2003 Speedway Grand Prix

The 2003 Speedway Grand Prix was the 58th edition of the official World Championship and the ninth season in the Speedway Grand Prix era used to determine the Speedway World Champion.

2003 Speedway Grand Prix
Season details
Dates	May 17 - October 4
Events	9
Cities	9
Countries	7
Riders	22 permanents 2 wild card(s)
Heats	225 + 3 canceled (in 9 events)
Winners
Champion	DEN Nicki Pedersen
Runner-up	AUS Jason Crump
3rd place	SWE Tony Rickardsson

Event format

The system first used in 1998 continued to be adopted with 24 riders, divided into two classes. The eight best would be directly qualified for the "Main Event", while the sixteen others would be knocked out if they finished out of the top two in 4-man heats on two occasions - while they would go through if they finished inside the top two on two occasions. This resulted in 10 heats, where eight proceeded to the Main Event, where exactly the same system was applied to give eight riders to a semi-final.

The semi-finals were then two heats of four, where the top two qualified for a final - there was no consolation final. The 4 finalists scored 25, 20, 18 and 16 points, with 5th and 6th place getting 13, 7th and 8th 11, and after that 8, 8, 7, 7, etc. Places after 8th place were awarded according to the time a rider was knocked out and, secondly, according to position in the last heat he rode in.

Qualification for Grand Prix

Main article: 2003 Speedway Grand Prix Qualification

The 2003 season had 22 permanent riders and two wild cards at each event. The permanent riders are highlighted in the results table below.

2003 event schedule and winners

Calendar

Date	Grand Prix	Venue	Winner
17 May	Europe	Stadion Śląski, Chorzów	Tony Rickardsson	results
31 May	Sweden	Stadion Brovalla, Avesta	Ryan Sullivan	results
14 June	Great Britain	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	Nicki Pedersen	results
28 June	Denmark	Parken Stadium, Copenhagen	Jason Crump	results
12 July	Slovenia	Matija Gubec Stadium, Krško	Leigh Adams	results
30 August	Scandinavia	Ullevi, Gothenburg	Ryan Sullivan	results
6 September	Czech Republic	Markéta Stadium, Prague	Jason Crump	results
20 September	Poland	Polonia Stadium, Bydgoszcz	Tomasz Gollob	results
4 October	Norway	Vikingskipet, Hamar	Greg Hancock	results

Final 2003 standings

Pos.	Rider Name	Pts
1	Nicki Pedersen	152	(20,8,25,16,20,7,18,18,20)
2	Jason Crump	144	(11,5,20,25,11,16,25,20,11)
3	Tony Rickardsson	127	(25,13,18,20,13,6,20,6,6)
4	Leigh Adams	126	(11,18,13,11,25,18,11,11,8)
5	Greg Hancock	121	(8,16,16,18,11,13,6,8,25)
6	Tomasz Gollob	111	(16,8,3,13,16,11,8,25,11)
7	Scott Nicholls	102	(6,2,13,11,18,20,6,13,13)
8	Rune Holta	98	(13,11,11,13,8,5,16,8,13)
9	Ryan Sullivan	94	(6,25,7,8,8,25,5,3,7)
10	Andreas Jonsson	76	(-,2,11,7,7,13,13,7,16)
11	Piotr Protasiewicz	63	(13,6,8,6,2,3,4,16,5)
12	Lukáš Dryml	58	(18,20,8,7,5,-,-,-,-)
13	Mikael Max	52	(7,13,5,1,3,8,7,5,3)
14	Bjarne Pedersen	51	(2,7,4,5,-,3,8,4,18)
15	Tomasz Bajerski	51	(4,11,7,6,13,5,2,1,2)
16	Lee Richardson	45	(7,1,4,-,-,8,7,11,7)
17	Hans Andersen	41	(3,4,-,-,-,11,11,6,6)
18	Mark Loram	32	(5,-,-,-,7,4,4,7,5)
19	Todd Wiltshire	30	(2,5,5,2,1,6,3,3,3)
20	Jason Lyons	29	(1,6,2,8,3,2,1,2,4)
21	Peter Karlsson	28	(1,3,6,4,6,-,2,4,2)
22	Bohumil Brhel	26	(5,3,1,5,-,1,5,5,1)
23	Ronni Pedersen	23	(-,4,6,3,-,1,-,1,8)
24	Krzysztof Cegielski	15	(8,7,-,-,-,-,-,-,-)
25	Jarosław Hampel	13	(-,-,-,-,-,-,-,13,-)
26	Tomáš Topinka	13	(-,-,-,-,-,-,,13-,-)
27	David Howe	8	(-,-,2,-,6,-,-,-,-)
28	Peter Ljung	7	(-,-,-,-,-,7,-,-,-)
29	Roman Povazhny	6	(-,-,-,2,4,-,-,-,-)
30	Matej Žagar	5	(-,-,-,-,5,-,-,-,-)
31	Lars Gunnestad	4	(-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,4)
32	David Ruud	4	(-,-,-,-,-,4,-,-,-)
33	Charlie Gjedde	4	(-,-,-,4,-,-,-,-,-)
34	Sebastian Ułamek	4	(4,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-)
35	Izak Šantej	4	(-,-,-,-,,4-,-,-,-)
36	Aleš Dryml, Jr.	3	(-,-,-,-,-,-,3,-,-)
37	Rafał Kurmański	3	(3,-,-,-,-,-,-,-,-)
38	Simon Stead	3	(-,-,3,-,-,-,-,-,-)
39	Robert Dados	3	(-,-,-,3,-,-,-,-,-)
40	Joonas Kylmäkorpi	3	(-,-,-,-,-,2,-,-,1)
41	Rafał Szombierski	2	(-,-,-,-,-,-,-,2,-)
42	Sándor Tihanyi	2	(-,-,-,-,2,-,-,-,-)
43	Jesper B. Jensen	1	(-,-,-,1,-,-,-,-,-)
44	Magnus Zetterström	1	(-,1,-,-,-,-,-,-,-)
45	Josef Franc	1	(-,-,-,-,-,-,1,-,-)
46	Chris Harris	1	(-,-,1,-,-,-,-,-,-)
47	Denis Štojs	1	(-,-,-,-,1,-,-,-,-)

External links

• List of results from Official Speedway GP site