1998 Speedway Grand Prix Qualification

The 1998 Speedway Grand Prix Qualification or GP Challenge was a series of motorcycle speedway meetings used to determine the 16 riders that qualified for the 1998 Speedway Grand Prix^[1] to join the other 8 riders that finished in the leading positions from the 1997 Speedway Grand Prix.^[2]

There was a late change to the qualifying when the Grand Prix increased to 24 permanent riders. Therefore 4 riders would qualify straight from the Intercontinental and Continental finals and 9 riders would qualify through the GP Challenge (originally just 4).^[3] The final 3 GP places would go to wildcards.

Piotr Protasiewicz won the GP Challenge.

Format

First Round - 5 riders each from Sweden & Denmark, 3 riders each from Finland & Norway to Scandinavian Final
First Round - 32 riders from Continental quarter finals to Continental semi-finals
First Round - 8 riders from British final to Overseas Final
First Round - 4 riders from Australian/New Zealand final to Overseas Final
First Round - 4 riders from United States final to Overseas Final
Second Round - 8 riders from Scandinavian final to Intercontinental Final
Second Round - 8 riders from Overseas final to Intercontinental Final
Second Round - 16 riders from Continental semi-finals to Continental Final
Third Round - 7 riders from positions 9-15 from the 1997 Grand Prix to GP Challenge
Third Round - 2 riders from the Continental Final to 1998 Grand Prix and 4 to GP Challenge
Third Round - 2 riders from the Intercontinental Final to 1998 Grand Prix and 5 to GP Challenge
Final Round - 9 riders from the GP Challenge to the 1998 Grand Prix

First round

Continental quarter finals

QF (1 May Terenzano)
Pos	Rider	Points
1	Armando Castagna	13
2	Zoltán Adorján	12
3	Alessandro Dalla Valle	12
4	Zdenek Schneiderwind	11
5	Christophe Dubernard	11
6	Antonín Kasper Jr.	10
7	Andrea Maida	10
8	Izak Šantej	8
9	Maik Groen	6
10	Csaba Hell	5
11	Sergej Eroschin	5
12	Stéphane Trésarrieu	4
13	Massimo Mora	4
14	Oleg Kurguskin	4
15	Thomas Stadler	3
16	Helmut Lercher	2

QF (4 May Czestochowa)
Pos	Rider	Points
1	Sebastian Ułamek	14
2	Dariusz Śledź	13
3	Igor Marko	13
4	Rinat Mardanshin	12
5	Nikolaj Kokins	11
6	Václav Milík Sr.	10
7	Wieslaw Jagus	9
8	Vladimir Trofimov	8
9	Vladimir Voronkov	7
10	Rene Aas	5
11	Björn Danielczik	5
12	Michal Makovský	4
13	Mirko Wolter	4
14	Waldemar Walczak	3
15	Grigorij Charchenko	1
16	Frederic Brisseau	0
17	Robert Jucha	0
18	Artur Pietrzyk	0

QF (4 May Ljubljana)
Pos	Rider	Points
1	Robert Sawina	13
2	Piotr Świst	13
3	Robbie Kessler	12
4	Andreas Bössner	11
5	Matej Ferjan	11
6	Nikolaj Manev	9
7	Gerhard Lekse	9
8	Norbert Magosi	8
9	Emiliano Sanchez	8
10	Martin Peterca	7
11	Sándor Tihanyi	4
12	Alessandro Milanese	4
13	Alexander Liatosinski	4
14	Krunoslav Zganec	3
15	Milen Nikolajev	2
16	Renato Kuster	1

QF (19 May Abensberg)
Pos	Rider	Points
1	Gerd Riss	15
2	Jacek Krzyżaniak	13
3	Roman Povazhny	11
4	Tomáš Topinka	11
5	Robert Barth	11
6	Bohumil Brhel	10
7	Jacek Gollob	10
8	Sergej Darkin	9
9	Jaroslav Gavenda	8
10	Laszlo Bodi	7
11	Heinrich Schatzer	4
12	Gabor Röth	4
13	Vladimir Visvader	3
14	Alexander Biznia	3
15	Simone Tadiello	1
16	Patrik Verbrugge	0

Second round

Overseas Final

8 riders to Intercontinental Final

Scandinavian Final

8 riders to Intercontinental final

(7 Jun 1997 Hyvinkää)
Pos	Rider	Points
1	Peter Nahlin	12
2	Jesper B Jensen	12
3	Stefan Dannö	11
4	Kai Laukkanen	10
5	Ronni Pedersen	10
6	John Jørgensen	10
7	Frede Schött	10
8	Stefan Andersson	9
9	Rune Holta	8
10	Niklas Klingberg	8
11	Hans Clausen	6
12	Lars Gunnestad	5
13	Niklas Karlsson	3
14	Marko Hyyryläinen	2
15	Kenneth Borgenhaug	2
16	Jonas Kylmäkorpi	1

Continental semi finals

Continental semi-finals - 16 riders from to Continental final

SF

8 June 1997 St. Johann im Pongau District

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Robert Sawina	14
2	Antonín Kasper Jr.	12
3	Piotr Świst	12
4	Andreas Bössner	10
5	Zoltán Adorján	10
6	Robbie Kessler	10
7	Armando Castagna	10
8	Andrea Maida	8
9	Zdenek Schneiderwind	8
10	Izak Šantej	7
11	Matej Ferjan	5
12	Alessandro Dalla Valle	4
13	Norbert Magosi	4
14	Nikolaj Manev	2
15	Christophe Dubernard	2
16	Gerhard Lekse	2

SF2

7 June 1997 Pocking

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Jacek Gollob	14
2	Bohumil Brhel	12
3	Tomáš Topinka	11
4	Roman Povazhny	10
5	Jacek Krzyżaniak	10
6	Rinat Mardanshin	10
7	Robert Barth	9
8	Sebastian Ułamek	9
9	Sergej Darki	9
10	Dariusz Śledź	7
11	Gerd Riss	7
12	Václav Milík Sr.	5
13	Michal Makovský	4
14	Vladimir Trofimov	2
15	Björn Danielczik	1
16	Igor Marko	0
17	Jaroslav Gavenda (R)	0

Third round

7 riders from positions 9-15 from the 1997 Speedway Grand Prix to GP Challenge

Intercontinental Final

2 riders direct to Grand Prix, 5 riders to GP Challenge

Continental Final

2 riders direct to Grand Prix, 4 riders to GP Challenge
26 July 1997 Lonigo

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Armando Castagna	13
2	Zoltán Adorján	12
3	Tomáš Topinka	12
4	Sebastian Ułamek	10
5	Piotr Świst	9
6	Jacek Krzyżaniak	8
7	Antonín Kasper Jr.	8
8	Roman Povazhny	8
9	Jacek Gollob	8
10	Rinat Mardanshin	6
11	Bohumil Brhel	6
12	Andrea Maida	5
13	Robbie Kessler	5
14	Robert Sawina	5
15	Andreas Bössner	4
16	Zdenek Schneiderwind	1
17	Sergej Darkin	0

Final Round

GP Challenge

4 riders (changed to 9) to 1998 Grand Prix

5 October 1997 Wiener Neustadt

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Piotr Protasiewicz	14
2	Stefan Dannö	13
3	Leigh Adams	12
4	Craig Boyce	11
5	Andy Smith	9
6	Chris Louis	8
7	Henrik Gustafsson	7
8	Peter Karlsson	7
9	Sebastian Ułamek	7
10	Sam Ermolenko	7
11	Jacek Krzyżaniak	6
12	Tomáš Topinka	5
13	Piotr Świst	5
14	Joe Screen	4
15	Kelvin Tatum	2
16	Sławomir Drabik	1
17	Ronni Pedersen	1

References

↑ "Individual Championship". Speedway.org. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
↑ "HISTORICAL LIST OF RESULTS 1995-2013 Speedway Grand Prix - Qualifications". Speedway History. Retrieved 6 January 2023.
↑ "Loram Alone". Cambridge Daily News. 6 October 1997. Retrieved 6 January 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.

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[1] "Individual Championship". Speedway.org. Retrieved 6 January 2023.

[2] "HISTORICAL LIST OF RESULTS 1995-2013 Speedway Grand Prix - Qualifications". Speedway History. Retrieved 6 January 2023.

[3] "Loram Alone". Cambridge Daily News. 6 October 1997. Retrieved 6 January 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.

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