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/128079
Speedway GP Challenge WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFIER SERIES (Left) Live , wit hout a net : Billy Hamill (second from left) . returned to his world-class winning ways at ' the GP Challenge in Lonigo, Italy. Hamill dominated the event to secure his place in the 2000 World Individual Championship Series . (Below) Carl Stonehewer (right) made history by beco ming the first British Premier I League (second d ivision) rider to qualify for the GPs. Stone hewer put in solid rides to f ini sh th ird at Lon igo . LONIGO, ITALY, OCT. 17 o r m e r World Champion Billy Ha mill completed a remarkable ' turnaround of fortune by winning the Grand Prix Challenge at Lonigo, Italy, and securing his place in next year's GP series. This time last year, Hamil1 was facing the dark win ter mon ths with the prospec t of recovering from a back injury sustained in the final GP of las t year. The Californian always mai ntain ed he wo ul d hit ba ck, an d after a yea r as a perman en t w ild card in the F '" '" '" M jj E CD i; Z 32 series, he has now won the right to race inGP 2000. Hamil1 travel1ed to Italy for the most important meeting of his season, knowing there'd be no safe havens in place should he fail to make it through this time. Each time he came off the start line, he was ready to do battle before the 30-yard mark, his determination visible in every shift on the saddle as he worked and wo rked his bike throu gh the turns. Hamill was back! Englishman Ca rl Stonehewer wrote his name into the record books by becoming the first Premier League (second divisio n) rider ever to qualify for the GP series. Stonehewer rid es for the newly reformed Workin g ton Come ts in th e nort h of England, a team that is regularly cheered on by 2000 fans. Many of them made the journey to Lonigo, and they celebrated Stonehewer's third place in style. Runner-up was Mikael Karlsson . Like Hamill, he'd finally found his GP feet at Vojens, and that was al1 the boost he needed three weeks later when it came to booking a return ticket to the GPs. That Danish GP had seen Karlsson robbed of a probable Main Final place when Hamil1 and Mark Loram clas hed and crashed, fo rcing a run-off in which the Swede cou ld on ly finish third , thus kn ockin g him out of the big final. (Left , from left to right) Runner-up Mikael Karlsson, Hamill and Stonehewer reap their hard-earned rewards on the podium. Like Hamill, Karlsson seemed to have gotten his bearings at the GP season finale in Vojens , Denmark.•• just in time . A n d h e must h a v e wo n de red w hether he was in for a rep eat performan ce when his run began in heat 12. He was a clear lea der w h e n Brian Andersen picked u p some unwanted grip and careened across Stonehewer's line in a battle for third place, causing Stonehewer to fal1 in the pit corner. The race carried on for a further lap before referee Wolfgang Glas found ' the correct stop button to bring proceedings to a halt and exclude Andersen. But Karlsson won at a canter in the re-run, and another victory ahead of a despera te heat 18. pack was enough to br in g "MK" back into th e GP fold for 2000. Four th-placed Brian Karger's passage wasn't quite so smoo th, as he fou n d himself part of that chasing pack in heat 18, following an opening-race win .. Andy Smith was initially second to Mikael Karls son in that race, but Toni Kasper got past him down the back straight with an outside run, then Kar-