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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128223
FIM World Championship Speedway Series Round 4: Parken Stadium Crump's victory means that four GPs have now yielded four different winners, the Aussie seeing off series leader Rickardsson and Hancock in the final after Danish darling Nicki Pedersen had been excluded for breaking the tapes. Hancock drew the short straw of the outside gate in the final but led Rickardsson until the reigning champion battled his way into second place. It means Rickardsson stretched his lead at the top of the rankings from three points to seven, with Crump moving into third place, behind Pedersen, and Hancock now fourth. With five rounds now remaining, Rickardsson is 23 points ahead of Leigh Adams and Lukas Dryml in joint fifth place. Ryan Sullivan dropped off the pace by failing to reach the semifinals, while Tomasz Gollob was unlucky to be leading in the first semifinal when it was stopped after Scott Nicholls crashed on the outside of Crump. In the rerun, he finished third to miss out on the final. Leigh Adams also failed to reach the final, running a last off the inside in the second semifinal. The early stages had seen the oneoff track cut up a little, and having T..,. Ncka dllon (I.... _1lcMa _ Greg ~ k (rightJ._ _ " - - Crump a d ...spaS.1e slulmpoo after Crump (2, . beIowt atannecI to the win In the Danish GP at Copenhagen. , STORV AND PHOTOS Bv JOHN HIPKlss COPENHAGEN,DENMARK,JUNE28 G reg Hancock firmly believes that reigning champion Tony Rickardsson can still be challenged in the chase for the 2003 World title. The Swedish superstar Rickardsson, seeking a record-equaling sixth crown this year to emulate the feat of the legend that is Ivan Mauger, moved seven points clear at the head of the rankings after Saturday's Danish Grand Prix at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, the fourth of nine rounds this year. Though beaten for the win on the night by Australian ace Jason Crump, Rickardsson is now seven points ahead of his nearest challenger, and 18 points ahead of Hancock in fourth place. Serious pretenders to his crown appear to be receding by the week, but Hancock, who has now reached three successive Grand Prix finals finishing fourth, fourth and third - feels that his best is still to come. "I didn't want to finish fourth again," said the 1997 World Champion, "and at least third is moving in the right direction. If I can keep getting to the final, 1 know that I can win one somewhere along the line. I still believe we 30 JULY 16, 2003' cue I e can peg Tony back, but we definitely need to stop him reaching every final. "Things went very smoothly for me on Saturday, and I am moving up the ladder all the time. It is the first time I have been on the rostrum since winning in Australia last year, and it is newvs also the highest I have been overall for some time. I need to keep the pressure on the top three. Tony seems to love the pressure and rises to the occasion, but there is still a long way to go yet with five more rounds to race." the inside grid soon proved a major advantage. Eight of the first nine races were won off the inside, and in all it served up 16 of the 25 winners. The pre-Main Event saw Mikael Max and Todd Wiltshire the biggest casualties. They both made an exit in heat six after two disappointing rides, and Ronni Pedersen - brother of Nicki - also went out prior to the Main