The 2002 Speedway Grand Prix was the 57th edition of the official World Championship and the eighth season in the Speedway Grand Prix era used to determine the Speedway World Champion. The world title was won by Tony Rickardsson of Sweden.
Event format The system first used in 1998 continued to be adopted with 24 riders, divided into two classes. The eight best would be directly qualified for the "Main Event", while the sixteen others would be knocked out if they finished out of the top two in 4-man heats on two occasions - while they would go through if they finished inside the top two on two occasions. This resulted in 10 heats, where eight proceeded to the Main Event, where exactly the same system was applied to give eight riders to a semi-final.
The semi-finals were then two heats of four, where the top two qualified for a final - there was no consolation final. The 4 finalists scored 25, 20, 18 and 16 points, with 5th and 6th place getting 13, 7th and 8th 11, and after that 8, 8, 7, 7, etc. Places after 8th place were awarded according to the time a rider was knocked out and, secondly, according to position in the last heat he rode in.
Qualification for Grand Prix
The 2002 season had 22 permanent riders and two wild cards at each event. The permanent riders are highlighted in the results table below.
2002 event schedule and winners Calendar DateGrand PrixVenueWinnerResult11 MayNorwayVikingskipet, Hamar Tony Rickardsson 2002 Norwegian GP25 MayPolandPolonia Stadium, Bydgoszcz Tomasz Gollob 2002 Polish GP8 JuneGreat BritainMillennium Stadium, Cardiff Ryan Sullivan 2002 British GP22 JuneSlovenia Matija Gubec Stadium, Krško Ryan Sullivan 2002 Slovenian GP6 JulySwedenOlympiastadion, Stockholm Tony Rickardsson 2002 Swedish GP20 JulyCzech RepublicMarkéta Stadium, Prague Jason Crump 2002 Czech Republic GP31 AugustScandinaviaUllevi, Gothenburg Leigh Adams 2002 Scandinavian GP14 SeptemberEurope Stadion Śląski, Chorzów Nicki Pedersen 2002 European GP28 SeptemberDenmarkVojens Speedway Center, Vojens Tony Rickardsson 2002 Danish GP26 OctoberAustraliaStadium Australia, Sydney Greg Hancock 2002 Australian GP
Final 2002 standings PosRiderTotalNORPOLGBRSVNSWECZESCAEURDENAUS1 Tony Rickardsson 181 25201313251620162582 Jason Crump162 161611111625132016183 Ryan Sullivan 158 201325251118111113114 Leigh Adams127 1313161313112511755 Mikael Karlsson 122 187181111713186136 Greg Hancock 122 8448182016613257 Tomasz Gollob 117 725112088552088 Mark Loram 97 818818131367519 Billy Hamill 95 1111777136818710 Lukáš Dryml 95 5167201118881111 Rune Holta 80 1115567117111612 Nicki Pedersen 73 24254682511613 Scott Nicholls 72 3584-471382014 Andreas Jonsson 70 38716754341315 Todd Wiltshire 63 11820612722416 Krzysztof Cegielski 55 431868813-417 Sebastian Ułamek 39 265433254518 Niklas Klingberg 37 533353463219 Carl Stonehewer 30 13521243---20 Andy Smith 29 464622121121 Grzegorz Walasek 25 723355----22 Matej Ferjan 22 111216112623 Peter Karlsson21 ----8-535-24 Piotr Protasiewicz 18 -7--4--16-25 Lee Richardson17 --13----4--26 Bjarne Pedersen10 ------3-7-27 Steve Johnston7 ---------728 Lars Gunnestad6 6---------29 Joe Screen6 --6-------30 Jarosław Hampel 6 -2-----4--31 Kaj Laukkanen6 6---------32 Freddie Eriksson3 ----3-----33 Bohumil Brhel3 -----1---234 Mick Poole3 ---------335 Jason Lyons 3 ---------336 Ronni Pedersen 3 --------3-37 Sándor Tihanyi2 ---2------38 David Ruud2 ------2---39 Izak Šantej1 ---1------40 Hans Andersen1 --------1-41 Aleš Dryml1 -----1----
References
External links Official Speedway GP site