British SGP 2009 - Cardiff
I've had a lovely time at Cardiff for the SGP. When I arrived on Thursday it was a lovely sunny day, although on the Friday it rained for much of the day, race day on Saturday turned out to be a nice day. I'm so glad it didn't rain as it has done for the previous two years. Thank goodness the stadium has a roof.
On Friday I went to the press conference at midday. Emil Sayfutdinov was there, also Chris Harris, but Scott Nicholls did not show as he had been delayed in traffic. Maybe he should have left home earlier. ;o) I took lots of pix of the riders, I find the riders are very good, most of them will stop and pose for photographs. I enjoyed watching the practice, the track was very good and held together very well. The track was still good on race day, which in the past has not always been the case, even the riders mentioned how good the track was throughout the evening. There was some very good racing.
After heat 5 Emil Sayfutdinov and Scott Nicholls got into a fight, I don't like to see this, especially at the British GP. However it was dealt with after the meeting, I haven't heard the outcome as yet, no doubt they will both receive a fine. I'm sure I'll be reading all about it in Speedway Star this week, or will possibly hear something when Speedway is on Sky Sports on Monday evening.
The points for the meeting were (3 for a win, 2 for second place, 1 for third place, 0 for coming last)
Emil Sayfutdinov - 7 (1-0-1-3-2) Raced in heat 1-5-9-13-17
Nicki Pedersen - 8 (2-2-2-0-2) Raced in heat 1-7-10-14-18
Kenneth Bjerre - 7 (3-0-2-0-2) Raced in heat 1-7-11-15-19
Rune Holta - 7 (E-1-3-E-3) E - excluded in 2 of his races, heats 1 and 16 Raced in heat 1-8-12-16-20
Scott Nicholls - 6 (0-1-1-3-1) Raced in heat 2-5-10-15-20
Fredrik Lindgren - 10 (1-3-3-2-1) Raced in heat 2-6-9-16-19
Greg Hancock - 11 (2-2-2-2-3) Raced in heat 2-7-12-13-18
Hans Andersen - 11 (3-3-3-1-1) Raced in heat 2-8-11-13-17
Sebastian Ulamek - 8 (3-3-1-1-0) Raced in heat 3-5-11-16-18
Andreas Jonsson - 5 (2-0-1-2-E) excluded in heat 17. Raced in heat 3-6-12-15-17
Tomasz Gollob - 8 (0-1-2-3-2) Raced in heat 3-7-9-14-20
Edward Kennett - 4 (1-2-0-1-0) Raced in heat 3-8-10-13-19
Chris Harris - 9 (2-2-0-2-3) Raced in heat 4-5-12-14-19
Grzegorz Walasek - 1 (0-1-0-0-0) Raced in heat 4-6-11-13-20
Jason Crump - 15 (3-3-3-3-3) Raced in heat 4-7-10-16-17
Leigh Adams - 3 (1-0-0-1-1) Raced in heat 4-8-9-15-18
Semi Final One .............. Tomasz Gollob, Fredrik Lindgren, Jason Crump, Sebastian Ulamek
Semi Final Two ............. Greg Hancock, Chris Harris, Hans Andersen, Nicki Pedersen,
The winner and second place in each of the semi-finals goes through to the final.
Semi Final One .......... Jason Crump (1st) Fredrik Lindgren, (2nd)
Semi Final Two ......... Greg Hancock, Hans Andersen (both Chris Harris and Nicki Pedersen were excluded) The race went ahead at the 3rd attempt between Hancock and Andersen. It still has to be run to confirm gate positions for the final. Greg Hancock (1st) Hans Andersen (2nd)
Grand Final .................. Jason Crump, Greg Hancock, Hans Andersen, Fredrik Lindgren
Winner ... Jason Crump
Runner-up ...... Fredrik Lindgren
Third place ..... Hans Andersen
(Double points in the final --- winner 6 - runner-up 4 - 3rd place 2)
The date for the British GP for 2010 should be announced on Monday. ;o)
I've been on such a high all weekend, it's really difficult to come back down.
UPDATE .............. Scott Nicholls escaped with a £300 fine and Emil Sayfutdinov was fined £360 by the FIM meeting jury after their brawl on the track at the finish of heat 5 in the GP.
The date for the 2010 SGP has been announced, a little later than usual .......... July 10th