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. The world title was won by Nicki Pedersen of Denmark.
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
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 DateGrand PrixVenueWinnerResult17 MayEuropeStadion Śląski, ChorzówTony Rickardsson 2003 European GP31 MaySweden Stadion Brovalla, AvestaRyan Sullivan 2003 Swedish GP14 June Great Britain Millennium Stadium, CardiffNicki Pedersen 2003 British GP28 JuneDenmark Parken Stadium, CopenhagenJason Crump 2003 Danish GP12 JulySlovenia Matija Gubec Stadium, KrškoLeigh Adams 2003 Slovenian GP30 AugustScandinavia Ullevi, GothenburgRyan Sullivan 2003 Scandinavian GP6 SeptemberCzech Republic Markéta Stadium, PragueJason Crump 2003 Czech Republic GP20 SeptemberPoland Polonia Stadium, BydgoszczTomasz Gollob 2003 Polish GP4 OctoberNorway Vikingskipet, HamarGreg Hancock 2003 Norwegian GP
Final 2003 standings PosRiderTotalEURSWEGBRDENSVNSCACZEPOLNOR1 Nicki Pedersen 152 20825162071818202 Jason Crump 144 115202511162520113 Tony Rickardsson 127 2513182013620664 Leigh Adams 126 111813112518111185 Greg Hancock 121 8161618111368256 Tomasz Gollob 111 1683131611825117 Scott Nicholls 102 6213111820613138/ Rune Holta 98 1311111385168139 Ryan Sullivan 94 6257882553710 Andreas Jonsson 76 -21177131371611 Piotr Protasiewicz 63 1368623416512 Lukáš Dryml 58 1820875----13 Mikael Max 52 713513875314 Bjarne Pedersen 51 2745-3841815 Tomasz Bajerski 51 4117613521216 Lee Richardson 45 714--8711717 Hans Andersen41 34---11116618 Mark Loram 32 5---7447519 Todd Wiltshire 30 25521633320 Jason Lyons 29 16283212421 Peter Karlsson 28 13646-24222 Bohumil Brhel 26 5315-155123 Ronni Pedersen23 -463-1-1824 Krzysztof Cegielski 15 87------- 25 Jarosław Hampel13 -------13-26 Tomáš Topinka 13 ------13-- 27 David Howe8 --2-6----28 Peter Ljung7 -----7--- 29 Roman Povazhny6 ---24----30 Matej Žagar5 ----5----31 Lars Gunnestad4 --------432 David Ruud4 -----4---33 Charlie Gjedde4 ---4-----34 Sebastian Ułamek4 4--------35 Izak Šantej4 ----4----36 Aleš Dryml, Jr.3 ------3--37 Rafał Kurmański3 3--------38 Simon Stead3 --3------39 Robert Dados3 ---3-----40 Joonas Kylmäkorpi3 -----2--1 41 Rafał Szombierski2 -------2-42 Sándor Tihanyi2 ----2----43 Jesper B. Jensen1 ---1-----44 Magnus Zetterström1 -1-------45 Josef Franc1 ------1--46 Chris Harris1 --1------ 47 Denis Štojs 1 ----1----
External links List of results from Official Speedway GP site
References