Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

SPEEDWAY WORLD INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES nd 6: BydgoS1Cl Stadium PRE-MAIN EVENT • 00 0\ 0\ ...... r--.' l-o OJ ,.Q o ..... u o 30 BYDGOSZCZ, POLAND,SEPT. 18 (f;J u per Swede To n y Ricka rd sson ,;::'!J made no m ista ke, as h e was ,-,' crowned World Champio n for the second tim e af ter th e World Cha m pions hip series finale Polish GP in the city of Bydgoszcz - bu t most of the celeb rations were for ho me favori te Tomasz Go llo b, w ho won his h om e rou nd to und erline hi s Worl d-cl a ss a bi li ty, thou gh Rickard sson was always in the driver's seat. It was a nightmar e for 1996 Wo rld Champion Billy Hamill, w ho crashed out in his first ride and was taken to the hospital with a back injury . He also lost his automatic qualifying p lace for next yea r's Gra nd Prix series and - if fit - he must now go to the Grand Prix Challenge to qualify. Th at allowed Ryan Su lliva n of Australia the chance to qu alify - and he d id so wi th an impressive disp lay, as he finished on the rostru m. Reignin g cha m p io n Greg Han cock w as clea rly a ffected b y th e in ju ry to Hamill; despite makin g a grea t start. He went ou t in heat 19 without makin g an appea rance in the final event. (Above) Once again King of the World: Swede n's Tony Rickardsson (center) added a GP ser ies t it le to his one-day World Final championship win of 1994 to become a two-time World Speedway Champio n aft er the season-finale Polish Grand Prix in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Rickardsson is joi ned by Jimmy Nil sen (left ) and Polish GP winner Tomaz Gollob (right) . (Right) Gollob (3) sco red an electrifying victory in front of his home fans as he dived underneath Hans Nielsen (7) in the f inal to cla im the GP wi n. Nielsen drop ped to fo urth, beh ind secondplaced Ryan Sullivan and third-placed Jimmy Nilsen (background). Fans we re made to wait a long time through a combina tion of crashes and tech nical d ifficulties in the early stages of the event , with GP race director Ole Olsen in a state of pan ic because of strict TV sched ules thr ou ghou t Europe. In th e ve ry first ra ce, a rerun was ne cessary wh en the tapes staye d down on the ou tside, w hich left hom e favorit e [acek Go llob trapped ! And w he n th ey tr ied agai n, Gollob en ded up in the fence coming ou t of the second turn at high speed, but he was allowed back in the rerun. Goll ob was lu cky, as there was clearl y no con tact with riv al Sebastian Ulame k, and therefor e it had been Gollo b who caused the stop page of the race. Hans Nielsen kept his cool to win the rerun, and Gollo b picked himself u p well to challenge in seco nd place. St efa n Da n no was a n im pressive winner of heat two, and Brian And erse n was forced to work hard to pass World Under 21 Champion Robert Dados for third place. Hamill' s night wa s over before it had started when he clashed with Ja so n Cru mp in the first turn of heat three and hit the fence, wit h his back taking most of the im pact. Cru mp suffered a dislocated shoulder bu t wa s able to take his place in the rerun. But ther e w as grave concern for Hamill. C ru m p displayed g reat ch a ra cter, wi n ni ng th e reru n after h a v in g h is shoulder put back in p lace. He also used tap e to keep it in position! There was little incid ent to report in heat four, in whi ch Italian star Arma ndo Castagna mad e an impressive start and pu lled clear o f adop ted Pol e A ndy Smit h, who ri des fo r the By dgoszc z club . Jespe r B. Jensen and Dad os were the first two riders to be elimina ted in heat five, wi th Toni Kasper looking impressive and lead ing home Craig Boyce. This w as followed by a goo d win for Brian Ande rsen in heat six, bu t only after yet 'ano ther rerun, as Zoltan Ado rjan was sent crashing into the fence, only to pick himself up and finish second . Crump again prov id ed pl e nty of en terta in me n t in hea t seven, whe n he wen t o u t in to th e d irt a n d drove th r ou gh to se co n d pl ace in brilli ant

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