1997 Speedway Grand Prix

The 1997 Speedway Grand Prix was the 52nd edition of the official World Championship.[1][2] It was the third season in the Speedway Grand Prix era used to determine the Speedway World Champion.[3]

1997 Speedway Grand Prix
Season details
DatesMay 17 - September 20
Events6
Cities6
Countries6
Riders17 permanents
1 wild card(s)
Heats144 (in 6 events)
Winners
Champion USA Greg Hancock
Runner-up USA Billy Hamill
3rd place POL Tomasz Gollob

Greg Hancock from the United States became the World Champion with 118 points beating fellow American Billy Hamill into second place. The bronze medal went to Pole Tomasz Gollob.[4]

Event format

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During 1997 the initial SGP scoring system was used for the final time. Each rider raced every other in the meeting with the top 4 qualifying for a final - the points for all other riders determined their finishing position in the meeting and therefore their championship Grand Prix points. The 4 finalists scored 25, 20, 18 and 16 points, with the reminder scoring 14, 13, 12, 11, 9, 8, 7, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Qualification for Grand Prix

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The 1997 season had 17 permanent riders and one wild card at each event. The permanent riders are highlighted in the results table below.

Calendar

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Round Date City and venue Winner Runner-up 3rd placed 4th placed Results
1 May 17   Prague , Czech Republic
Markéta Stadium
  Greg Hancock   Billy Hamill   Tomasz Gollob   Slawomir Drabik results
2 June 14   Linköping , Sweden
Motorstadium
  Tomasz Gollob   Greg Hancock   Tony Rickardsson   Hans Nielsen results
3 July 5   Landshut , Germany
Stadion Ellermühle
  Hans Nielsen   Brian Andersen   Greg Hancock   Billy Hamill results
4 August 9   Bradford , Great Britain
Odsal Stadium
  Brian Andersen   Billy Hamill   Jimmy Nilsen   Mark Loram results
5 August 30   Wrocław , Poland
Olympic Stadium
  Greg Hancock   Billy Hamill   Tomasz Gollob   Piotr Protasiewicz results
6 September 20   Vojens , Denmark
Speedway Center
  Mark Loram   Tony Rickardsson   Greg Hancock   Tomasz Gollob results

Final standings

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Qualifies for next season's Grand Prix series
Full-time Grand Prix rider
Wild card, track reserve or qualified reserve
Pos. Rider Points CZE
 
SWE
 
GER
 
GBR
 
POL
 
DEN
 
    (3) Greg Hancock 118 25 20 18 12 25 18
    (1) Billy Hamill 101 20 12 16 20 20 13
    (13) Tomasz Gollob 92 18 25 1 14 18 16
4   (4) Tony Rickardsson 90 11 18 14 13 14 20
5   (7) Mark Loram 81 7 13 8 16 12 25
6   (12) Brian Andersen 80 9 14 20 25 4 8
7   (2) Hans Nielsen 75 8 16 25 7 7 12
8   (11) Jimmy Nilsen 71 13 7 13 18 9 11
9   (8) Chris Louis 59 12 4 12 4 13 14
10   (10) Leigh Adams 42 6 6 9 9 3 9
11   (14) Sławomir Drabik 38 16 2 6 2 11 1
12   (6) Peter Karlsson 37 4 11 3 6 6 7
13   (15) Piotr Protasiewicz 31 1 ns 11 0 16 3
14   (18) Andy Smith 22 ns 9 4 3 ns 6
15   (5) Henrik Gustafsson 20 14 3 1 2 ns
16   (17) Mikael Karlsson 14 ns 1 ns 11 ns 2
17   (9) Simon Wigg 13 3 ns 2 ns 8 ns
18   (16) Jason Crump 8 8
19   (16) Joe Screen 8 8
20   (16) Robert Barth 7 7
21   (16) Jesper B. Jensen 4 4
22   (16) Tomáš Topinka 2 2
23   (16) Rafał Dobrucki 1 1
Rider(s) not classified
  (19) Sam Ermolenko ns
Pos. Rider Points CZE
 
SWE
 
GER
 
GBR
 
POL
 
DEN
 

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX". British Speedway. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  2. ^ "HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK". Speedway.org. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  3. ^ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  4. ^ "Hoare, T. (1997) 'Relaxed Hancock lifts world crown'". The Times. 22 September 1997. Retrieved 11 July 2021 – via Gale Primary Sources.
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