The 2016 Speedway Grand Prix season was the 22nd season of the Speedway Grand Prix era, and decided the 71st FIM Speedway World Championship. It was the sixteenth series under the promotion of Benfield Sports International, an IMG company. Tai Woffinden was the defending champion from 2015.[1][2]
| 2016 Speedway Grand Prix | |
|---|---|
| Season details | |
| Dates | April 30 — October 22 |
| Events | 11 |
| Riders | 15 permanents 1 wild card(s) 2 track reserves |
| Heats | 253 (in 11 events) |
| Winners | |
| Champion |  USA Greg Hancock |
| Runner-up |  GBR Tai Woffinden |
| 3rd place |  POL Bartosz Zmarzlik |
Greg Hancock won the title, the fourth of his career. He won the series by nine points from 2015 champion Woffinden, who finished second ahead of debutant Bartosz Zmarzlik. Jason Doyle was leading the series with two rounds to go, but suffered an injury in his first heat during the penultimate round in Poland and was unable to complete the season. He eventually finished fifth, behind Australian compatriot and 2012 world champion Chris Holder, who won his home Grand Prix in Melbourne (his first SGP win since 2012) to move in fourth in the standings.
The title lifted Hancock to sixth on the all-time list, joining Ivan Mauger and Tony Rickardsson (6 each), Ove Fundin (5) and Barry Briggs and Hans Nielsen (4 each) as riders to win at least four individual world championships.
Qualification
editFor the 2016 season there were 15 permanent riders, joined at each Grand Prix by one wild card and two track reserves.
The top eight riders from the 2015 championship qualified automatically. Those riders were joined by the three riders who qualified via the Grand Prix Challenge.
The final four riders were nominated by series promoters, Benfield Sports International, following the completion of the 2015 season.[3]
Qualified riders
edit| # | Riders | 2015 place | GP Ch place | Appearance | Previous appearances in series |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 108 | Tai Woffinden |
1 | — | 5th | 2010, 2011, 2013–2015 |
| 45 | Greg Hancock |
2 | — | 22nd | 1995–2015 |
| 3 |  Nicki Pedersen |
3 | — | 16th | 2000, 2001–2015 |
| 88 | Niels Kristian Iversen |
4 | — | 6th | 2004–2005, 2006, 2008, 2009–2010, 2013–2015 |
| 69 |  Jason Doyle |
5 | — | 2nd | 2015 |
| 55 |  Matej Žagar |
6 | — | 6th | 2003–2005, 2006–2007, 2008–2009, 2011, 2013–2015 |
| 71 | Maciej Janowski |
7 | — | 2nd | 2008, 2012, 2014, 2015 |
| 23 | Chris Holder |
8 | — | 7th | 2010–2015 |
| 95 | Bartosz Zmarzlik |
18 | 1 | 1st | 2012–2015 |
| 777 | Piotr Pawlicki Jr. |
19 | 2 | 1st | 2015 |
| 37 | Chris Harris |
13 | 3 | 10th | 2003, 2007–2012, 2013, 2014–2015 |
| 25 | Peter Kildemand |
9 | 5 | 1st | 2012–2015 |
| 100 |  Andreas Jonsson |
10 | — | 15th | 2001, 2002–2015 |
| 33 | Jarosław Hampel |
16 | — | 11th | 2000–2002, 2004–2007, 2008–2009, 2010–2015 |
| 85 | Antonio Lindbäck |
17 | 15 | 7th | 2004, 2005–2007, 2009–2010, 2011–2013, 2015 |
Qualified substitutes
editThe following riders were nominated as substitutes:
| # | Riders | 2015 place | GP Ch place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 66 | Fredrik Lindgren |
— | 4 |
| 52 | Michael Jepsen Jensen |
11 | — |
| 21 |  Václav Milík |
26 | 6 |
Fredrik Lindgren replaced the injured Jarosław Hampel for the first six rounds. Hampel then officially withdrew from the competition on 22 August 2016,[4] promoting Lindgren to a full-time place in the series.
Calendar
editThe 2016 season consisted of 11 events, one less than the 2015 series.[5]
Final 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 |
POL |
DEN |
CZE |
GBR |
SWE |
PL2 |
GER  |
SCA |
PL3 |
AUS
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
(45) Greg Hancock (C)
|
139 | 10 | 14 | 14 | 18 | 10 | 17 | 11 | 15 | 9 | 16 | 5 |
|
(108) Tai Woffinden
|
130 | 10 | 14 | 15 | 9 | 15 | 8 | 15 | 10 | 11 | 8 | 15 |
|
(95) Bartosz Zmarzlik
|
128 | 8 | 10 | 7 | 13 | 13 | 10 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 15 |
| 4 | (23) Chris Holder
|
126 | 14 | 12 | 13 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 15 | 8 | 13 | 11 | 17 |
| 5 | (69) Jason Doyle
|
123 | 13 | 5 | 7 | 17 | 12 | 17 | 16 | 17 | 19 | 0 | – |
| 6 | (777) Piotr Pawlicki Jr.
|
99 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 14 | 13 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 10 | 8 |
| 7 | (85) Antonio Lindbäck
|
93 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 18 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 14 |
| 8 | (88) Niels Kristian Iversen
|
91 | 8 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 11 | 7 | 15 | 12 |
| 9 | (71) Maciej Janowski
|
90 | 10 | 10 | 16 | 5 | 11 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 5 |
| 10 | (55) Matej Žagar
|
90 | 4 | 14 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 15 | 15 | 11 |
| 11 | (66) Fredrik Lindgren
|
88 | 7 | 12 | 2 | 11 | 2 | 8 | 11 | 6 | 14 | 9 | 6 |
| 12 | (25) Peter Kildemand
|
68 | 15 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 4 |
| 13 | (3) Nicki Pedersen
|
62 | 10 | 4 | 10 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 7 | – | – | – |
| 14 | (100) Andreas Jonsson
|
53 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 7 | 7 |
| 15 | (37) Chris Harris
|
40 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| 16 | (52) Michael Jepsen Jensen
|
31 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 7 | 4 | 10 | 10 |
| 17 | (16) Patryk Dudek
|
8 | – | 8 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 17 | (16) Martin Smolinski
|
8 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 8 | – | – | – |
| 17 | (16) Paweł Przedpełski
|
8 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 8 | – |
| 20 | (16) Danny King
|
7 | – | – | – | – | 7 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 20 | (16) Krzysztof Kasprzak
|
7 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 7 | – | – | – | – |
| 22 | (16) Anders Thomsen
|
5 | – | – | 5 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 22 | (17) Kim Nilsson
|
5 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 5 | – | – |
| 24 | (16) Peter Ljung
|
4 | – | – | – | – | – | 4 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 25 | (16) Václav Milík Jr.
|
3 | – | – | – | 3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 26 | (17) Tobias Kroner
|
2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2 | – | – | – |
| 26 | (16) Sam Masters
|
2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2 |
| 26 | (17) Brady Kurtz
|
2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2 |
| 26 | (19) Jack Holder
|
2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2 |
| 26 | (17) Nick Škorja
|
2 | 1 | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 30 | (16) Denis Štojs
|
1 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 30 | (17) Daniel Kaczmarek
|
1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | – |
| 30 | (16) Jacob Thorssell
|
1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – |
| 30 | (17) Kacper Woryna
|
1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – |
| 35 | (18) Matic Ivačič
|
0 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 35 | (18) Oskar Bober
|
0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 0 | – |
| 35 | (18) Max Fricke
|
0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 0 |
| Pos. | Rider | Points | SVN |
POL |
DEN |
CZE |
GBR |
SWE |
PL2 |
GER |
SCA |
PL3 |
AUS
|
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX". British Speedway. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
- ^ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
- ^ "2016 SGP Wildcards". SGP.
- ^ "Hampel withdraws from SGP 2016". SGP.
- ^ "2016 FIM Speedway World Championship calendar". SGP.
- ^ "2016 FIM Speedway World Championship standings". SGP.