The 1996 Intercontinental Final was the eighteenth running of the Intercontinental Final and was the second last qualifying stage for Motorcycle speedway riders to qualify for the 1997 Speedway Grand Prix series. The Final was run on 28 July at the Holsted Speedway Center in Holsted, DenmarkSpeedway World Championship History - 1996
The Intercontinental Final saw a unique situation where 13 of the riders had come from the Scandinavian Final, five more than originally planned. This came about because of the FIM's controversial post-meeting decision to disqualify all bar three riders (Ryan Sullivan, Kelvin Tatum and Mark Lemon) from the Overseas Final in Coventry, England, for not starting the meeting on flat tyres.
Italian rider Valentino Furlanetto would be added to the Intercontinental Final line up as an injury replacement for Mark Lemon, making him the first and only "Continental" rider to ever race in the Intercontinental Final. He scored 1 point from his 5 rides.
Jimmy Nilsen won the event.
Intercontinental Final 28 July Holsted, Holsted Speedway Center Top 2 to 1997 Speedway Grand Prix Riders 3–7 plus 1 reserve to GP Challenge
Pos. Rider Total1 Jimmy Nilsen 13+32 Brian Andersen 13+23 Gerd Riss 124 Stefan Dannö 115 Mikael Karlsson 106 Ryan Sullivan 97 Brian Karger 98 Rune Holta 89 Jan Stæchmann 710 Kelvin Tatum 611 John Jørgensen 512 Ronni Pedersen 513 Niklas Klingberg 514 Arnt Førland 415 Vesa Ylinen 216 Valentino Furlanetto 117 Kai Laukkanen (Res) 0
References