Rd I: Prague - 25-04-09

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-- -- 2009 FIM SPEEDWAY WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP -- --

ROUND I: Czech Republic Speedway Grand Prix

Location: Marketa Stadium, Prague

Date: 25 April 2009

[3]..1..T Gollob..(POL)..2,2,1,0,2 = 7
[6]..2..L Adams..(AUS)..1,1,3,3,3..2..0 = 13
[14]..3..S Ulamek..(POL)..0,3,0,0,2 = 5
[1]..4..N Pedersen..(DEN)..3,3,0,2,3..1 = 12
[11]..5..C Harris..(GBR)..1,1,1,1,2 = 6
[7]..6..A Jonsson..(SWE)..2,3,2,1,3..0 = 11
[4]..7..G Hancock..(USA)..0,2,3,3,2..0 = 10
[10]..8..F Lindgren..(SWE)..3,2,3,2,3..2..4 = 19 - 2nd
[12]..9..K Bjerre..(DEN)..1,3,2,3,0..1 = 10
[15]..10..E Sajfutdinov..(RUS)..2,0,2,3,1..3..6 = 17 - 1st
[16]..11..[W]..M Kus..(CZR)..0,1,0,0,0 = 1
[2]..12..J Crump..(AUS)..3,1,2,2,1..3..2 = 14 - 3rd
[9]..13..S Nicholls..(GBR)..2,0,1,1,0 = 4
[5]..14..H Andersen..(DEN)..1,2,1,1,1 = 6
[8]..15..R Holta..(POL)..3,0,0,0,0 = 3
[13]..16..G Walasek..(POL)..0,0,3,2,1 = 6

[17]..17..[R]..L Tomicek..(CZR) = DNR
[18]..18..[R]..A Rymel..(CZR) = DNR

Ht 1..Pedersen, Gollob, Adams, Ulamek
Ht 2..Lindgren, Jonsson, Harris, Hancock [E/F]
Ht 3..Crump, Sajfutdinov, Bjerre, Kus
Ht 4..Holta, Nicholls, Andersen, Walasek
Ht 5..Bjerre, Gollob, Harris, Nicholls
Ht 6..Jonsson, Andersen, Adams, Sajfutdinov
Ht 7..Ulamek, Hancock, Kus, Holta
Ht 8..Pedersen, Lindgren, Crump, Walasek
Ht 9..Walasek, Jonsson, Gollob, Kus
Ht 10..Adams, Crump, Harris, Holta
Ht 11..Lindgren, Bjerre, Andersen, Ulamek
Ht 12..Hancock, Sajfutdinov, Nicholls, Pedersen
Ht 13..Hancock, Crump, Andersen, Gollob
Ht 14..Adams, Lindgren, Nicholls, Kus
Ht 15..Sajfutdinov, Walasek, Harris, Ulamek
Ht 16..Bjerre, Pedersen, Jonsson, Holta
Ht 17..Lindgren, Gollob, Sajfutdinov, Holta
Ht 18..Adams, Hancock, Walasek, Bjerre
Ht 19..Jonsson, Ulamek, Crump, Nicholls
Ht 20..Pedersen, Harris, Andersen, Kus

Ht 21..Crump, Lindgren, Bjerre, Jonsson
Ht 22..Sajfutdinov, Adams, Pedersen, Hancock

Ht 23..Sajfutdinov, Lindgren, Crump, Adams

Notes:

1..Ht 21 and it's Lindgren ( R ), Bjerre ( B ), Crump ( W ) and Jonsson ( Y ).
2..Ht 22 and it's Pedersen ( R ), Sajfutdinov ( B ), Hancock ( W ) and Adams ( Y ).
3..Ht 22 and we've a re-run with all 4 after an unsatisfactory start.
4..Ht 23 and it's Sajfutdinov ( R ), Adams ( B ), Crump ( W ) and Lindgren ( Y ).
5..Ht 23 and Sajfutdinov wins the Czech Republic Speedway Grand Prix.

[admin]

-- -- Roll of Honour -- --

1997..G Hancock..(USA)..Prague
1998..T Rickardsson..(SWE)..Prague
1999..T Gollob..(POL)..Prague
2000..B Hamill..(USA)..Prague
2001..B Hamill..(USA)..Prague
2002..J Crump..(AUS)..Prague
2003..J Crump..(AUS)..Prague
2004..J Crump..(AUS)..Prague
2005..T Rickardsson..(SWE)..Prague
2006..H Andersen..(DEN)..Prague
2007..N Pedersen..(DEN)..Prague
2008..N Pedersen..(DEN)..Prague

-- -- Uninteresting Facts -- --

Unlucky for some, this will be the thirteenth Czech Republic Grand Prix.
They've all been staged at Prague's Marketa Stadium.
That means twelve Grands Prix have been staged at the Marketa Stadium.
Only the Polonia Stadium in Bydgoszcz can match that total, no stadium surpasses it.
World champion Nicki Pedersen has the chance of matching Jason Crump's record of three successive triumphs at the Marketa Stadium, having won in 2007 and 2008.
The stadium is in the Brevnov district of Prague and is near to the baroque Brevnov Monastery.
The stadium has a capacity of 17,500 and the track is 353 metres long.
And the track record is held by Greg Hancock, who set a time of 62.4 seconds on May 17th, 1997.
In the Czech language Prague is called "Praha".
"Prah" in Czech literally means "threshold".
According to legend Prague was founded by a princess called Libuse.
And together with her ploughman husband Premysl she founded the first ruling dynasty of the Czechs, the Premyslids.
St Wenceslas - svateho Vaclav - was a member of the Premyslid dynasty.
He's better known as "Good King Wenceslas" from the popular Christmas Carol, although he was never king of Bohemia.
Bohemia was a mere dukedom in his time and he was the Duke.
Until his brother Boleslav (Boleslav the Cruel) had him assassinated in 935, that is.

[admin]

And with just over a week to go until the GP season starts in Prague, the global superstar seems to be getting his excuses in early as he complains of a "mystery virus":

www.sportowefakty.pl/zuzel/2009/04/16/tajemniczy-wirus-dopadl-scotta-nichollsa/

The global superstar's official crash helmet carrier Kelvin Tatum reports that his master is heading for blood tests to unearth the cause of the "mystery virus".
I remember hoots of derision whenever other riders, such as Lee Richardson and Ryan Sullivan have claimed a "mystery virus", I wonder if the same fate will befall the global superstar?

[admin]

The thoughts of the global superstar's helmet carrier, Kelvin Tatum MBE:

Start strong in Prague: Crump finding early form

Defending World Champion Nicki Pedersen goes into the first Grand Prix of the season a little under cooked. He has had a rather peculiar start to the season due to some contractual problems with both his continental clubs.

I think in today's economic climate most riders have had to take pay cuts and there has been some concern about the amount of racing he has done coming into the first Grand Prix of the season.

I think he himself will feel that he is slightly under-prepared although he did ride last weekend for his club. Obviously everyone is looking at Pedersen to pick up from where he left off last year. Without question he goes into the series as favourite but he probably feels that he would have liked a little more racing under his belt.

I think Hans Andersen will be up there or thereabouts too this year. He made the decision not to ride in the Elite League this year and is concentrating on riding abroad.

I think he feels that this will give him more of an opportunity to really attack the GP series. Will it pay off? Well, we shall see but he is certainly one to look out for.

Jason Crump has done the same as Andersen and is not racing in the Elite League this year. I must say his early season form has been excellent.

Looking at the early season form of the riders coming into this meeting, I would suggest that Crump has the best form. He also has a very good record here in Prague.

Determined

As for the two British riders, well Chris Harris has been riding well for Coventry and will be pretty pleased with his form. I am sure he will be looking forward to this GP series and wants to put in a big performance. His confidence should be pretty high and hopefully he can turn that into a solid display.

It is a bit different for Scott Nicholls though, he has not been riding well and has been suffering from a virus for the last two or three weeks. His health has improved but he is not yet up to full strength and probably lacking a bit of fitness.

I know that like Harris, Nicholls is determined to have a good campaign this year. Neither of them wants to be in the situation where they are given wild card slots. They will want to be riding in the top eight and be more successful. I really sense from both of them a desire to really go for it this year.

The Prague track is a classic continental track. By that I mean it is big and fast - it is a little narrow on the straights though so overtaking is difficult.

For that reason there is a very high premium on making a good start. You need to be really sharp from the tapes here. It is not the sort of track where you can make too much ground up from behind. During the practice rounds a lot of time will be spent making sure they practice those starts and also make sure they pick the bike that really fires them into the first corner.

And "Kelvin's Call":

Jason Crump is my favourite for this meet. Greg Hancock and Leigh Adams are another two riders who have been riding very well. We have not seen any real form yet, but looking at the League form, for me Hancock, Crump, Pederson and Adams are looking good.

Taken from:

www.skysports.com

[admin]

And the screaming imbecile's thoughts:

Nigel's GP preview

It's a magical time of the year... the start of the Grand Prix series is here and that means summer is just around the corner.

Now I don't know about you, but when I first got wind of the idea of the GP in the early 90s I didn't like it. I was very much in the traditionalist camp where I wanted to see the one-off World Final retained.

I felt sad when I walked away from Vojens in 1994 having seen Tony Rickardsson win the last-ever one-off event to decide the world title.

But it didn't take long for me to change my view. Even before the BSI buyout of the series from the FIM, I could see this was the real deal.

It may have been on more modest tracks - we were seeing the British GP at Coventry in front of 8,000 and yet, thanks to the vision of Terry Russell and John Poslethwaite, we're now at Cardiff with a near 50,000 gate.

But even in the early stages of the 1995 season I got the feeling Ole Olsen was taking the world championship a step forward. The organisation was second to none and Ole ensure a smooth, slick presentation from the word go.

And here we are, 14-years later, contemplating Prague and the launch of another exciting Grand Prix season this coming weekend.

Same guys

My only 'downer' - if you can call it that - about the modern day series is that the same guys are up there in the top five or six year in, year out.

And this year will, in my view, be fairly similar. Some of the boys have put more pressure and expectation on themselves by quitting British racing to enhance their GP prospects - but it can't work for everyone.

Scotty Nicholls has suffered from illness in the build-up to Prague and has only just been given the correct medication for the virus. I hope he can do himself justice on Saturday but it will be tough after feeling so ill.

Reigning champion Nicki Pedersen has seen his early season build-up hit by the loss of his Polish contract - and again, this has been far from ideal.

But once again I expect the race for the title to be a two-horse race between Nicki and double world champ Jason Crump.

I never, ever thought I would see the day when Jason was missing from British racing. He's been a wonderful team man down the years but this season he is putting himself first.

He's a fantastic rider and he will push Nicki all the way, but I still feel the Great Dane will shade it.

I'd also like to see Leigh Adams in the mix. He's a wonderful rider and a great guy, but in all honesty I can't see him matching the consistency of Pedersen and Crump.

I'll go for Nicki to win the title again - just - with Jason second and Leigh third.

As for Scotty and fellow Brit Chris Harris - a place in the top eight would do nicely.

Taken from:

www.skysports.com

[admin]

And the current odds over at sportingbet.com:

N Pedersen..41/20
J Crump..33/10
L Adams..11/2
T Gollob..17/2
G Hancock..19/2
H Andersen..14/1
A Jonsson..22/1
E Sajfutdinov..25/1
R Holta..28/1
F Lindgren..33/1
S Nicholls..40/1
C Harris..50/1
G Walasek..66/1
K Bjerre..80/1
S Ulamek..100/1
M Kus..660/1

[schumi]

I'll be updating this one tonight, and hoping for a Nicki P win. Looking forward to seeing Emil versus Gollob though - they have similar riding styles.

Feel free to comment during the meeting.

[schumi]

Good start for Nicki.

[Deleted]

Will try and help ya,but my bloody printer died on me so no spreadsheet to keep up with,bugger..

[schumi]

No worries, should be fine tonight, thanks.

[Deleted]

Apr 25, 2009 17:22:23 GMT @schumi said:

Good start for Nicki.

Yes, gate four seems to be good, so Nicholls can have no excuses in heat 4

[Deleted]

King Emil - that lad is entertainment!

[Deleted]

Apr 25, 2009 17:26:37 GMT @hatcham said:

Apr 25, 2009 17:22:23 GMT @schumi said:

Good start for Nicki.

Yes, gate four seems to be good, so Nicholls can have no excuses in heat 4

hhmmmm ;D

[Deleted]

Typical Prague fare thus far.

Fingers crossed something happens to give the track more than one line.

Rico

[Deleted]

Gate 2 seems awful, Gollob is 8/11 fav for heat 5, i have snapped up the 4/1 on Bjerre