Speedway World Championship - Round 6 Preview
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This weekend, the Speedway Grand Prix of Czech Republic, held at the Marketa Stadium in Prague. It will be the sixth round of 11 in the 2007 Speedway Grand Prix season. As part of my new found interest in the sport of speedway, I shall preview this forthcoming Grand Prix.
Review of Round 5
In Britain, Chris Harris won in the most exciting race of the season. At the top of the standings, Leigh Adams narrowly reduced the gap to championship leader Nicki Pedersen, whilst there is now a tie for third place between Greg Hancock and Hans Andersen. The top 8 qualify for the 2008 season, and Andreas Jonsson is currently heading the group of 9 riders that could all take the final two guaranteed spots.
Standings
| Pos | Rider | 
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| Template:Country data Nordic | 
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| Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nicki Pedersen
| 24 | 23 | 11 | 16 | 12 | 86 | ||||||
| 2 |  Leigh Adams
| 12 | 10 | 21 | 18 | 14 | 75 | ||||||
| 3 | Hans Andersen
| 9 | 13 | 20 | 12 | 13 | 67 | ||||||
| 4 |  Greg Hancock
| 19 | 15 | 9 | 7 | 17 | 67 | ||||||
| 5 | Chris Harris
| 7 | 15 | 9 | 5 | 20 | 56 | ||||||
| 6 | Jason Crump
| 12 | 13 | 4 | 9 | 15 | 53 | ||||||
| 7 | Andreas Jonsson
| 7 | 5 | 5 | 16 | 5 | 38 | ||||||
| 8 | Tomasz Gollob
| 10 | 3 | 9 | 11 | 3 | 36 | ||||||
| 9 | Jaroslaw Hampel
| 8 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 33 | ||||||
| 10 | Scott Nicholls
| 4 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 9 | 30 | ||||||
| 11 | Wieslaw Jagus
| 14 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 29 | ||||||
| 12 | Bjarne Pedersen
| 5 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 28 | ||||||
| 13 | Rune Holta
| 2 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 27 | ||||||
| 14 | Matej Zagar
| 5 | 7 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 25 | ||||||
| 15 | Antonio Lindback
| 3 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 7 | 22 | ||||||
| 16 | Fredrik Lindgren
| 14 | 14 | ||||||||||
| 17 | Kenneth Bjerre
| 10 | 10 | ||||||||||
| 18 | Sebastien Ulamek
| 6 | 6 | ||||||||||
| 19 | Jonas Davidsson
| 5 | 5 | ||||||||||
| 20 | David Howe
| 4 | 4 | ||||||||||
| 21 | Mattia Carpenese
| 2 | 2 | ||||||||||
| 22 | Morten Risager
| 2 | 2 | ||||||||||
| 23 | Tomasz Gapinski
| 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 24 | Daniele Tessari
| 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 25 | Jesper B Jensen
| 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 26 | Christian Miotello
| 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 27 | Jonas Davidsson
| 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.
Round 6 Preview
The race in the Czech Republic has been in Speedway since 1997, and is now firmly established in the Grand Prix calendar. The most successful rider in those years has been Jason Crump, who has won 3 of the races.
Yet his chances of making it four have been hit this week, with the news that he has broken his kneecap in a Polish League meeting. He hopes to be fit, but chances are that the second track reserve will get to ride all night in Crump's absence.
That would throw Josef Franc into the Grand Prix, but his fellow Czech Lubos Tomicek will be the home favourite as he claims the wildcard. He will hope to make an impression on the field that contains a lot of strong riders, and could take away vital points from the 8th place riders battle.
The 2006 winner in the Czech Republic is third place Hans Andersen, and a win in this race will see him move up the standings toward Adams and Pedersen. Andersen signed for Poole in the British Elite League this week, and his form should be good come the weekend.
Other potential contenders include Chris Harris, the surprise winner from four weeks ago in Great Britain, and another strong performance could secure his place in 2008.
American Greg Hancock is another favourite, the veteran hasn't won since 2005, but he's always been around the top 4 each year since the inception of Grand Prix in 1995. He is another favourite to win this race after coming second in Britain.
Of course Pedersen and Adams are natural favourites to win, and taking their championship battle on.
Prediction
The final ought to pit the top 4 together, but watch out for a surprise coming from Crump if fit, or failing that Andreas Jonsson, who is yet to live up to his 2006 promise, to spring a surprise.
Winner: Greg Hancock - consistent this season and Americans have won 3 times in the Czech Republic.
