2008 Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain

The 2008 Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain, known as the 2008 FIM Meridian Lifts British Speedway Grand Prix for sponsorship reasons, was the fifth race of the 2008 Speedway Grand Prix season. It took place on 28 June, in the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom.[1] The British Grand Prix is one of the four Super Prix events held in 2008. The winner in Cardiff will progress to the Super Prix final, taking gate 3 and the white helmet colour.

2008 Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain
FIM Meridian Lifts British Speedway Grand Prix
Information
Date28 June 2008
City Cardiff
Event5 of 11 (105)
Referee Marek Wojaczek
Jury President IIkka Teromaa
Stadium details
StadiumMillennium Stadium
Capacity62,500
Length387.7 m (424.0 yd)
TrackTemporary
SGP Results
Best Time Jason Crump
55.8 secs (in Heat 3)
Winner Jason Crump
Runner-up Greg Hancock
3rd place Nicki Pedersen

Riders

Edward Kennett was nominated as a wild card after he finished 2nd at the 2008 British Speedway Championship. Tai Woffinden and Simon Stead were the next highest finishing non-Grand Prix riders and both will be track reserves at Cardiff.[2] The starting positions draw was made on 18 June, at the FIM Headquarters in Mies, Switzerland.[3]

Result
The 2008 British Grand Prix at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

Jason Crump from Australia was the winner of the British Grand Prix, he finished ahead of second placed Greg Hancock of the United States. Crump therefore takes the white helmet colour in the Super Prix final.[4]

Nicki Pedersen benefited from controversial decisions by Polish referee Marek Wojaczek.[5] Pedersen touched the tapes in an early heat, which should have resulted in a mandatory exclusion but Wojaczek allowed the race to continue and later, after an innocuous clash with Leigh Adams on the first corner of heat 17, Adams was excluded.[4] In the first semi-final Bjarne Pedersen, who led the qualifying scorers with 14 points, clashed with his Nicki Pedersen in identical fashion to Adams and he, too, was excluded, much to the anger of the 45,000 crowd.[4][5]

Great Britain’s Scott Nicholls reached the final for the first time this year only to break the start tapes which resulted in his exclusion from the final. Nicki Pedersen fell in the final and therefore scored 0 points from the race, but still took third place on the podium. Nicki Pedersen still led the standings after the British Grand Prix, and it was the fifth time out of five Grand Prix that he had reached the final, although his first Grand Prix win in 2008 would not come until the following Czech Grand Prix.[4]

Heat details
Placing Draw Rider Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts Pos 21 22 23
1 12 (3) Jason Crump 22 3 2 3 3 3 14 2 2 3
2 13 (6) Greg Hancock 20 3 3 3 3 1 13 3 3 2
3 10 (1) Nicki Pedersen 11 2 1 2 0 3 8 7 3 F3
4 3 (8) Scott Nicholls 12 1 3 2 2 2 10 4 2 T
5 16 (11) Bjarne Pedersen 14 2 3 3 3 3 14 1 X
6 5 (9) Chris Harris 10 3 1 2 1 2 9 5 1
7 14 (5) Hans Andersen 9 0 3 1 1 3 8 6 1
8 15 (10) Andreas Jonsson 8 1 2 1 2 2 8 8 0
9 1 (2) Leigh Adams 7 2 2 1 2 X 7 9
10 4 (12) Niels Kristian Iversen 6 3 0 F3 3 Fx 6 10
11 8 (7) Rune Holta 6 2 1 3 0 X/F2 6 11
12 6 (4) Tomasz Gollob 4 0 2 2 F4 0 4 12
13 9 (16) Edward Kennett 4 1 0 0 1 2 4 13
14 11 (14) Krzysztof Kasprzak 4 0 1 0 2 1 4 14
15 7 (15) Fredrik Lindgren 2 1 0 X/2x X/F3 1 2 15
16 2 (13) Lukáš Dryml 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 16
17 17 (17) Tai Woffinden - - 17
18 18 (18) Simon Stead - - 18
Placing Draw Rider Total 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Pts Pos 21 22 23

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

gate A – inside gate B gate C gate D – outside

Heat after heat
  1. (56.6) Iversen, Adams, Nicholls, Dryml
  2. (56.0) Harris, Holta, Lindgren, Gollob
  3. (55.8) Crump, N.Pedersen, Kennett, Kasprzak
  4. (56.9) Hancock, B.Pedersen, Jonsson, Andersen
  5. (55.9) Hancock, Adams, Harris, Kennett
  6. (56.5) Andersen, Gollob, N.Pedersen, Dryml
  7. (56.5) Nicholls, Jonsson, Kasprzak, Lindgren
  8. (56.8) B.Pedersen, Crump, Holta, Iversen
  9. (57.4) B.Pedersen, Gollob, Adams, Kasprzak
  10. (56.2) Crump, Harris, Jonsson, Dryml
  11. (57.6) Holta, Nicholls, Andersen, Kennett
  12. (56.7) Hancock, N.Pedersen, Lindgren (X/2x), Iversen (u)
  13. (56.2) Crump, Adams, Andersen, Lindgren (X/F)
  14. (57.2) Hancock, Kasprzak, Dryml, Holta
  15. (57.3) B.Pedersen, Nicholls, Harris, N. Pedersen
  16. (57.1) Iversen, Jonsson, Kennett, Gollob (E4)
  17. (57.1) N.Pedersen, Jonsson, Holta (X/F), Adams (X)
  18. (57.5) B.Pedersen, Kennett, Lindgren, Dryml
  19. (57.8) Crump, Nicholls, Hancock, Gollob
  20. (57.5) Andersen, Harris, Kasprzak, Iversen (X/F)
    Semi-Finals:
  21. (57.6) N.Pedersen, Nicholls, Andersen, B. Pedersen (X)
  22. (57.7) Hancock, Crump, Harris, Jonsson
    Final:
  23. (57.9) Crump (6 points), Hancock (4 points), N. Pedersen (F3), Nicholls (T)

The intermediate classification
Qualifies for next season's Grand Prix series
Full-time Grand Prix rider
Wild card, track reserve or qualified reserve
Pos. Rider Points SVN
EUR
SWE
DEN
GBR
CZE
SCA
LAT
POL
ITA
FIN
1 (1) Nicki Pedersen 80 1716162011      
2 (3) Jason Crump 70 108121822      
3 (6) Greg Hancock 64 82061020      
4 (4) Tomasz Gollob 62 19128194      
5 (2) Leigh Adams 49 520987      
6 (5) Hans N. Andersen 48 1468119      
7 (10) Andreas Jonsson 46 129898      
8 (15) Fredrik Lindgren 41 772232      
9 (7) Rune Holta 39 541776      
10 (8) Scott Nicholls 35 727712      
11 (12) Niels Kristian Iversen 32 810266      
12 (9) Chris Harris 30 665310      
13 (11) Bjarne Pedersen 25 4––714      
14 (14) Krzysztof Kasprzak 21 63534      
15 (13) Lukáš Dryml 16 92311      
16 (16) Jarosław Hampel 16 –16–––      
17 (16) Kenneth Bjerre 11 –––11–      
18 (19) Luboš Tomíček, Jr. 8 –35––      
19 (16) Matej Žagar 7 7––––      
20 (16) Jonas Davidsson 7 ––7––      
21 (16) Edward Kennett 4 ––––4      
22 (18) Billy Forsberg 2 ––2––      
23 (17) Nicolai Klindt 1 –––1–      
24 (17) Sebastian Aldén 0 ––0––      
Rider(s) not classified
(17) Izak Šantej — ns––––      
(17) Damian Baliński — –ns–––      
(17) Tai Woffinden — ––––ns      
(18) Denis Štojs — ns––––      
(18) Krzysztof Buczkowski — –ns–––      
(18) Patrick Hougaard — –––ns–      
(18) Simon Stead — ––––ns      
Pos. Rider Points SVN
EUR
SWE
DEN
GBR
CZE
SCA
LAT
POL
ITA
FIN
gollark: It also means they, you know, get harmed, and they may NOT survive and may have permanent damage etc.
gollark: Also https://emux.cc.
gollark: Yes, you should look at CC: Tweaked.
gollark: Er, yes, which is good? People dying from mistakes would be bad.
gollark: Oh, ocmputercc¶æđt!

See also

References
  1. "SGP Permanent Wild Cards and 2008 Calendar Announced". SpeedwayWorld.Tv. 22 October 2007. Archived from the original on 1 August 2007. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
  2. "Terrific Tai". SpeedwayWorld.com. 30 May 2008. Archived from the original on 8 June 2008. Retrieved 31 May 2008.
  3. "Draw for the 2008 FIM Meridian Lifts British Speedway Grand Prix". WorldSpeedway.com. 2008. Archived from the original on 20 June 2008. Retrieved 18 June 2008.
  4. "Crump is back!". SpeedwayWorld.tv. Benfield Sports International. 2008. Retrieved 10 July 2008.
  5. "'GP ref should be axed'". Bournemouth Daily Echo. Newsquest. 2008. Retrieved 10 July 2008.
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