Adams wins to narrow gap to Pedersen

by Alex Holowczak

The 2007 Speedway Grand Prix of Latvia took place in a random Latvian city that I'm not clever enough to spell... But it was a highly entertaining evening between the top Speedway riders in the world as the end of the season draws near.

Jaroslaw Hampel is still injured, and Kai Laukkanen retained his place. The wildcard was Grigorijs Laguta, a Latvian riding in his home Grand Prix.

Results

1. Jonsson, Zagar, Laukkanen, Hancock
2. Gollob, Harris, Jagus, Crump
3. N Pedersen, Adams, Nicholls, Andersen (F/X)
4. Laguta, B Pedersen, Holta, Lindback (F/X)
5. Nicholls, Jonsson, Harris, Poudzuks (for Lindback)
6. Andersen, Crump, Laguta, Hancock
7. N Pedersen, B Pedersen, Gollob, Laukkanen
8. Jagus, Adams, Holta, Zagar
9. Crump, Holta, N Pedersen, Jonsson
10. Adams, B Pedersen, Harris, Hancock
11. Laguta, Nicholls, Jagus, Laukkanen
12. Gollob, Andersen, Bogdanovs (for Lindback), Zagar
13. Adams, Gollob, Jonsson, Laguta
14. N Pedersen, Jagus, Poudzuks (for Lindback), Hancock
15. Holta, Laukkanen, Harris (F), Andersen (F/X)
16. Nicholls, Crump, B Pedersen, Zagar
17. Jagus, Jonsson, B Pedersen, Andersen
18. Hancock, Nicholls, Gollob, Holta
19. Adams, Crump, Bogdanovs (for Lindback), Laukkanen
20. Harris, N Pedersen, Laguta, Zagar

    Semi-finals:

21. Adams, Gollob, Crump, B Pedersen (for Laguta (T/X))
22. N Pedersen, Nicholls, Jagus, Jonsson

    Final:

23. Adams, N Pedersen, Gollob, Nicholls

Table

Pos	Rider	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	Pts
1	Leigh Adams			2					2		3			3						3		3		6	22
2	Nicki Pedersen			3				3		1					3						2		3	4	19
3	Tomasz Gollob		3					1					3	2					1			2		2	14
4	Scott Nicholls			1		3						2					3		2				2	0	13
5	Wieslaw Jagus		1						3			1			2			3					1		11
6	Jason Crump		0				2			3							2			2		1			10
7	Grigorijs Laguta				3		1					3		0							1	t			8
8	Andreas Jonsson	3				2				0				1				2					0		8
9	Bjarne Pedersen				2			2			2						1	1				0			8
10	Chris Harris		2			1					1					0					3				7
11	Rune Holta				1				1	2						3			0						7
12	Hans Andersen			0			3						2			0		0							5
13	Greg Hancock	0					0				0				0				3						3
14	Kai Laukkanen	1						0				0				2				0					3
15	Matej Zagar	2							0				0				0				0				2
16	Maksims Bogdanovs											1								1					2
17	Kasts Poudzuks					0									1										1
18	Antonio Lindback				f	ns							ns		ns					ns					0

• e: retired or mechanical failure
• m: exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance
• t: exclusion for touching the tapes
• x: other exclusion
• f: fell
• ns: non-starter
• nc: non-classify
• Semi-finals:
  • Heat 21: Riders placed 1st, 4th, 6th & 7th in the intermediate classification (after 20 heats)
    
  • Heat 22: Riders placed 2nd, 3rd, 5th & 8th in the intermediate classification (after 20 heats)
    
• Big Final (heat 23): The first and second placed riders in each of the Semi-Finals

The Semi Finals was disappointing. After Laguta hauled himself miraculously into them, he could only false start and be excluded, gifting Bjarne Pedersen the place. In the battle between Leigh Adams and Nicki Pedersen, Adams came out on top. It was a good time to do so, as he narrows the gap to within one Grand Prix again. Pedersen remains favourite.

Andreas Jonsson's return was a decent one, reaching the Semi Finals. Greg Hancock was poor, only earning a consolation in his final heat with a win.

Races

Date	Grand Prix	City	Stadium	Winner	Report
April 28	Italy	Lonigo	Santa Marina Stadium	Nicki Pedersen	Report
May 12	Europe	Wroclaw	Olimpic Stadium	Nicki Pedersen	Report
May 26	Sweden	Eskilstuna	Smedstadion	Leigh Adams	Report
June 9	Denmark	Copenhagen	Parken Stadium	Andreas Jonsson	Report
June 30	Great Britain	Cardiff	Millennium Stadium	Chris Harris	Report
July 28	Czech Republic	Prague	Marketa Stadium	Nicki Pedersen	Report
August 11	Template:Country data Nordic Scandinavia	Malilla	G&B Stadium	Leigh Adams	Report
August 25	Latvia	Daugavpils	Spidveja Stadium	Leigh Adams	Report
September 8	Poland	Bydgoszcz	Polonia Stadium		Report
September 22	Slovenia	Krsko	Matija Gubca Stadium		Report
October 13	Germany	Gelsenkirchen	Veltins-Arena		Report

Standings

Pos	Rider							Template:Country data Nordic					Points
1	Nicki Pedersen	24	23	11	16	12	24	16	19				145
2	Leigh Adams	12	10	21	18	14	8	19	22				124
3	Hans Andersen	9	13	20	12	13	8	12	5				92
4	Jason Crump	12	13	4	9	15	11	15	10				89
5	Greg Hancock	19	15	9	7	17	6	5	3				81
6	Chris Harris	7	15	9	5	20	5	6	7				74
7	Tomasz Gollob	10	3	9	11	3	1	19	14				70
8	Scott Nicholls	4	6	4	7	9	12	8	13				63
9	Wieslaw Jagus	14	6	6	3	0	9	12	11				61
10	Rune Holta	2	6	9	5	5	16	5	7				55
11	Andreas Jonsson	7	5	5	16	5	7		8				53
12	Jaroslaw Hampel	8	6	5	7	8	16						50
13	Bjarne Pedersen	5	8	3	5	7	6	7	8				49
14	Matej Zagar	5	7	7	1	5	8	3	2				38
15	Antonio Lindback	3	0	3	9	7	0	3	0				25
16	Fredrik Lindgren			14				7					21
17	Kenneth Bjerre				10								10
18	Grigotijs Laguta								8				8
19	Sebastien Ulamek		6										6
20	Jonas Davidsson			5									5
21	Peter Karlsson							5					5
22	Kai Laukkanen							2	3				5
23	David Howe					4							4
24	Lubos Tomicek						4						4
25	Josef Franc						3						3
26	Mattia Carpenese	2											2
27	Morten Risager				2								2
28	Maksims Bogdanovs								2				2
29	Tomasz Gapinski		1										1
30	Kasts Poudzuks								1				1
31	Daniele Tessari	0											0
32	Jesper B Jensen				0								0
33	Christian Miotello	0											0
34	Erik Andersson			0									0
35	Matej Kus						0						0
	Edward Kennett					ns
	Tomasz Jedrzejak					ns
	Daniel King		ns

Bold names denote regular Speedway Grand Prix riders - all others are either wildcards, or track reserves.
Bold scores denote that the rider won that particular Grand Prix.

The top 8 riders automatically qualify for the 2008 Speedway Grand Prix season.

Summary

Pedersen and Adams are gapping those behind them, with Hans Andersen having a bad evening. Crump is closing in on third place. In the battle for the top 8, Hampel's injury is causing him a problem. Gollob is suddenly closing in on Harris, who needs another good performance or two to secure his place next season. Lindback is injured again, and will surely drop out in 2008.

Next Race

The 2007 Speedway Grand Prix of Poland. Tomasz Gollob has won 7 of these, more than any other rider has won a Grand Prix. He has been in strong form recently, so he is my tip to win his 8th title there in a fortnight. Crump, Adams and Pedersen are the only other contenders at the moment.