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/128327
still be ing there at the end ." Hampel was second for the second successive GP wh ile Tony Rickardsson claimed a hat trick of third-place finishes to vault past Jason Crump in the points standings. the Aussie failing to reach the final for the first time this year after making an exit in heat 21. Rickardsson now has 54 points to Crump's 53. with Leigh Adam s in third place on 49 after trailing in last in the second semifinal. American Greg Hancock is back in ninth place with 32 points after missing out on the sem is. " It is great to be back on to p again. and I am feeling good. but it's a wh ile since I won a Grand Prix round. and that will be my aim in the next round at Cardiff." Rickardsson said. The O lympic Stadium was alive with the noise and expectation of a 20.000plus crowd. and the riders ro se to the occasion to produce an exhilarating exhibition of top-drawer racing. Re igning World Ch ampion Nicki Pedersen, firm ly established as public e nemy numbe r one afte r fenc ing Hancock in the prev ious Grand Prix in Prague, put himself under insta nt pressure, finishing third, be hind Bjarne Pedersen and Mark Loram in hea t one to find himself in the first eliminator in heat five. Mikae l Max and Andreas Jonsson won heats two and th ree , the latter gating at the second att e mpt when the first running was pulled back with Scott Nicholls having powe red into the lead. The Brit. w ho had missed the first two GPs afte r a knee operation and skin graft , unluckily trailed at the back in the re run. The first fall of the night came in heat five. and it ended Rune Ho lta's involvement. The Norwegian, on the outside of Hans Andersen and battling for second place be hind Nicki Pedersen. came down on the third turn and was excluded. Holta complained that Ande rsen had taken his leg. but refe ree Mick Posselwhite was having none of it. W ieslaw [agus, one of the Polish wildcards, got the Olympic Stad ium crowd on its fe et by winning heat six. but the real action was for second place as Nicholls, who had to shut off on the outside of Jesp e r B. Jensen down the back straight on lap one, burrowed under his Ipswich teammate on lap two to progress furt her and ditch the Dane out . Heats seven and eight produced a second w in for both Jonsso n and Max. though the latte r had to be at his best to stave off the challenge of Loram , who had come past Bo Brhel off the second bend to launch a determined chase. The introd uction of the top e ight seeded riders in heats nine and 10 - noth ing mo re than warmup races for gate positions - saw Adams break down with a throttle cable problem when in second place . behind Crump, in nine after the two had gone down the back straight lilt was a fantastic nig,ht for me, but it hasn't really sunk in. It was very tough, riding in tile first heat and still being there at the end." - Bjarne Pederson shoulder to shoulder. Lee Richardson . having com e under Ryan Sullivan on the third and fourth turns, therefore got second place and the inside grid in heat 15. Tomasz Gollob stormed around the outside of Hampel to win heat 10, and Nicki Pedersen followed suit in heat I I. the champion on the gas to pass Protasiewicz and ensure his place in the Main Event. A close encounter be tw e e n Brhe l, Grzegorz Walasek and Jagus in heat 12 ended with Walasek getting the better of his Polish co mpatriot. o nly to hit the fe nce after crossing the finish line. He nee ded medical treatment after being thrown ove r his handlebars, but he showed no ill effects in heat 13 - w hich proved a mini se nsation. www.cyclenews.com Crump . who had not been feeling 100 pe rce nt in the buildup to the meeting. gated to t he front off the inside as Walasek came off the outs ide grid into second place. but the Pole stunned the Grand Prix leader by d riving up his inside off the fourt h be nd to perform the rar e feat of passing Crump in a GP meeting. Behind them Hancock retired wit h a punctu re. CYCLE NEWS . JUNE 9. 2004