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/128007
Round 4: British Grand Prix By J ohn Hipkiss COVENTRY, ENGLAND, JULY 31 ) ~ e ig ni ng Wor ld Speed w a y ~ Champion Tony Ricka rd sson threw wid e open th e race for this year's World title with a storming show at Co ven try Speedway, winning rou nd fo u r of the World Indi vid u al Cha m pionship Series. Going in to the eve nt, Rick ard sson wa s over 20 points behin d series leader To ma s z Go llo b - but it' s a differen t s to ryn o w ! A tempe r tantrum fr om volatile GP .lea der Gollob threaten ed a rid er' s rebelli on a fte r a controve rsia l Con solation final. Gollob had been relegated into last place on the back straigh t wh en he pulled up, believing the race was being stopped. The Pole insisted he had been d istracted by flashing yellow around the track exterior left active by Hungarian referee Istvan Darago. He dumped his bike on the starting g rid to demonstra te a ngrily in Da rago's direction. In the ensuing chaos, it appeared the race lasted five laps instead of four, and once it had finished, Gollob 16 (Above) Tony Rickardsson (1) forged ahead of both Chris Louis (5) and Greg Hancock (6) to claim the main final win in the British Grand Prix in Coventry. Rickardsson is now a se rious threat 10 retain his World Champions hip title. (Right) Heir not-so-apparent: Tornasz Gollob (foreground left) was eliminated in a controversial co nsolation race after he pulled up, expect ing the even t to be rerun. It cost him dearly, as Rickardsson was ab le 10 cut deeply into Gollob's point advantage. hurried back to the pits to confront Race Director Ole Olsen. More pandemonium followed as prese nter Peter York - on Ols en 's say-so announced the Con solation fina l was to be rerun , Bu t as th e crowd of aro u nd 8000 bu zzed to th e n ews, York ca me back with a revi sion. There was to be no ' rerun. Jason Crump, wh o had won' the race, led some heated p rot ests at the prosp ect , of a rerun, and Coventry star Greg Han cock, who had qualified for th e main final, said, "I believe the other thr ee rid . ers would have said 'no way' to taking pa rt in any rerun. I certainly wou ld have been upset. "I kn ow To rnasz feels he wa s hard do ne-by," Ha ncock contin ued , " Bu t bo th Tony Rickardsson and myself have bee n victims of bad decisions this season as well." Ol sen expla ined that th e confusion over the rerun was due to the colo r of the flashing lights. "I was in itially to ld it was the red light ," Olsen sai d, " Bu t the re fe ree infor med m e it was th e yell ow tw ominute ligh ts th a t were on, and they . don 't mea n stop." . Wh ether Gollob could di sti nguis h between red and yellow in a split second is open to qu esti on, but the fact that the ot her th ree rid ers carri ed on did little to support his case. Once the d ust had settled , Rickards- so n moved to within nin e points of Gollob by rocketing off ga te on e to take first place - and 25 points - in the ma in fina l. Chris Louis, who twice ra n last places and salvaged his progre ss with some terrific y~yo passin g in heat 15, sna ked under G reg Hancoc k for second, with H ans N ielsen, in his fina l meeti ng a t Brando n, trailing in fourth off the unfavorable ou tside grid . Rick a rdss on had mad e u n tr oubl ed ' p rog ress from his introduc tio n in heat 14, winning all four of his races. Gollob , in con tras t, had en dured mi xed for tu nes from the outset, running a last in hea t 11, despite ga ting to the first tum, ma king a mis ta ke to co ncede th e lead to Mikael Karl sson in heat 16, and again