2003 Speedway Grand Prix

The 2003 Speedway Grand Prix was the 58th edition of the official World Championship^[1][2][3] and the ninth season in the Speedway Grand Prix era used to determine the Speedway World Champion. The world title was won by Nicki Pedersen of Denmark.^[4]

2003 Speedway Grand Prix
Season details
Dates	17 May - 4 October
Events	9
Cities	9
Countries	7
Riders	22 permanents 2 wild card(s)
Heats	225 + 3 canceled (in 9 events)
Winners
Champion	DEN Nicki Pedersen
Runner-up	AUS Jason Crump
3rd place	SWE Tony Rickardsson
← 2002 Speedway Grand Prix 2004 →

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

Main article: 2003 Speedway Grand Prix Qualification

The 2003 season had 22 permanent riders and two wild cards at each event. The permanent riders are highlighted in the results table below.

2003 event schedule and winners

Calendar

Date	Grand Prix	Venue	Winner	Result
17 May	Europe	Stadion Śląski, Chorzów	Tony Rickardsson	2003 European GP[5]
31 May	Sweden	Stadion Brovalla, Avesta	Ryan Sullivan	2003 Swedish GP[6]
14 June	Great Britain	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	Nicki Pedersen	2003 British GP[7]
28 June	Denmark	Parken Stadium, Copenhagen	Jason Crump	2003 Danish GP[8]
12 July	Slovenia	Matija Gubec Stadium, Krško	Leigh Adams	2003 Slovenian GP[9]
30 August	Scandinavia	Ullevi, Gothenburg	Ryan Sullivan	2003 Scandinavian GP[10]
6 September	Czech Republic	Markéta Stadium, Prague	Jason Crump	2003 Czech Republic GP[11]
20 September	Poland	Polonia Stadium, Bydgoszcz	Tomasz Gollob	2003 Polish GP[12]
4 October	Norway	Vikingskipet, Hamar	Greg Hancock	2003 Norwegian GP[13]

Final 2003 standings

Pos	Rider	Total	EUR	SWE	GBR	DEN	SVN	SCA	CZE	POL	NOR
1	Nicki Pedersen	152	20	8	25	16	20	7	18	18	20
2	Jason Crump	144	11	5	20	25	11	16	25	20	11
3	Tony Rickardsson	127	25	13	18	20	13	6	20	6	6
4	Leigh Adams	126	11	18	13	11	25	18	11	11	8
5	Greg Hancock	121	8	16	16	18	11	13	6	8	25
6	Tomasz Gollob	111	16	8	3	13	16	11	8	25	11
7	Scott Nicholls	102	6	2	13	11	18	20	6	13	13
8	/ Rune Holta	98	13	11	11	13	8	5	16	8	13
9	Ryan Sullivan	94	6	25	7	8	8	25	5	3	7
10	Andreas Jonsson	76	-	2	11	7	7	13	13	7	16
11	Piotr Protasiewicz	63	13	6	8	6	2	3	4	16	5
12	Lukáš Dryml	58	18	20	8	7	5	-	-	-	-
13	Mikael Max	52	7	13	5	1	3	8	7	5	3
14	Bjarne Pedersen	51	2	7	4	5	-	3	8	4	18
15	Tomasz Bajerski	51	4	11	7	6	13	5	2	1	2
16	Lee Richardson	45	7	1	4	-	-	8	7	11	7
17	Hans Andersen	41	3	4	-	-	-	11	11	6	6
18	Mark Loram	32	5	-	-	-	7	4	4	7	5
19	Todd Wiltshire	30	2	5	5	2	1	6	3	3	3
20	Jason Lyons	29	1	6	2	8	3	2	1	2	4
21	Peter Karlsson	28	1	3	6	4	6	-	2	4	2
22	Bohumil Brhel	26	5	3	1	5	-	1	5	5	1
23	Ronni Pedersen	23	-	4	6	3	-	1	-	1	8
24	Krzysztof Cegielski	15	8	7	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
25	Jarosław Hampel	13	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	13	-
26	Tomáš Topinka	13	-	-	-	-	-	-	13	-	-
27	David Howe	8	-	-	2	-	6	-	-	-	-
28	Peter Ljung	7	-	-	-	-	-	7	-	-	-
29	Roman Povazhny	6	-	-	-	2	4	-	-	-	-
30	Matej Žagar	5	-	-	-	-	5	-	-	-	-
31	Lars Gunnestad	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4
32	David Ruud	4	-	-	-	-	-	4	-	-	-
33	Charlie Gjedde	4	-	-	-	4	-	-	-	-	-
34	Sebastian Ułamek	4	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
35	Izak Šantej	4	-	-	-	-	4	-	-	-	-
36	Aleš Dryml, Jr.	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	-
37	Rafał Kurmański	3	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
38	Simon Stead	3	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	-
39	Robert Dados	3	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	-
40	Joonas Kylmäkorpi	3	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	1
41	Rafał Szombierski	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-
42	Sándor Tihanyi	2	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-
43	Jesper B. Jensen	1	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-
44	Magnus Zetterström	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
45	Josef Franc	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-
46	Chris Harris	1	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
47	Denis Štojs	1	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-

External links

• List of results from Official Speedway GP site