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Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128233
Nicki Peder sen and Jonsson we re
side by sid e go ing into th e first turn ,
when Rune Holt a, ba ttl ing to get his
fron t w heel bac k o n terra fi rm a, cut
across J on sso n . In such ti ght co n fin es, th e Swede was unable to avoid
th e Norwe gian ' s rea r wh eel , and it
sent him slewing w ildl y off c ourse t o
sp ear int o And ersen in a hi gh -impa ct
c o ll i sio n t ha t sc atte re d both ri ders
and the ir m achines. Had it no t been
for the air- fen ce , neith er wou ld ha ve
taken part in th e rerun , th ough in
J onsson ' s case , it might hav e been
wis er not to have don e so .
" I don 't rea lly rem ember wha t ha p pened ," said the c learly dazed J on sson , " and I don 't remember th e rerun
eit her. I k now I wa s o ut on the track
but when m y m echani c said to me ,
'Yo u made a good start,' I said , ' Did
I?' I fe lt read y to pass o u t w hen I
came ba ck in the pi ts . I was d izzy ,
and I h u rt m y sho u lder qu it e bad l y ,
bu t thankfu ll y noth in g appea rs to be
brok en . I hit m y head quite hard , and
I will no w take a few days off befo re
ri din g ag ain ."
T o m as To pi nka w as th e su rp rise
pac k et of last Saturday 's ro und aft er
bein g called up as a lat e rep la ce m ent
fo r t h e in jur ed L uk as Dr y ml. Th e
Cz e ch C h amp i on had b e en ove r lo o k ed for one of the tw o wi ld-ca rd
nom ina t i on s b ut m ad e t he m o st of
some good fo rtun e w hen T odd Wil t shire's bike pac ke d up wh il e he was
lead in g heat 11 t o bat tl e his way to
the semifin als, where
he beat A dams to
collect
13
C ru m p 121 lea ds Pedersen
1
121. Rickardsson and Rune
Holta In the fina l.
po p ul ar C al iforn ia n surely knowing
that his hopes of a secon d World titl e
are ove r for ano th er season .
Han c oc k st a rt ed b y t o uching th e
tape s in his first rid e in heat nin e and
then ran a t h ird be h ind Run e Hol t a
and Bjarne Ped ersen in heat 16 . That
meant he faced an eli mi nator in heat
18 , a n d th ou g h he c h a s e d L ee
Ric hardso n hard for seco nd place , he
wa s un ab l e t o fi n d a way pa st h i s
Rosp i g g a rn a teammate and bowed
out w ith six points .
"1felt really up fo r it, " Hanco ck said.
"The bik es felt good in practice, and it
Aussie Ryan Su lliva n
1 w in ner of the
31.
previous round at
Gothenburg had a
rough night and
didn't m a ke it t o the
semis. Neither did
Californian Greg
Hancock lright).
is upsetting th at things never went bet ter. 1got a little ove rexci te d at the start
in my first race and rnad e a mistake to
to uc h the tapes , but the sec ond heat
was going okay until I had a bik e prob lern at the end of the race .
"1 then rod e m y second bike, and
that w asn't ri gh t eithe r. It wasn 't co rrect for the tra ck . wh ich was different
frorn pract ice. It was sl icker than at
practice, and I was n 't quite w ith it. I
have don e well at Pragu e in th e past,
and bo th the trac k and m y set up are
usua lly good . You c an't rea lly afford
to have o ne bad rac e. You can some times pull bac k , but I fa ced an uphill
ba ttle fro m the wo rd go."
Hi s titl e cha nces m ay have go ne
now , but Han cock has vo wed to keep
fighti ng to the bitter en d.
" T h ere are st ill tw o m ore Grand
Prix rou nds to go , and I sti ll have high
hopes," he said . " I arn also lo oking to
get m ys elf into a good posi ti on fo r
the start of n ext sea son , so e v ery
rac e is still important to m e and m y
team . If I didn't feel I co u ld still win a
Wo rl d title , I would n't be do ing th e
G ra n d s Prix . I wa nt t o w in an ot he r
• tit le reall y bad ly ."
Th ere is also an interesting situation
developing at the bo ttom end of the 10strong frame of ri ders who w ill autom atica lly requalify fo r th e 2004 series.
Lu k as Dr yrn l is c u rr entl y in 10t h
place on 58 points, but he is un li kel y
to rid e again th is seas on afte r br eak in g hi s an k le in th e World Champio n sh i p qua lify ing fi na l a t Poole .
B ehi n d h im are Andreas Jo nsso n ,
T omasz Baje rski and Mikael Ma x ,
w ith J onsson just fiv e points adrift
af t er co llec t in g 13 p o ints o n Satur day.
T he Swede may have done even
bet te r h a d h e n ot c r as hed heavi ly
with Ha ns Ander sen on th e fi rst turn
in the first semifi nal. Thou gh h e fin ished third in the rer un, he was later
take n to hospi tal , sufferi ng f ro m a
seve re co nc ussio n .
cue. e
n
points.
eN
M.rt