The 1995 Speedway Grand Prix was the 50th edition of the official World Championship to determine the world champion rider.[1][2]
| 1995 Speedway Grand Prix | |
|---|---|
| Season details | |
| Dates | 20 May - 30 September |
| Events | 6 |
| Cities | 6 |
| Countries | 6 |
| Riders | 17 permanents 1 wild card(s) |
| Heats | 144 + 1 Run-off (in 6 events) |
| Winners | |
| Champion |  DEN Hans Nielsen |
| Runner-up |  SWE Tony Rickardsson |
| 3rd place |  USA Sam Ermolenko←1994 World Championship |
It was the first season in the Speedway Grand Prix era used to determine the Speedway World Champion.[3] The Grand Prix series was won by Hans Nielsen; it was his fourth World Champion title.[4][5][6]
Event format
editFor the new Speedway Grand Prix series it remained the case at each meeting that each rider raced every other once. However, the top 4 riders qualified for a final and the points for all other riders determined their finishing position in the meeting and therefore their championship Grand Prix points. The 4 finalists scored 20, 18, 17 and 16 points, with the reminder scoring 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1.
Qualification for Grand Prix
editThe 1995 season had 17 permanent riders (2 as track reserve) and 1 wild card at each event. Each event also could feature 2 reserves who were available to compete and qualify for full points. The 17 riders selected for the 1995 Grand Prix were the top 10 from the 1994 World final, 5 seeded through who were (Sam Ermolenko, Chris Louis, Tomasz Gollob, Gary Havelock and Andy Smith) and 2 wildcards (Billy Hamill and Mikael Karlsson).[7]
The permanent riders are highlighted in the results table below.
1995 Event Schedule and Winners
edit| Round | Date | City and venue | Winner | Runner-up | 3rd placed | 4th placed | Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 May |  Wrocław , Poland Olympic Stadium |
Tomasz Gollob
|
Hans Nielsen
|
 Chris Louis
|
Mark Loram
|
results |
| 2 | 17 June |  Wiener Neustadt , Austria Stadion Wiener Neustadt |
Billy Hamill
|
Tony Rickardsson
|
Hans Nielsen
|
Mark Loram
|
results |
| 3 | 8 July |  Abensberg , Germany Motorstadion |
Tommy Knudsen
|
Hans Nielsen
|
Billy Hamill
|
Gerd Riss
|
results |
| 4 | 12 August | Linköping , Sweden Motorstadium |
Tommy Knudsen
|
Tony Rickardsson
|
Greg Hancock
|
Hans Nielsen
|
results |
| 5 | 9 September | Vojens , Denmark Speedway Center |
Hans Nielsen
|
Sam Ermolenko
|
Tony Rickardsson
|
Tomasz Gollob
|
results |
| 6 | 30 September | London , Great Britain Hackney Wick Stadium |
Greg Hancock
|
Sam Ermolenko
|
Mark Loram
|
Henka Gustafsson
|
results |
Final standings
edit| Qualifies for next season's Grand Prix series |
| Full-time Grand Prix rider |
| Wild card, track reserve or qualified reserve |
| Pos. | Rider | Points | POL |
AUT |
GER |
SWE |
DEN |
GBR
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
(2) Hans Nielsen
|
103 | 18 | 17 | 18 | 16 | 20 | 14 |
|
(1) Tony Rickardsson
|
88 | 15 | 18 | 12 | 18 | 17 | 8 |
|
(12) Sam Ermolenko
|
83 | 14 | 11 | 10 | 12 | 18 | 18 |
| 4 | (4) Greg Hancock
|
82 | 9 | 13 | 9 | 17 | 14 | 20 |
| 5 | (18) Billy Hamill
|
80 | 4 | 20 | 17 | 11 | 13 | 15 |
| 6 | (8) Mark Loram
|
77 | 16 | 16 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 17 |
| 7 | (11) Chris Louis
|
77 | 17 | 10 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 7 |
| 8 | (7) Henrik Gustafsson
|
73 (+3) | 12 | 15 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 16 |
| 9 | (13) Tomasz Gollob
|
73 (+2) | 20 | 12 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 9 |
| 10 | (5) Tommy Knudsen
|
67 | 2 | 2 | 20 | 20 | 12 | 11 |
| 11 |  (3) Craig Boyce
|
60 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 14 | 10 | 10 |
| 12 | (6) Marvyn Cox
|
54 | 8 | 14 | 11 | 7 | 8 | 6 |
| 13 | (15) Gary Havelock
|
45 | 13 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 13 |
| 14 | (14) Andy Smith
|
38 | 6 | 9 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 15 | (10) Jan Stæchmann
|
23 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 2 |
| 16 | (17) Mikael Karlsson
|
17 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 4 |
| 17 | (16) Gerd Riss
|
16 | – | – | 16 | – | – | – |
| 18 | (16) (19) Peter Karlsson
|
16 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 13 | – | – |
| 19 | (16) Jason Crump
|
12 | – | – | – | – | – | 12 |
| 20 | (16) Dariusz Śledź
|
10 | 10 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 21 |  (16) Lars Gunnestad
|
9 | – | – | – | – | 9 | – |
| 22 | (9) Josh Larsen
|
7 | – | – | – | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| 23 | (16) Franz Leitner
|
6 | – | 6 | – | – | – | – |
| Pos. | Rider | Points | POL |
AUT |
GER |
SWE |
DEN |
GBR
|
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX". British Speedway. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
- ^ "HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK". Speedway.org. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
- ^ "How Cardiff became Speedway Grand Prix's 'Monaco'". The Mirror. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
- ^ speedwaygp.republika.pl. Retrieved on 2009-03-17. Archived 2009-05-11.
- ^ world.speedway.org. Retrieved on 2009-03-17. Archived 2009-05-11.
- ^ "Speedway riders, history and results". wwosbackup. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
- ^ "Unfancied Swede gets a taste of big night". Birmingham Daily Post. 22 August 1994. Retrieved 5 January 2023 – via British Newspaper Archive.