1997 Speedway Grand Prix
| 1997 Speedway Grand Prix | |
|---|---|
| Season details | |
| Dates | May 17 - September 20 |
| Events | 6 |
| Cities | 6 |
| Countries | 6 |
| Riders | 17 permanents 1 wild card(s) |
| Heats | 144 (in 6 events) |
| Winners | |
| Champion |  USA Greg Hancock |
| Runner-up | USA Billy Hamill |
| 3rd place |  POL Tomasz Gollob |
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]
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
[edit]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
[edit]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
[edit]| 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
[edit]| 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
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX". British Speedway. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
- ^ "HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK". Speedway.org. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
- ^ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
- ^ "Hoare, T. (1997) 'Relaxed Hancock lifts world crown'". The Times. 22 September 1997. Retrieved 11 July 2021 – via Gale Primary Sources.
External links
[edit]| Speedway World Championship |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Speedway Grand Prix (SGP) | ||
| See also | ||
| ||