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/128323
-- · Round 1 WORLD SPEEDWAY May 1, 2004 World Speedway Championship battled back past Hans Andersen in heat I I. But his first defense of the coveted trophy ended when he was third beh ind Rickardsson and Gollob in the controversial second semifina l. British Champion Scott Nicholls was a late w ithdrawal from the meeting after aggravating a knee ligament injury during Friday 's practice. He was forced to fly home for surgery, but he st ill claimed five po ints , as he had signed in for the meeting. eN OLYMPIC STADIUM STOCKHOLM, SWED EN RESULTS: MAY 1, 2004 (ROUN D 1) SEMI I: I. Leigh Adams: 2. Jason Crump; 3. Greg Hancock (13); 04 . Lee Richardson ( II ) 67.7. SEMI 2: I. Toman Gollob; 2. Tony Rickardsson; 3. Nicki Pede rsen (13); -1 . Jesper Jensen (II) 69.2. FINAL: I. Lee Adams: 2. Jason Crump ; 3. Tony Rickardsson; 04 . Toman Gollob. WORLO CHAMPIONSH IP POI N T S STANDINGS (After I of 9 rounds): I. Le igh Adams (25/1 win) ; 2. Jason Cr ump (20): 3. Tony Rickardsson ( IB): 04 . Tom an Gollo b (16) ; 5. (TIE) Nicki Pede rsen ( 13)/ Gr e g Hancock (13): 7. (TIE) lee Richardson/Jesper B. Je nsen ( II): 9. (TIE) Mark Lor am (B)/Bjarne Peders en (8); I I. (T IE) Ryan Sullivan (7); I Bohumll Br hel (7); 13. (T IE) Rune Holta (6)/ Mikael Max (6); 15. (TI E) Scott Nicholls/Andreas Jonsson (5) UPCOMING ROUNDS Round 2 . Prague, Czech Republic, May 16 Round 3 . Wraclaw, Poland, M 30 ay was my ultimate goal , and I was so close to getting there. I got myself in a silly position , and I made a bad mistake - but it won't happen again. The track rode very well, and the shape of the track made a big difference , and Per Jonsson is responsible for that. They have got to think about these one-off t racks , but you saw that ride rs cou ld go inside and outside, and there were all sorts of mistakes be ing made. The track also held up very well , and the w eather probably he lped that. I had a couple of gate positions that were real ly tough . Gate on e wasn't the best, and gate four was useless, and I couldn't ma ke a start off gate four to save my life. The best start I made was out of gate three, and if you missed the start, it w as tough. But it always is in Grand Prix meetings. "The tapes weren't going up evenly all night , and fro m t ime to t ime, the inside was go ing up much more slower 54 than the outside . Ryan Sullivan got the wrong end of the deal in one heat, and I felt bad for him. They need to make su re they fix things like that." A one-two-three of Adams, Crump and Rickardsson was no surprise given that those three have been installed as the three favorites to fight out this year's tit le quest: Crump started at 2/1, Rickardsson I 1/4 and Adams I3/2 with Sullivan. Rickardsson , who recently shocked British speedway by announcing his decision to quit Poole just six weeks into the new season in order to spend more time w ith his fam ily, loo ke d megaquick in reeling off th ree straight wins prior to his semifin al drama, while Adams and Crump showed that they will be major forces again in the bid to dethrone Nick i Pedersen as World Champion. Pedersen had caught Hancock on t he line to win hea t nine and had then MAY 12,2004 • CYCLE N EW S 40th Anniversary