1997 Speedway Grand Prix Qualification

The 1997 Speedway Grand Prix Qualification or GP Challenge was a series of motorcycle speedway meetings used to determine the 8 riders that qualified for the 1997 Speedway Grand Prix^[1] to join the other 8 riders that finished in the leading positions from the 1996 Speedway Grand Prix.

1997 Speedway Grand Prix Qualification
← 1996 1998 →

The format changed slightly in that four riders would qualify straight from the Intercontinental and Continental finals and four riders would qualify through the GP Challenge.^[2][3][4]

Simon Wigg won the GP Challenge.^[5]

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 - 7 riders from British final to Overseas Final
• First Round - 5 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 1995 Grand Prix to GP Challenge
• Third Round - 2 riders from the Continental Final to 1997 Grand Prix and 4 to GP Challenge
• Third Round - 2 riders from the Intercontinental Final to 1997 Grand Prix and 5 to GP Challenge
• Final Round - 4 riders from the GP Challenge to the 1997 Grand Prix

First round

Continental quarter finals

QF (4 May Marmande) Pos Rider Points 1 Simon Wigg 15 2 Philippe Bergé 13 3 Sergej Darkin 12 4 Piotr Protasiewicz 12 5 Zdeněk Schneiderwind 10 6 Vladimir Trofimov 10 7 Oleg Kurguskin 9 8 Piotr Baron 7 9 Gerhard Lekse 7 10 Sergej Eroschin 6 11 Michal Makovský 6 12 Izak Šantej 5 13 Christophe Dubernard 4 14 Frederick Brisseau 2 15 Gregor Pintar 2 16 Rob Steman 0

QF (5 May Terenzano) Pos Rider Points 1 Zoltán Adorján 15 2 Stefano Alfonso 13 3 Igor Marko 12 4 Armando Castagna 11 5 Valentino Furlanetto 10 6 Robbie Kessler 10 7 Zsolt Benzce 9 8 Václav Milík Sr. 9 9 Robert Král 8 10 Simone Tadiello 5 11 Vladimir Visvader 5 12 Alessandro Milanese 5 13 Zoltan Hajdu 4 14 Franz Leitner 1 15 Luca Taccini 1 16 Gaspar Forgac 0

QF (5 May Pfaffenhofen) Pos Rider Points 1 Gerd Riss 15 2 Tomasz Bajerski 14 3 Robert Barth 12 4 Tomáš Topinka 12 5 Antonín Šváb Jr. 11 6 Piotr Świst 9 7 Sándor Tihanyi 9 8 Mirko Wolter 8 9 Andreas Bössner 7 10 Andrea Maida 6 11 Robert Csilik 5 12 Róbert Nagy 5 13 Nikolaj Manev 4 14 Walter Nebel 2 15 Martin Peterca 2 16 Jaroslav Gavenda 0

QF (5 May Ostrów) Pos Rider Points 1 Antonín Kasper Jr. 15 2 Roman Jankowski 14 3 Sławomir Drabik 12 4 Jacek Krzyżaniak 11 5 Rif Saitgareev 11 6 Tomasz Gollob 11 7 Rinat Mardanshin 9 8 Csaba Hell 9 9 Nikolaj Kokins 5 10 Norbert Magosi 5 11 Tommy Dunker 4 12 Grigorij Charchenko 4 13 Vladimir Voronkov 4 14 Petr Vandírek 2 15 Jörg Pingel 2 16 Vladimir Kolodij 0

Second round

Overseas Final

Main article: 1996 Overseas Final

3 riders to Intercontinental final+

+ Controversy over tyres at the final saw only 3 riders progress with an extra 5 places awarded in the Scandinavian final.^[6][7]

Scandinavian Final

13 riders to Intercontinental final

(9 Jun 1996 Varhaug)
Pos	Rider	Points
1	Jimmy Nilsen	14[8]
2	Brian Andersen	12
3	Mikael Karlsson	11
4	Arnt Førland	10
5	John Jørgensen	10
6	Jan Stæchmann	10
7	Brian Karger	10
8	Stefan Dannö	9
9	Niklas Klingberg	9
10	Ronni Pedersen	7
11	Rune Holta	4
12	Vesa Ylinen	4
13	Kai Laukkanen	4
14	Lars Gunnestad	3
15	Jarno Kosonen	2
16	Björn Tönnesen	1
16	John Pollestad	0

Continental semi finals

Continental semi-finals - 16 riders from to Continental final

SF 9 June 1996 Togliatti Pos. Rider Points 1 Sergej Darkin 14 2 Simon Wigg 13 3 Armando Castagna 13 4 Zoltán Adorján 11 5 Igor Marko 9 6 Philippe Bergé 8 7 Zdeněk Schneiderwind 7 8 Oleg Kurguskin 7 9 Valentino Furlanetto 7 10 Václav Milík Sr. 6 11 Stefano Alfonso 6 12 Piotr Baron 5 13 Robbie Kessler 4 14 Vladimir Trofimov 4 15 Piotr Protasiewicz 3 16 Zsolt Benzce 3	SF 9 June 1996 Bydgoszcz Pos. Rider Points 1 Roman Jankowski 12 2 Jacek Krzyżaniak 12 3 Sławomir Drabik 12 4 Tomasz Gollob 11 5 Tomáš Topinka 10 6 Robert Barth 9 7 Rinat Mardanshin 9 8 Tomasz Bajerski 9 9 Gerd Riss 8 10 Antonín Kasper Jr. 7 11 Nikolaj Kokins 5 12 Piotr Świst 5 13 Antonín Šváb Jr. 5 14 Csaba Hell 3 15 Sándor Tihanyi 2 16 Mirko Wolter 1

Third round

• 7 riders from positions 9-15 from the 1996 Speedway Grand Prix to GP Challenge

Intercontinental Final

Main article: 1996 Intercontinental Final

2 riders direct to Grand Prix, 5 riders to GP Challenge, Jimmy Nilsen won the event.^[9]

Continental Final

• 2 riders direct to Grand Prix, 4 riders to GP Challenge^[10]
• 28 July 1996 Abensberg

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Tomasz Gollob	12
2	Sławomir Drabik	11
3	Zoltán Adorján	11
4	Robert Barth	11
5	Rinat Mardanshin	11
6	Simon Wigg	10
7	Sergej Darkin	10
8	Armando Castagna	9
9	Tomáš Topinka	9
10	Jacek Krzyżaniak	6
11	Tomasz Bajerski	5
12	Oleg Kurguskin	5
13	Zdeněk Schneiderwind	3
14	Antonín Kasper Jr.	3
15	Roman Jankowski	2
16	Philippe Bergé	1
17	Igor Marko	1
18	Václav Milík Sr.	1

Final Round

GP Challenge

4 riders to 1997 Grand Prix

• 5 October 1996 Prague

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Simon Wigg	12
2	Leigh Adams	12
3	Mikael Karlsson	11
4	Andy Smith	11
5	Sam Ermolenko	11
6	Jason Crump	11
7	Ryan Sullivan	9
8	Stefan Dannö	9
9	Joe Screen	9
10	Brian Karger	8
11	Zoltán Adorján	6
12	Gerd Riss	4
13	Robert Barth	4
14	Craig Boyce	2
15	Rinat Mardanshin	0
16	Tommy Knudsen	0
17	Armando Castagna	0