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World Championship Speedway Grand Prix Series Round 6: Olympic Stadium STORY AND PHOTOS By JOHN HIPKISS STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN, SEPT. 29 illy Hamill rubber-stamped his place in the 2002 Grand Prix series when he finished sixth overall in this year's World Championship following Saturday's final round in the Olympic Stadium, Stockholm. But for fellow Californian Greg Hancock, the 2001 campaign embraces one last and possibly decisive World Championship test - the cut-throat GP Challenge in Slovenia on Saturday, October 13. Hamill's place in the top 10 who automatically qualify for next season was all but assured after his victory in Prague, Czech Republic, and fourth place in Bydgoszcz, Poland. He banked another eight points in Sweden last weekend when he went out just prior to a third successive appearance in the last eight. It completed a remarkable comeback for the 1996 World Champion, who reached the halfway stage of the series with a miserly 12 points, but finished it with a healthy 61. Hamill won his first race on Saturday in heat 14, but then finished third in heats 18 and 20 to make his exit. "Clearly my better results have been on tracks I have known and raced on before, established speedway venues where we all start level," Hamill said. "It's been a positive thing for speedway to have the Grands Prix in bigger venues this season, but sometimes I feel we are sacrificing the racing just to get in these venues. Stockholm was the best track of the three which were put down specifically for speedway - Berlin was affected by the weather and the shape was poor, Cardiff chopped up a little, but Stockholm was an improvement." Hamill said he felt that the organizers are leaming, just like he is, about one-off tracks, and he is hopefuel that those tracks will be improved for next year's series. "I look back on this year's Grand Prix series overall with satisfaction because I think I've achieved a lot to salvage the situation and qualify straight through for next year," Hamill said. "I've been through a lot of emotions in the series, and obviously I have to be content with what I've achieved." Hamill also paid tribute to Team Roberts for their backing throughout his Grand Prix program. "To have people like Kenny Roberts and his team behind you is a massive boost, and I've been really 13 20 OCTOBER 17,2001 • cue I e happy with the way things have worked," he said. "It's also a major breakthrough for the sport, and I am already looking at ways in which we can enhance the relationship for next season. To have financial and techincal support like that is invaluable and I feel sure we can take it a stage further in 2002." Greg Hancock, meanwhile, has to sweat on his involvement in next year's series, though with up to six "invited" riders due to be allocated places next year, even a failure in Krsko next weekend will not necessarily mean he won't figure in 2002. Hancock, exempted to the Main Event in Stockholm, had an engine failure while in third place in his opening ride in heat II, which deprived him of having the muchfavored inside gate in heat 15. Instead he went off gate three - which n __ s failed to produce a winner throughout - in heat 16, and survived a possible early exit by battling under a wideriding Tomasz GolJob on lap three for second place. He then won heat 19 in fine style to book a place in the Super Eights, but he fmished last in the first semi-final, and last in the Consolation Final, despite producing every ounce of effort to make up ground off the outside grid. Hancock knows that the real damage to his World Championship hopes was done earlier in the season, though he admitted to being bitterly disappointed not to have reached his first Main Final of the year. It is the first time since the Grand Prix was founded in 1995 that he had gone through a complete season without featuring in at least one Main Final. "I am upset I didn't do better in some of the early Grand Prix rounds, and I am disappointed I didn't do bet- ter than finish last in the Consolation Final after getting through to the fmal eight in Stockholm," Hancock said. "Deep down, I have felt for a few weeks that I might have to ride in the GP Challenge. "Both the arena and the atmosphere in Sweden were unreal and it showed the way the Grand Prix series is now going," Hancock continued. "The track held up well considering the rain they had in Sweden last week, and there was more than one racing line as well. "It is a very exciting time for the Grand Prix and I am determined to stay in it. I am going to Krsko with every intention of winning the meeting. I rode there a few seasons back, and I remember it was a big, flat track where gating was paramount." Only six Grand Prix places are up for grabs from the GP Challenge, which sees those riders who finished out of this year's top 10 joined by the qualifiers from the Inter-Continental and Continental Finals, and World Under 21 Champion Dawid Kujawa. As expected Sam Ermolenko, who initially missed the cut from the interContinental Final in Sweden, has now been promoted into the Challenge along with Gary Havelock due to the injuries to Jimmy Nilsen and Joe Screen. Tony Rickardsson won the Consolation Final in Stockholm last Saturday, but he had already been confirmed as World Champion for the fourth time in eight seasons when he was second behind Leigh Adams in heat 18, much to the delight of a partisan, packed-to-the-rafters 16,000 crowd inside the atmospheric Olympic Stadium. The Swedish superstar only needed eight points to see off Aussie Jason Crump - his only surviving challenger - though it was Crump who went on to win the meeting for his second successive Grand Prix victory. Rickardsson has moved into joint third place with Barry Briggs and Hans Nielsen in the all-time list of World Champions, and behind only Ivan Mauger (six wins) and Ove Fundin (five). He immediately set his sights on the legendary Mauger's record. "I'm delighted to have brought the title back to Sweden, and my aim for next year is to step up my game to keep ahead of the likes of Jason [Crump] and Tomasz [Gollob]." Rickardsson said. "I was a little bit more nervous before the meeting as it's been a tough three weeks for me. But it was a matter of just keeping fit and ensuring I did enough to win the title. It is very emotional for me to win the title in Sweden." Mikael Karlsson put some serious pressure on Crump for two laps in the Main Final - at one time getting