2008 Speedway Grand Prix of Sweden

The 2008 Speedway Grand Prix of Sweden is the third race of the 2008 Speedway Grand Prix season. It took place on 24 May in the Ullevi Stadium in Göteborg, Sweden[1] It is the fourth time that the Ullevi Stadium has staged a GP, the last time being the 2004 Grand Prix of Scandinavia. At 416 metres, the semi-permanent track is the largest track on the 2008 Grand Prix calendar, and the longest ever used for a Grand Prix event.[2]

Sweden 2008 Speedway Grand Prix of Sweden
FIM SAPA Swedish Speedway Grand Prix
Information
Date24 May 2008
CitySweden Gothenburg
Event3 of 11 (103)
RefereeUnited Kingdom Anthony Steele
Jury PresidentDenmark Joergen L. Jensen
Stadium details
StadiumUllevi
Capacity43,000
Length416 m (455 yd)
Trackspeedway track
SGP Results
Best Time
1st place, gold medalist(s) WinnerPoland Rune Holta
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Runner-upSweden Fredrik Lindgren
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 3rd placeDenmark Nicki Pederson

Sweden is also the first of four rounds of the 2008 Super Prix. The meeting winner will be given the red helmet in the SuperPrix final at Gelsenkirchen in October with a chance of winning a share of an extra $200,000 prize fund.[3]

Riders edit

The Speedway Grand Prix Commission nominated Jonas Davidsson as a wild card, and Sebastian Aldén and Billy Forsberg both as track reserves.[4] Bjarne Pedersen was again replaced by Luboš Tomíček because of an injury. The draw was made on 13 May at the FIM Headquarters in Mies, Switzerland.[5]

Result edit

Rune Holta won the Swedish Grand Prix with a fast overtaking manoeuvre on the back straight on the first lap of the final. It was Holta's 50th Grand Prix and the first Grand Prix win of his career.[6]

Fredrik Lindgren had been unbeaten from his previous races but had to settle for second place, although he did score the most points from the meeting. Nicki Pedersen extended his series lead to ten points with third place.

The meeting overran by over an hour due to a number of stoppages caused by the unpredictable, rutted track. Andreas Jonsson was taken to hospital after a high-speed crash but escaped serious injury, Niels Kristian Iversen also crashed in one of his heats and suffered a dislocated shoulder.[6]

Heat details edit

Placing Draw Rider Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts Pos 21 22 23
1 5   (7) Rune Holta 17 3 1 2 0 3 9 4 2 3
2 15   (15) Fredrik Lindgren 22 3 3 3 3 3 15 1 3 2
3 7   (1) Nicki Pedersen 16 2 1 3 3 2 11 2 3 1
4 1   (3) Jason Crump 12 3 3 1 2 1 10 3 2 0
5 6   (4) Tomasz Gollob 8 0 2 3 Fx 3 8 5 0
6 3   (10) Andreas Jonsson 8 2 2 1 3 Fx 8 7 N
7 16   (2) Leigh Adams 9 2 1 2 2 1 8 6 1
8 8   (5) Hans N. Andersen 8 1 3 3 F2 0 7 8 1
9 4   (8) Scott Nicholls 7 1 2 2 Fx 2 7 9
10 10   (16) Jonas Davidsson 7 E 3 1 1 2 7 10
11 11   (6) Greg Hancock 6 3 0 0 3 Fx 6 11
12 2   (14) Krzysztof Kasprzak 5 0 0 0 2 3 5 12
13 13   (19) Luboš Tomíček, Jr. 5 0 2 0 1 2 5 13
14 14   (9) Chris Harris 5 1 1 2 0 1 5 14
15 12   (13) Lukáš Dryml 3 1 0 1 1 Fx 3 15
16 9   (12) Niels Kristian Iversen 2 2 Fx - - - 2 16
17 18   (18) Billy Forsberg 2 2 2 17
18 17   (17) Sebastian Aldén 0 0 0 0 18
Placing Draw Rider Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts Pos 21 22 23

e: retired or mechanical failure • m: exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance • t: exclusion for touching the tapes • x: other exclusion • f: fell
ns: non-starter • nc: non-classify
Semi-finals: Heat 21: Riders placed 1st, 4th, 6th & 7th in the intermediate classification (after 20 heats)
Heat 22: Riders placed 2nd, 3rd, 5th & 8th in the intermediate classification (after 20 heats)
Big Final (heat 23): The first and second placed riders in each of the Semi-Finals

gate A – inside gate B gate C gate D – outside

Heat after heat edit

  1. Crump, Jonsson, Nicholls, Kasprzak
  2. Holta, Pedersen, Andersen, Gollob
  3. Hancock, Iversen, Dryml, Davidsson (E/start)
  4. Lindgren, Adams, Harris, Tomicek
  5. Crump, Tomicek, Holta, Iversen (X/F2)
  6. Davidsson, Gollob, Harris, Kasprzak
  7. Lindgren, Jonsson, Pedersen, Hancock
  8. Andersen, Nicholls, Adams, Dryml
  9. Gollob, Adams, Crump, Hancock
  10. Lindgren, Holta, Dryml, Kasprzak
  11. Andersen, Harris, Jonsson, Alden
  12. Pedersen, Nicholls, Davidsson, Tomicek
  13. Pedersen, Crump, Dryml, Harris
  14. Hancock, Kasprzak, Tomicek, Andersen (F2)
  15. Jonsson, Adams, Davidsson, Holta
  16. Lindgren, Forsberg, Nicholls (X/F3), Gollob (X/F2)
  17. Lindgren, Davidsson, Crump, Andersen
  18. Kasprzak, Pedersen, Adams, Alden
  19. Gollob, Tomicek, Jonsson (X/F5), Dryml (X/F3)
  20. Holta, Nicholls, Harris, Hancock (X/F2)
    Semi-Finals:
  21. Lindgren, Holta, Adams, Jonsson (N)
  22. Pedersen, Crump, Andersen, Gollob
    Final:
  23. Holta (6), Lindgren (4), Pedersen (2), Crump (0)

The intermediate classification edit

Qualifies for next season's Grand Prix series
Full-time Grand Prix rider
Wild card, track reserve or qualified reserve
Pos. Rider Points SVN
 
EUR
 
SWE
 
DEN
 
GBR
 
CZE
 
SCA
 
LAT
 
POL
 
ITA
 
FIN
 
1   (1) Nicki Pedersen 49 17 16 16                
2   (4) Tomasz Gollob 39 19 12 8                
3   (15) Fredrik Lindgren 36 7 7 22                
4   (2) Leigh Adams 34 5 20 9                
5   (6) Greg Hancock 34 8 20 6                
6   (3) Jason Crump 30 10 8 12                
7   (10) Andreas Jonsson 29 12 9 8                
8   (5) Hans N. Andersen 28 14 6 8                
9   (7) Rune Holta 26 5 4 17                
10   (12) Niels Kristian Iversen 20 8 10 2                
11   (9) Chris Harris 17 6 6 5                
12   (8) Scott Nicholls 16 7 2 7                
13   (16) Jarosław Hampel 16 16                
14   (13) Lukáš Dryml 14 9 2 3                
15   (14) Krzysztof Kasprzak 14 6 3 5                
16   (19) Luboš Tomíček, Jr. 8 3 5                
17   (16) Matej Žagar 7 7                
18   (16) Jonas Davidsson 7 7                
19   (11) Bjarne Pedersen 4 4                
20   (18) Billy Forsberg 2 2                
21   (17) Sebastian Aldén 0 0                
Rider(s) not classified
  (17) Izak Šantej ns                
  (17) Damian Baliński ns                
  (18) Denis Štojs ns                
  (18) Krzysztof Buczkowski ns                
Pos. Rider Points SVN
 
EUR
 
SWE
 
DEN
 
GBR
 
CZE
 
SCA
 
LAT
 
POL
 
ITA
 
FIN
 

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "SGP Permanent Wild Cards and 2008 Calendar Announced". SpeedwayWorld.Tv. 2007-10-22. Archived from the original on 2007-08-01. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  2. ^ "Swedish GP Preview". SpeedwayWorld.Tv. 2008-05-23. Retrieved 2008-05-24.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ "SuperPrix". SpeedwayWorld.Tv. 2007. Retrieved 2008-05-24.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ "FIM SAPA Grand Prix Szwecji". PZM.pl. 2008-05-06. Archived from the original on 6 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  5. ^ SpeedwayWorld.Tv Archived 2012-02-11 at the Wayback Machine - 2008-05-13.
  6. ^ a b "Holta takes maiden win". SpeedwayWorld.Tv. 2008-05-25. Retrieved 2008-05-25.[permanent dead link]

External links edit