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Gollob in heat nine, to li ne up in th e final alongside fellow countrymen Sullivan and Jason Crump, and hot Br itish prospect Ni ch olls. D espite draw in g th e ou t si d e grid , Crump looked to be th e faste st rid er of th e ni ght b y fa r and th e man to beat , b ut he bl ew his engi ne o ut of t h e start , allowing Su ll i v an t o take control o ut of ga te two, w it h Ada ms and N ic holls left to ch ase him home. A v ictory for Ad am s o r C ru m p , who se ange r saw h im p e tu lan t l y shrug off Aussie ve tera n Neil St re et , hi s grandfathe r, as he return ed t o th e p its, wo ul d have given the m th e le ad at th e head of t he ranki ngs. Ins tead Ad a ms now shares t op s pot wi t h N ic k i Ped ersen o n 96 p o int s , o ne m ore tha n Rick ardsson o n 95 . Sull iva n, who bec am e th e first rid er to w in t wo GP ro unds thi s yea r in a seaso n in which he has be en p lague d by in juri es, ad m itted : " For th e first time in a long wh ile I am riding free of pain. M y c on fidenc e t ook a real d ip , and althoug h I am fit again , I need more rac es. That will come with ti me, and though I can not wi n the t it le, I aim to win all the th ree rem ainin g GPs." A da ms, th e o nly r ider t o ha v e m ade at least th e semifinals in ea ch of th e six round s so far thi s ye ar , says tha t he isn 't t aking too much notice of the fact th at he i s l e a di n g the champ ionship, t he first time he ha s ever been in that position . " The onl y ti me th at it reall y counts is after th e la st GP," he said . "T hings are going well at t he moment, but I am not looking too far ahe ad ." N i ch oll s , u p into sev enth pl a c e overall, hi s hi gh est- ev er pos iti on, has now been t hird and second in last two rounds, but he wa s st ill d isa p po inted . " I had th e best ga te in th e fin al and felt I shou ld hav e wo n from th ere, but Ryan m ade a gre a t st a rt, an d th at wa s t hat ," sa id the Ip swi ch rider. Ric k ardsson looked a pale sha dow of hi s norm al self , runn ing two lasts and a thi rd to bow out with just six po ints, while Ped er sen far ed only m arginall y better, co llecting seven po ints wh en he finish ed at th e back in heat 22. Swe dis h W or l d C u p s ta r Pet er Ljun g , one of the two w ild cards , produced so me of the best ac tion of t he ni g ht , comi ng fro m now he re to win heat 11 , w hile Greg Hanc ock ba ttled th ro ug h to the semifina ls but m is sed out o n the final. T he Cal iforn ian ope ned w it h a third in heat nin e, fin ish ed third ag a in i n heat 14 but su rv ived an eli minato r in he at 16 whe n he won ahea d of Ljung as T odd W ilt sh ir e an d T omas Bajerski bowed out. He th en pa ssed Mik ael Max for sec ond behind Sullivan in heat 22 to reach th e sem ifinals, but off gate three in th e first semi he went fro m second to last befor e recover ing third p lace. Hanc ock p icked up 13 po ints and is now only 14 points beh ind t he j oint l e ad ers , th ou gh w i th o n ly t hr e e ro und s r em ain ing , th e 1997 W or ld Ch ampion kn ows he must w in a GP soo ne r r ath er than later i f h e is t o have any chance of ma king a serio us cha lle nge for t he 2003 title . Crump looked in sizzli ng fo rm, and even off t he outside g ri d he was th e big dange r. But w he n his bik e ga ve up the gh ost, it all owed Su ll iva n to c lam p down on Nicho ll s on th e first two turns, w ith Adam s c h a si n g i n third p lace . W ith three rid ers separated by just one point, and w ith Crump only eight points off the le ad, the title ch ase is wi de o pen going into t hi s Saturda y 's eN round in th e Czech ca pi t al. Ullevi Stadium 6othe nburg, Sweden Results : August 3D, Z003 [Round 61 SEMI 1: 1. Lei gh A dams; 2. Scott Nich olls; 3 . Greg Han coc k : 4 . Andersen. SEMI 2: I. Ryan Sulll v an; 2. Ja son Crump: 3. Andreas Jonsson ; 4 . Toma sz Gollo. FIN AL : I . Ry an Sulli van (25) ; 2. Scott Nich oll s (20) ; 3. Leigh Adams (18); 4. Jason Crump (15. DNF). WORLD C'S HIP POIN TS STAN DINGS (A rter 5 of 9 T he track was greasy early on , and th e openin g ra ce s qu ickl y bec a m e we ll st rung -o ut. Gre at Brit ain inte rna ti on al Lee Rich ard son bec ame t he first ri der to prod uce a m o ve of any not e wh en he went from fo urth to sec ond off tu rn two in heat fo ur. Bo Brh el was o ne of those left in his wa ke, and th e stalwart Czech was then booted out in five when he failed to meet t he two m inut e time allowa nce. J ason Lyons also m ad e an early ex it , as did Joonas K y lm akorp i - a r epla c em e nt fo r th e injur ed Pet er Karl sson - and Ronni Pede rsen . Ljung had a trem en d ou s b attl e wit h K ylm ak o rp i i n h eat six b efo r e n i cki n g second p lace, bu t suc h d rama was to be th e ex ceptio n rather t han th e ru le. Rich ard son sho we d ho w d iffic ult it was to m ak e up gro und as he fo ugh t fu ri ou sly to ge t past M ark Lora m in heat seve n, swa pp ing lines and t ac t ic s fo r four laps but all to no avail. Ric k ard sson was re lega ted to th e ba c k of h e a t nine b y H an c o ck as A dam s ca me un der Go llob and th en had to survive a neck -and -n eck co u p le of laps w ith th e Pol e, but th e rea l signs that th e Swed e wa s in for h is w orst -ev er Grand Prix p er formance ro unds) : 1. (T IE) Leigh A dams/N ic k i Pedersen (96 ); 3 , Tony Rlcke rdsso n (95): 4 . Jaso n Crump (88) : 5. Greg Hancock (82); 6. Ryan Sulliva n (7 9 ); 7. Scott Ni cholls (70); 8. To ma sz Go llo b (6 7 ); 9 . Rune Halla (61); 10 . L ukas Dr yml ( 58 ); 11. Tomesz Baje rsk i ( 4 6) ; 12 . An dreas Jon sso n ( 4 0) ; 13 . Pi ot r Pro tesi ewicz (3 8 ) ; 14. M ikae l Ma x (37 ) ; 15. J aso n Lyons (22) . ca m e in heat 16 wh en he was left at the back again behind Crump , Mikael Ma x an d Ljung . There was to be no rep riev e fo r t he fi v e -t im e W or l d C ha m pio n , w ho is st i ll sufferi ng the afte re ffects o f a rece nt bou t of heavy co ncussion tha t forced hi m to w i t hd raw fro m th e Swedish t eam , who lifted the rec ent Speedway World Cup in De nm ark. In he at 17 . Rickardson bow ed o u t i n t hi rd p lace as Andreas J onsso n and Nick i Peder sen progressed furth er . Pedersen, w ho ha d gon e into th e m e eting on level p e g ging w i t h Rickardsson , had a real op po rt unity to o pe n up a sizeable lea d o n hi s Scandi navian rival , but he failed to capital ize, t ra iling in la st in heat 22 to ba n k only one m or e po in t than th e defend ing cha m pion . Max. Ric hardso n and Lju ng also m ade t heir exi ts i n heat s 21 and 22 to fail at th e fin al hu rd le in a bid to reach the sem ifina ls. A d a ms . w ho be gan th e d a y 1 1 poi nts behind Rickardsson and Peder se n , d ul y w on h is se m i f ina l f ro m Nic ho ll s, w i th H an c o c k third , a n d Crump then follow ed Sullivan past th e flag in the second semi as Jonsson and Gollob filled the mino r places . cucllD n Upcoming Rounds Round 7 - Prague, Czech Republ ic. Sept. 6 Round 8 - Bydgoszcz, Poland, Sept. 20 Ryan Su lliv an celebrates his vi cto ry. e vv s • S EPTEM B ER 1 0 , 2003 53