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FIM World Speedway Grand Prix Series STORY AND PHOTOS BY JOHN HIPKISS oclaw, Krsko, Cardiff, Copenhagen and now Prague: What's the link? All five venues have yielded Grand Prix wins for Tony Rickardsson this year, with the Swede moving a step closer to celebrating his sixth World title, and equaling Ivan Mauger's record, with his fourth GP victory in a row in the Czech capital on a Saturday night. Rickardsson has now won five of this season's six rounds, and a phenomenal record has given him a genuine aura of invincibility. Yet while he celebrated more gold on a muggy Eastern European night, top Brit Scott Nicholls was left to rue what could, and probably should, have been. Nicholls, yet to win a GP after more than 30 attempts, beat Rickardsson in the heats and was easily the best rider on show going into the semifinals. He topped the qualifying, scoring on 14 points, and looked a nailed-on certainty to reach his first final of the season. But he disappointingly bowed out in the semifinals, and it left Rickardsson free to extend his lead at the head of the standings to a massive 54 points, once again overcoming an injury scare in the process. Rickardsson won the first GP of the year in Poland, nursing a posterior that was famously described as being like an Inter Milan soccer shirt (i.e. black and blue). Ten days before round three in Slovenia, he crashed in Poland and was laid low with a bad concussion. And on Saturday at the Marketa Stadium, Rickardsson was speared into the fence in a heat-five spill triggered by Nicki Pedersen. Jarek Hampel was also caught in the mayhem. Rickardsson bent his primary bike and suffered a suspected broken thumb on his left hand, but he still came out to finish second in the rerun before winning heats nine and 17. He was runner-up to Jason Crump in the second semifinal but then exploded off the start to win the final, ahead of Bjarne Pedersen, Hampel and Crump. "I really don't know why things are going so well," Rickardsson said. "I am sure I will be beaten sometime, but at the moment, I am just enjoying myself. My mechanics did a great job to change engines after I bent my first bike in the crash, and I also hurt my thumb and may have to have an X-ray. I have a big lead, but anything could still W 36 JULY 27 2005 • CYCLE NEWS (Above) Tony Rlckardlson (2) came back from a cralh and a broken thumb to win the Czech 5peeclway Grand Prix at Markelo Stodium in Prague. Rickardlson (right) hal naw _n five of the lix BPI held in 2005. (Below) Greg Hancock (3) failed to make the semlfinall. Reigning World Champion Jason Crump _n the second semi but wal fourth in the final.