SpeeDWAY
Round 8
August 27, 2005
~
FIM World Speedway Grand Prix Series
GOLLOB SHINES RIC~O TIES HISTORY
here was magic everywhere
one looked at Polonia Stadium. It included a sixth World
title for the iconic Swede Tony
Rickardsson, a record fourth
consecutive Bydgoszcz GP success for
Polish showman Tomasz Gollob, and a
best-ever World Championship performance from Britain's Lee Richardson.
Those were the high spots of Saturday's
Polish Grand Prix, with American hero
Greg Hancock also performing with much
merit to finish fourth on the night and distance himself from the scrap for a topeight finish and an automatic place in the
2006 series.
Rickardsson's triumph in equaling the
legendary Ivan Mauger's feat of lifting six
World titles fueled the ongoing debate
over who is the greatest speedway rider of
all time. The sensational 35-year-old
Swedish maestro, needing only four points
to complete the formality of his sixth triumph in 12 years, duly obliged with a win
in heat three and a third place in heat six,
and he has now taken the crown under the
GP format five times in the last eight seasons.
Rickardsson missed out on extending
his run of consecutive final appearances to
12 when he failed to make the last eight on
T
the night, but he admitted: "It is a fantastic feeling and I am just so happy. This has
been my best season ever, and I am loving
what I am doing.
"It was hard to keep my focus after the
title was won," Rickardsson added. "I was
at the tapes, waiting for the green light
with a big smile on my face! I really had to
concentrate in my last three rides."
His celebrations clearly disrupting his
concentration, Rickardsson bizarrely ran a
last in his first race as 2005 World
Champion, and a third place in his final
ride meant he missed the cut for the
semifinals when Richardson won heat 20.
Richardson tied on eight points with
Rickardsson and fellow Brit Scott Nicholls
but qualified by virtue of his two wins and
one second-place finish.
Nicholls, who came out on top of an
enthralling three-man skirmish with Jason
Crump and Hans Andersen in the third
running of heat nine, was badly baulked
on the apex of the first two turns in his
38
SEPTEMBER 7,2005 •
CYCLE NEWS
