was upse t a bo u t his troubled meeting, then he did not let on during his interviews. " It w as a very tou gh meet ing, and I did n' t feel too good abo u t th ings after blowin g tw o e ngines a nd crashi ng in p ractice on Th u rsd a y ," Rick a rd s so n said. "I virtually w recked a bike. But I was in second place when heat 20 was s top ped, an d I nearly caug ht Jason Crump in the reru n. 1 am still 10 poi nts ahea d wit h w hat I feel are the best two tracks to co me , at Linkoping and Bydgoszcz ." FINAL EVENT Eve n tua l wi nner Cru mp mad e su re of his pl ace in the fina l wi th a su perb ride in the firs t semifina l, heat 21 - but it was Go llo b w ho provided the exci tement for the 9000 fans. Gollob w orked wo nders to pass Da nno and join Crump in the final, which was shaping up as a superb lineup. Heat 22 pro vid ed ano the r shocking r esult , as both Hancock a n d H amill failed to mak e it th rough to th e final, with both Sulliva n a nd Nilsen pulling clear . The Team Exide duo were forced to se tt le for a pl ace in th e co nsolat io n final, and at thi s stage it was all about ge tting as man y G rand Prix points as possible. Hancock passed Kasper, who worked hard to ge t the bette r of Hamill an d Danna , and that was a crucial blow for Ha mill, who need ed the win to close the gap on Rickardsson, " I had p lenty of ra ce s, a nd 1 was goi ng fairly well wh en ther e was dirt on th e tra ck at the start, " Hamill sa id. "(Exide's) Tony Summers ga ve Greg and me so me ad ded pressure with his comme nts about the Exid e sponsorship in the buildup to the meeting, bu t 1 felt we turned a negati ve into a positive by both ha vin g go od meetin gs. We came up sho rt at the end, but it all cam e d own to making the start in the semifinal, and Ryan Sulliva n got the better of bot h of us. I'm now 20 points behind Ton y, and it's cru nch time in the last two rounds. But I ca me fro m b ehind to w in th e Grand Prix two years ago, and I' m still han ging in there." Hancock w as equa lly di sappointed, as thi s w as jus t one more kn ock in a G ra n d Pri x se aso n that ha sn 't been going so well for the d efend in g World Cha m pio n. "I wan ted to reach the Gra nd fina l, and the chance was there for Billy and me to mak e the most of Tony d ro pping out befo re th e se mifinals," H a n cock said. "But it just didn't happen and I am disappointed. I was flying high and feeling good, my bikes were working we ll, a nd I felt fast . I was cou nti ng on 25 points, and I'm upset I didn't ge t them . Jimm y ilsen d id brilliantly in finish ing second. We're good friends, and I kno w he's .in a lot of pai n with his collarbone. The real d ifficul ty wi th this new format is that yo u don 't ge t the op po rtu nity to h it every g ate p o sitio n . I also go t jammed in gate one in the semifi nal, a nd that was a big d isad va ntage." Go llo b was the fav or ite to w in the final , bu t t ru m p m ad e the sta rt a n d p ull ed off a s t u n n ing w in a hea d o f Nilsen, w ho moved to within 10 points of Rickard sson , Gollob had to se ttle for third as he passed Sulliva n, and a shocking result was co mp le te - but Cru m p was a wo rt hy w in ne r at th e en d of a long, hard nigh t for the Aussie rid er. "I went to th e firs t G ra nd Pri x th is year w ith a pretty bad illness, and then I was injured and could hardl y ride at the seco nd, " Crump said . " Bu t ge tting to th e G ra nd Final a t Vojens was a good springboard for me , and hope fully I can now s ta rt to ma ke an im pression. I' m not saying the form ula is the right formula, but it certainly wo rked for me this time . Th e tra ck g ot a lit tle s lic k, but w h en yo u hav e 24 h eat s, th at' s inevitable. My goa l is to stay in the top .eig h t now and quali fy aga in for next year. Ton y Rickardsson still has a good lead at the top and wi ll tak e so me catching." . For Nilsen, who now ap pears to have a fairly clear s ho t at hi s co u n try ma n Rickardsso n with two rounds to go, the night wa s more than amply rewarding, . especially in light of the extra fortitude th at wa s n ec esary to co m p e te w hil e injured. "If someone had told me three weeks ago I.would be com peting in the British Grand Prix, let alone finishing second, I wouldn't have believed it," Nilsen said. "The collarbo ne is hurting like hell." Hurting or not, Nilsen w ill need to be a t h is b est w he n th e se ries moves to round five for his hom eland Grand Pri x in Lin koping. Sweden . A w in th ere could give him the series lead, but more importan tly , it would likely be a very im po rta n t w in fo r eit her ilsen o r Rickar d sson if they can sco re it in front 0 of their countrymen. Brandon Stadium Coventry, England Results: August 7,1998 (Round 4 of 6) A S EM I 1: 1. Ja son C ru m p; 2. Toma n Collo b; 3. Stefa n Denno: 4. Antonin Kasper. SEM I 2: 1. Rya n Sulli van ; 2. Jimm y N ih-e n: 3. Greg Han cock; 4. Billy Hamill . CONSOLAT ION; 1. C reg Hancock ; 2. Ant oni n KasJ.X'I'; 3. Billy Hamill ; 4. Stefan Danna. FIN AL: t. Jason C rump; 2. Jimm y Ni l~n; 3. Toma sz GllUl}b; 4. Ryan Sullivan. WORLD INDIVID UAL CH AM PIO NS HI P SERI ES POINTS ST AND INGS (After 4 of 6 roun ds): 1. Ton y Rickard sso n (76 /2 win s ); 2. Jimm y N ils en (66 ); 3 . T OlThlSZ Co l1ob (58); 4. Billy Hamill (56); 5. Ha ns Nielsen (52/ 1); 6. Chris Louis (49); 7. jaso n Cru m p (47 / » ; ~ . Gre g Han cock (45); 9. Anton in Kaspe r (40); 10. Ryan Su lliva n (38 ); 11. Stefan Dann a (37); 12. He nk e Gus ta fsson (35); 13. Mark Loram (30); 14. And y Smit h (251 15. Leigh Adams (24); l b. Brian Andersen (20); 17. ; Zoltan Adorjan (17); 18. (11E) Armando Cdsldll;nil / Rri,t n Karger ( 2); 20 . (TIE) Piot r P rtl t a s il· w ic z /j l' sp~ r B je nsen (1 0) . Upcoming Rounds: Round5 - linkoping. Sweden, August 28 Round 6 - Bydgodcz, Poland, September 18 B ~

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