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/128231
W o r ld C ham p io n s h ip S p e e d way Grand P ri x Series R o und 6 : Ullev i S tad ium Ch ampion ship leade rboard with three o f th is ye ar's nin e ro unds remaining. N e i th er Pe d er sen n o r re i gnin g c ha m p io n T o n y Ri ck ard sson , w ho shared th e leadership before th e ta pes went up at th e splendid Ull ev i Stadi um , reach ed th e fina l, and th e p ressure is now o n as th e series revert s back to m or e authentic race tracks in Prague this Satu rday nigh t and then By dg o SI CI in Pol and on Septem ber 20 . Th e series concludes at Hamar in Norway on Saturday, October 4 . S T O RY AND P HOT OS BY J O HN H IPK ISS GOTHENBURG,5WEDEN,AUG.30 u s t r a l i a n ace L e ig h Ad am s upp ed t h e a n te on h i s 2 0 0 3 World t itle bid as a li ne w as drawn und er th e sorry saga of the Scandinav ia n Gran d Pr i x in G oth enburg on Satu rda y night. Adams, who was third on the n ight b eh in d Ry a n S u lli v a n a nd Scott Nicholls, moved even with Dan e Nicki Pedersen at the to p of th e World A 52 S EPTEM B ER 1 0 , 2003' c ue I e n e vv s The rest ag in g of t he Goth enburg round, aba n do ned b e c a u se of a sham bles of a t rack surface th e previ ous weekend , m ad e for an un ed ifyin g spectacle . Wh il e th e trac k w as rid able, it was hard ly race able, and on e o f th e w o rs t r o u n d s s i nce t h e GP series was la unc hed in 1995 failed to live up to Benfield Sports Inte rnation al boss John Po stl et hwa it e 's p le dge that it wou ld be a "great event. " SVEMO , the Swedish federation, had shouldered th e responsibility for t h e prev iou s w e e k ' s fi a sc o , w ith Po st l eth w a i t e bla ming t he t y p e of shal e used. " It was sp ongy and soft, and we co u ld n' t get i t t o bin d , " he sa id. "SVEMO took public respons ibility for th e po or st ate of the track, and I h ope that w e a re abl e t o put o n a m eet in g to b e p ro u d o f o n a new track surfac e at (Ill evi ." Hu nd re ds of t on s o f granite and other m at eri al s were brou gh t in a s Grand Prix ra ce d irector Ole Olsen took over the laying of a new track (why he wa sn 't th ere ove rseei ng it in the fi rst pl ace is the q uestio n that has still to be answ ered ) . " O le Ol sen and h is track- bu il d ing team have wo rk ed around th e clock t o get t he track in top c o n di tio n," added Postlethwait e. Though thi s we e k 's t rac k was mu ch better (i t cou ld hardly have been any worse) , a night of mostly process ional and far from sm o o t h ra c in g in fr on t of a p o o r c ro w d of 12,130 - m o re tha n 14 ,0 00 down o n th e p re vio us wee k's f i gur e - was mostl y depend ent o n rid ers ' m aking m ist ak es, or th e ga te po sitions . Th e insi de sta rt yiel de d 18 wins a n d five seco n d pl a c e s fr om 25 heat s, c ompa red to gate three's fail ing to p ro du c e a single winn er and gat e fo ur's supply ing j ust two win s. T he smooth and co nsistent Adams won his fi rst four rides, the best of whi ch was a rea l scrap with Torn asz