1998 Speedway Grand Prix Qualification

The 1998 Speedway Grand Prix Qualification or GP Challenge was a series of motorcycle speedway meetings used to determine the 16 riders that qualified for the 1998 Speedway Grand Prix to join the other 8 riders that finished in the leading positions from the 1997 Speedway Grand Prix.

There was a late change to the qualifying when the Grand Prix increased to 24 permanent riders. Therefore 4 riders would qualify straight from the Intercontinental and Continental finals and 9 riders would qualify through the GP Challenge (originally just 4). The final 3 GP places would go to wildcards.

Piotr Protasiewicz won the GP Challenge.

Format First Round - 5 riders each from Sweden & Denmark, 3 riders each from Finland & Norway to Scandinavian Final First Round - 32 riders from Continental quarter finals to Continental semi-finals First Round - 8 riders from British final to Overseas Final First Round - 4 riders from Australian/New Zealand final to Overseas Final First Round - 4 riders from United States final to Overseas Final Second Round - 8 riders from Scandinavian final to Intercontinental Final Second Round - 8 riders from Overseas final to Intercontinental Final Second Round - 16 riders from Continental semi-finals to Continental Final Third Round - 7 riders from positions 9-15 from the 1997 Grand Prix to GP Challenge Third Round - 2 riders from the Continental Final to 1998 Grand Prix and 4 to GP Challenge Third Round - 2 riders from the Intercontinental Final to 1998 Grand Prix and 5 to GP Challenge Final Round - 9 riders from the GP Challenge to the 1998 Grand Prix

First round Continental quarter finals

QF (1 May Terenzano)PosRider Points 1 Armando Castagna 132 Zoltán Adorján 123 Alessandro Dalla Valle124 Zdenek Schneiderwind 115 Christophe Dubernard 116 Antonín Kasper Jr. 107 Andrea Maida108 Izak Šantej89 Maik Groen 610 Csaba Hell 511 Sergej Eroschin 512 Stéphane Trésarrieu 413 Massimo Mora 414 Oleg Kurguskin 415 Thomas Stadler 316 Helmut Lercher 2

QF (4 May Częstochowa)PosRider Points 1 Sebastian Ułamek 142 Dariusz Śledź 133 Igor Marko134 Rinat Mardanshin 125 Nikolaj Kokins 116 Václav Milík Sr. 107 Wieslaw Jagus98 Vladimir Trofimov89 Vladimir Voronkov 710 Rene Aas 511 Björn Danielczik 512 Michal Makovský 413 Mirko Wolter 414 Waldemar Walczak 315 Grigorij Charchenko 116 Frederic Brisseau 017 Robert Jucha 018 Artur Pietrzyk 0

QF (4 May Ljubljana)PosRider Points 1 Robert Sawina 132 Piotr Świst 133 Robbie Kessler124 Andreas Bössner 115 Matej Ferjan 116 Nikolaj Manev 97 Gerhard Lekse98 Norbert Magosi89 Emiliano Sanchez 810 Martin Peterca 711 Sándor Tihanyi 412 Alessandro Milanese 413 Alexander Liatosinski 414 Krunoslav Zganec 315 Milen Nikolajev 216 Renato Kuster 1

QF (19 May Abensberg)PosRider Points 1 Gerd Riss 152 Jacek Krzyżaniak 133 Roman Povazhny114 Tomáš Topinka 115 Robert Barth 116 Bohumil Brhel 107 Jacek Gollob108 Sergej Darkin99 Jaroslav Gavenda 810 Laszlo Bodi 711 Heinrich Schatzer 412 Gabor Röth 413 Vladimir Visvader 314 Alexander Biznia 315 Simone Tadiello 116 Patrik Verbrugge 0

Second round Overseas Final 8 riders to Intercontinental Final

Scandinavian Final 8 riders to Intercontinental final (7 Jun 1997 Hyvinkää)PosRider Points 1 Peter Nahlin 122 Jesper B Jensen 123 Stefan Dannö114 Kai Laukkanen 105 Ronni Pedersen 106 John Jørgensen 107 Frede Schött108 Stefan Andersson99 Rune Holta 810 Niklas Klingberg 811 Hans Clausen 612 Lars Gunnestad 513 Niklas Karlsson 314 Marko Hyyryläinen 215 Kenneth Borgenhaug 216 Jonas Kylmäkorpi 1

Continental semi finals Continental semi-finals - 16 riders from to Continental final SF 8 June 1997 St. Johann im Pongau District Pos.RiderPoints1 Robert Sawina 142 Antonín Kasper Jr. 123 Piotr Świst124 Andreas Bössner 105 Zoltán Adorján 106 Robbie Kessler 107 Armando Castagna108 Andrea Maida89 Zdenek Schneiderwind 810 Izak Šantej 711 Matej Ferjan 512 Alessandro Dalla Valle 413 Norbert Magosi 414 Nikolaj Manev 215 Christophe Dubernard 216 Gerhard Lekse 2SF2 7 June 1997 Pocking Pos.RiderPoints1 Jacek Gollob 142 Bohumil Brhel 123 Tomáš Topinka114 Roman Povazhny 105 Jacek Krzyżaniak 106 Rinat Mardanshin 107 Robert Barth98 Sebastian Ułamek99 Sergej Darki 910 Dariusz Śledź 711 Gerd Riss 712 Václav Milík Sr. 513 Michal Makovský 414 Vladimir Trofimov 215 Björn Danielczik 116 Igor Marko 017 Jaroslav Gavenda (R) 0

Third round 7 riders from positions 9-15 from the 1997 Speedway Grand Prix to GP Challenge

Intercontinental Final 2 riders direct to Grand Prix, 5 riders to GP Challenge

Continental Final 2 riders direct to Grand Prix, 4 riders to GP Challenge 26 July 1997 Lonigo Pos.RiderPoints1 Armando Castagna 132 Zoltán Adorján 123 Tomáš Topinka124 Sebastian Ułamek 105 Piotr Świst 96 Jacek Krzyżaniak 87 Antonín Kasper Jr.88 Roman Povazhny89 Jacek Gollob 810 Rinat Mardanshin 611 Bohumil Brhel 612 Andrea Maida 513 Robbie Kessler 514 Robert Sawina 515 Andreas Bössner 416 Zdenek Schneiderwind 117 Sergej Darkin 0

Final Round GP Challenge 4 riders (changed to 9) to 1998 Grand Prix 5 October 1997 Wiener Neustadt Pos.RiderPoints1 Piotr Protasiewicz 142 Stefan Dannö 133 Leigh Adams 124 Craig Boyce 115 Andy Smith 96 Chris Louis 87 Henrik Gustafsson 78 Peter Karlsson 79 Sebastian Ułamek 710 Sam Ermolenko 711 Jacek Krzyżaniak 6 12 Tomáš Topinka 513 Piotr Świst 514 Joe Screen 415 Kelvin Tatum 216 Sławomir Drabik 117 Ronni Pedersen 1

References