Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Speedway Round 6: Vojens Speedway (Above) Tony Rlckardsson reta ined his title in a climactic meet ing during the fin al round of the World Ind ividual Championship Series in Vojens, Denmark, and thus became the first man to repeat as World Champion since Hans Nielsen did the deed in 1986 and '87. (Left) Rickardsson gates insi de of Hans Nielsen (center) and Joe Screen in the A Rnal. He went on to win the race. (Below) So long, Hans : Legendaryfonner World Champion Hans Nielsen (right) selected Vojens as his final ride before retiring. Nielsen went out at the top , finishing th ird In the ARnal, behind Mark Loram (left). By John Hlpkiss VOJENS, DENMARK, SEPT. 25 eigni ng Wor ld Speedway Champion Tony Rickardsson of Swed en brok e Poland 's Tornasz Gollob' s heart with an amazing performance at Vojens Speedway to reta in th e Wo rld Speedway crown d uring the sixth and final Grand Prix of the World Individual Championship.Series . Goll ob went into th e meeting four poin ts ahead of his main rival, Rickardsso n, but a h orrific crash in th e week leading up to the event meant the Pole wou ld be far from fit. He lost the to p end of his little finger in the cras h, and onlv m ad e th e deci s ion to rac e a fte r co mi ng throu g h p r a ct ice th e nig h t before. And it was a lso a night to rememb er for legendary Dane Hans [ielsen, who enjoyed his last -ever Grand Prix perfor mance with third pla ce on the nigh t to ensure that his retirement would come at the very top . The pre-main event was packed with plenty of quality rid e r s, a nd fo rmer World Champion Greg Ha ncock sta rted his night in sty le with a supe rb sweep on Mark Lor am and Jimmy N ilse n in heat two. Mikael Karlsson fired a warning to his rivals w ith a supe rb gate in h ea t three , a n d w hen S tefan Dann o m ad e a m ist ak e o n th e se cond la p , Mar io [i ro u t was able to come throu gh for second .p la ce. Bill y Ham ill was in action for the first time in heat four, and h e s u r v ived a n ea rly sca re wh e n he a lmost looped hi s mach in e down the 26 back s traig ht , but he we nt on to p ull clear for a superb win. Loram was the first man to secure his place in the main even t with a fine win in heat seven, bu t there was misfortu ne for English star Chris Louis as he suffered a retirement, which left him up against the wa ll as far as the nex t GP season goes . Hamill and Hancock joined him by carving up heat eight against Iesper Jensen and [irout, and it was clea r that H amill in parti cular was in for a great nigh t. Reigning cha mpio n Ricka rd sson was the fi rst of th e tw o tit le ri val s to en te r th e arena in hea t 12, a n d he di d e no ug h to secu re a pl ace in th e latter stages . He had to work hard to g e t th e better of Mikael Karlsso n for a crucial second place beh ind impressive race winner Hamill, who won his only Worl d crown on th e Vojens trac k thr ee years ago . Nilse n ' failed in h is effo rts to ma ke a good st ar t in h is b id for a ro strum place, as he went from second to last in hea t 13 when try ing hard to p a ss Rya n Sulliva n, wh ile Henk a Cust afsson took the win comfortably. Rain sta rted to fall just as leader Co llob was preparing to enter the a re na , and this probably contributed to the fall su ffe re d b y hi s fell o w cou n tr y m a n Robert Dados. In the rerun Gollob mad e a su perb star t from the inside ga te, but he was edged ou t by a hard ride fro m Leigh Adams . Bu t Gollo b was m ore th an happy to make further progress under the difficult circumstances. The cond itio ns were clearl y starting to ma ke an impression, as all four riders in heat 15 hit trouble, but English sensatio n Loram d id enou gh to hang on for the w in . Bria n Ka rger fi lle d in Jason Cru mp to send him hom e. In the same race, Dad os came to grief for a second successive heat. . The Karlsson brot hers, Peter a n d Mikael, ruined Hancock' s cha n ces of

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