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| 16/10/2007: GERMAN GRAND PRIX REPORT |
SWEDISH star Andreas Jonsson banked the $100,000 top prize from the Richest Minute in Motorsport by winning last Saturday’s 100th World Championship Grand Prix at Gelsenkirchen in Germany.
Jonsson defeated Greg and Aussies Jason Crump and Leigh Adams in the final for his second, and most lucrative, GP win of the season.
For Greg it was a case of so near yet so far in what was his own 100th Grand Prix appearance.
He is the only rider to have ridden in every GP since the series was inaugurated in 1995, a remarkable achievement that series director and ex-World Champion Ole Olsen labelled as “an unbelievable record.”
The former Danish star said: “It’s incredible, it’s fantastic. I’ve not even been to as many rounds as Greg because I have missed two. I didn’t go to Prague three or four years ago because I had very bad ‘flu, and last year at Eskilstuna I got some dizziness.”
It would have been a fairytale finish to the year had Greg won the final - and the bumper first prize - but it was Jonsson who sped away from the tapes to take control of the big race.
Greg, after a run of below-par GP performances, had won his first two rides, finished with nine points in the qualifying, and then won the first semi-final from Jonsson, who messed up at the start. Greg finished sixth overall in the standings.
Crump’s third place on the night was enough to secure him the bronze medal overall behind Nicki Pedersen and Adams, and there was a dramatic conclusion to the battle for a top eight finish and automatic qualification into the 2008 Grand Prix series.
Rune Holta, Scott Nicholls and Chris Harris finished in joint seventh place on 91 points apiece and therefore went into a three-man run-off before the final for the last two places.
Holta and Nicholls were the riders to win through, but only after Nicholls made contact with Harris at the start of the last lap in a desperate move, with his Team GB and Coventry team-mate ending up in the second bend air-fence as Nicholls barged inside him.
The move was deemed legal by Polish referee Wojciech Grodzki, though many in the stadium felt the Polish official had got it wrong. Nicholls himself admitted afterwards it was effectively “a flip of a coin” as to which way Grodzki called it.
While that late clash was the night’s big talking point, the meeting itself failed to live up to the occasion. The temporary surface inside the 62,000 Veltins Arena, home of soccer team Schalke 04, looked poor, and there was little pattern to the evening’s results. Any rider moving off the inside line had little chance of making up ground on his rivals.
Jonsson topped the scorechart on 12 points ahead of the semi-finals while Nicholls and reserve Peter Karlsson missed out on the semi-finals despite both scoring eight points.
Crump always held control of the race for third place on the rostrum and won his last two rides to finish on 11 points, although Hans Andersen looked a threat early on as he scored eight points from his first three. But Tomasz Gollob’s top three aspirations were ended as he failed to reach the semi-finals.
Newly-installed World Champion Pedersen lifted himself after opening up with three consecutive third places to reach the semis on nine points, but his hopes of capping a spectacular season with the $100,000 booty ended in heat 21.
Pedersen initially held second place behind Greg, but a couple of errors saw him drop to the back to allow Jonsson his place in the final and, crucially, it also gave Holta the extra point for third place which took him on to 91 overall.
There was drama in the second semi-final as Andersen crashed heavily when attempting to dive through from fourth to second. The Dane’s bike also forced countryman Bjarne Pedersen to go down, with Adams lucky to escape the melee. Andersen was able to walk back to the pits but was excluded, and Adams and Crump made no mistake in the re-run.
Adams, however, appeared to anticipate the start in the final and that cost him any chance as Jonsson raced clear ahead of Greg and Crump.
Jonsson says he will use part of the prize money to buy a holiday for his mother - but he is now one of a number of riders awaiting news of the four nominated places for next season after finishing one point off the top eight following an injury-hit campaign.
Antonio Lindback, who finished last of the 15 regulars in the GP, missed the final round after a drink-driving offence in his native Sweden.
German Grand Prix scorers: Andreas Jonsson (Sweden) 20, Greg Hancock (USA) 16, Jason Crump (Australia) 15, Leigh Adams (Australia) 11, Bjarne Pedersen (Sweden) 11, Rune Holta (Norway) 10, Hans Andersen (Denmark) 9, Nicki Pedersen (Denmark) 9, Peter Karlsson (Sweden) 8, Scott Nicholls (Great Britain) 8, Tomasz Gollob (Poland) 7, Matej Zagar (Slovenia) 6, Wieslaw Jagus (Poland) 6, Christian Hefenbrock (Germany) 4, Chris Harris (Great Britain) 4, Kaj Laukkanen (Finland) 0
Final GP standings: N.Pedersen 196, Adams 153, Crump 124, Gollob 108, Andersen 107, Hancock 106, Holta 91, Nicholls 91, Harris 91, Jonsson 90, Jagus 81, B.Pedersen 77, Hampel 67, Zagar 54, Lindback 31.
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| 13/10/2007: TON-UP FOR GREG |
GREG becomes a Grand Prix centurian in Germany tonight - at the historic 100th World Championship GP meeting.
He is the only rider who has appeared in all 99 rounds since the Grand Prix series was launched in 1995, and he reaches a unique milestone when he lines up in the debut GP at the 62,000 capacity Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, home of the football team Schalke 04.
This final GP of the season carries the carrot of $100,000 for the winner - making the final the richest 60 seconds in the history of the shale sport.
mike |
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| 13/10/2007: CLUB CHAMPIONS CUP |
GREG rode for Togliatti in the European Club Champions Cup at Miskolc in Hungary.
The home club drafted in both Jason Crump and Hans Andersen and won the trophy for the first time.
MISKOLC 47: Jason Crump 15 (5), Hans Andersen 14 (5), Matej Ferjan 12 (5), Norbert Magosi 6 (4), Laszlo Szatmari 0 (1).
WROCLAW 31: Tomasz Gapinski 10 (5), Krzysztof Slabon 10 (5), Maciej Janowski 6 (5), Tomasz Jedrzejak 5 (5).
TOGLIATTI 28: Rune Holta 13 (5), Greg Hancock 6 (5), Roman Ivanov 6 (4), Danil Ivanov 3 (4), Emil Sajfutdinov 0 (2).
GORICAN 14: Adrian Rymel 7 (5), Lubos Tomicek 5 (5), Jurica Pavlic 2 (1), Ivan Vargek 0 (5).
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| 11/10/2007: CZECH GOLDEN HELMET |
GREG finished sixth in the prestigious Czech Golden Helmet meeting at Pardubice.
He made a decent gate in the final but his bike then let him down and he went from second to last in the final to finish behind Andreas Jonsson (the meeting winner), Rune Holta, Kenneth Bjerre, Chris Harris and Christian Hefenbrock.
mike |
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| 11/10/2007: GOLD IN RUSSIA |
GREG scored paid 12 as Togliatti retained the Russian League title with a 48-41 win at Vladivostok. They drafted in both Greg and Ryan Sullivan, but their stars on the night were juniors Danil Ivanov, with a paid 15-point maximum, and Emil Sajfutdinov.
Vladivostok put up a tremendous fight and led 31-29 after Heat 10, but Togliatti turned things in their favour with a 5-1 from Greg and Sajfutdinov over Grigory Laguta in Heat 11.
Sept 26: VLADIVOSTOK 41: Grigory Laguta 11+1 (5), Artem Laguta 10 (5), Renat Gafurov 8+1 (5), Eduard Shaikhullin 7 (4), Semen Vlasov 3 (3), Maksim Karajchentsev 2 (3), Mikhail Skatchko 0 (3), Vasily Panhaj 0 (2).
TOGLIATTI 48: Danil Ivanov 14+1 (5), Emil Sajfutdinov 12 (5), Greg Hancock 9+3 (5), Ryan Sullivan 7 (5), Roman Ivanov 3 (4), Vasily Shibankov 2+1 (2), Ilya Bondarenko 1+1 (2), Oleg Kurguzkin 0 (2).
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