FIM World Speedway Grand Prix Series
WITH FOUR WINS IN FIVE ROUNDS, THE
third Grand Prix win in a
row, a fourth victory in five
rounds, and a sixth World
title all but in the bag ...
Those are the figures
behind the undisputable fact that Tony
Rickardsson is on course to establish a
raft of new records as he makes a bid
to equal the achievement of the legendary Ivan Mauger in landing six
World crowns.
Rickardsson, who also won two of the
last three GPs in 2004, was again in peerless form in Saturday's Danish Grand Prix
at Parken. And had the first running of the
final in Sweden in May not been stopped
when Nicki Pedersen knocked off namesake Bjarne, he would have won all five
GPs this year!
The imperious Swede became the first
rider in GP history to claim three consec-
A
utive wins, and four in the same season,
and his lead over Jason Crump is now a
colossal 45 points after the defending
champion exited in the semifinals.
Though not unassailable, the only way
Rickardsson is now going to lose out is by
hitting some pretty serious misfortune in
the final four rounds.
"I never try to break records - that is
36 JULY 6, 2005 • CYCLE NEWS
2005 SGP IS TURNING INTO A RICKARDSSON RUNAWAY
not my main ambition," Rickardsson said.
"I just try to win as many races as I can,
and if you win races, then you will win
GPs as well. I know I only need a small,
small slip and I won't be
winning, so I need to stay
focused. I never take
anything for granted."
Rickardsson, who is
only 6 I points short of
the record 181 he accumulated to win the 10leg series in 2002, ran
last in the qualifying,
which he put down to
some dodgy methanol,
but he finished with I I
points, showing his mettle with one contemptuous move to dissect
Crump
and
Lee
Richardson when left at
the back in heat six.
His tally was one less
than American star Greg
Hancock. who had followed a first-race zero
by cruising to four mightily impressive wins, and
Crump, while Nicki
Pedersen also finished with I I. The other
semifinalists were Antonio lindback (10),
Andreas Jonsson (8), Jarek Hampel (8)
and Hans Andersen (8).
Aussie Leigh Adams, on course to finish as World number four for a fourth successive season, missed out on the semis
again when he had a puncture in heat 15.
