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2001 {short description of image} WORLD CUP {short description of image} 2003
2002

A rainy week in the U.K... and a fine display by Czech Republic ... but the Aussies retain their title
Germany surprisingly lost their qualifier on home shale to Slovenia, and then disappointed on the big Sheffield track in Event 1 where they had hoped to make an impresion. Great Britain (without Scott Nicholls, leg infection) led until heat 19, by which time continuos rain was taking its' toll of the track. Then Loram's front wheel hit an opponents' rear wheel, and Mark went heavily into the (non-air) fence, which allowed Australia to take the lead. A race later the meeting was abandoned, with 4 races remaining, and Australia qualified for the Final.

Led by Tony Rickardsson with an untroubled maximum on his home UK track at Poole in Event 2, Sweden - even without Andreas Jonsson - demolished the disappointing Danes in another rain-affected meeting. For most of the match, Denmark had a major struggle to beat Finland for second place, though both teams progressed to the Race-Off.

A dry track at last, and plenty of good racing at Eastbourne, as meeting favourites USA (without Ermolenko) were relegated to second place. Once more disproving the old myth that "the Poles can't ride small tracks", Gollob and his team showed that they could gate, or come from behind, on a well-prepared track, as every member of their team won races. USA did close the gap to just two points in heat 20, but Poland then won all four of the remaining heats.
 Torrential rain returned for the 5-team Race-Off at Peterborough, from which the top two teams would progress to the Final. As late as heat 18, just three points seperated the top four teams, but everyone knew that the meeting was likely to be abandoned before the full 25 heats had been run. In heat 22, Nicki Pedersen suddenly got a huge "wheelie" and was propelled speedily into the back straight fence, causing the referee to terminate the meeting. This made the Czechs shock - but deserved - victors. They had just 3 race wins in the 22 heats, but 11 second places. Denmark and USA tied for runners-up but Denmark were awarded the vital second place as they had more race wins than the Americans (though, ironically, both teams had more than the Czechs!)

Not enough rain at the Final to cause any problems, thankfully, and more great racing was seen on a track that had been flooded 48 hours earlier. The scores were extremely close in the first 14 races (all 5 teams had held the lead at one time or another), with a triple-tie for the lead with Aussies, Denmark, and Poland all on 32 pts, and Sweden on 29. Then as Australia began to assert their dominance, Sweden failed to repeat their devastating form of five days earlier, and Poland's chances diminished when Gollob could only finish 4th in his "joker" ride. The young Danes finished as runners-up - their day will undoubtedly come - and the Czechs will have been extremely pleased to have won the Race-Off and reached the Final.

QUALIFYING ROUND (1st & 2nd to Events 1,2,3)
Mon 20.05 : Abensberg, Germany Att: 3,000 Referee: Krister Gardell (Swe)
Slovenia 49 Germany 46 Latvia 17 Austria 8
Izak Santej 3 3 ex-t 3 3 12 Robert Barth 2 3 3 2 2 12 Aleksandr Bizna 1 1 1 ret 3 Walter Nebel 0 0 1 1 1 3
Jernej Kolenko 2 2 2 ex-t 6 Mathias Kroger 3 2 2 3 2 12 Nikolai Kokins 1 1 2 ret 0 4 Manuel Hauzinger * -
Ales Dolinar 2 2 4 Joachim Kugelmann 2 2 2 2 3 11 Vladimir Voronkov 1 1 0 2 4 Fritz Wallner 0 0 0 0 2 2
Matej Ferjan 3 3 3 3 3 15 Jorg Pingel 3 2 3 2 1 11 Aleksandr Ivanov ex-2m 1 1 Oliver Özelt 0 0 1 1 0 2
Matej Zagar † 3 3 3 3 12 Mirko Wolter † - Leonid Paura † 1 1 1 1 1 5 Rene Pfeiffer † 0 0 0 1 0 1
* Austrian Manuel Hauzinger did not arrive

EVENTS 1, 2 & 3 (Winners to Final. 2nd, and two highest scoring 3rd place teams, to Race-Off)

EVENT 1 : Sun 04.08 : Sheffield, Great Britain Referee : Mick Bates (GB)
Australia 46 Great Britain 42 Czech Rep. 28 Germany 9
Abandoned after heat 20 (rain) - result stands
Team Manager: Neil Street Team Manager: Neil Middleditch Team Manager: Josef Lastovka Team Manager: Wolfgang Ziller

Sheffield 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Total
1 Ryan Sullivan 1 2 3 6^ 3 15
2 Jason Crump 3 2 1 3 9
3 Leigh Adams 2 2 2 2 8
4 Jason Lyons 1 0 1 - 2
5 Todd Wiltshire † 3 3 3 3 12
AUSTRALIA 1 3 6 7 10 10 12 14 16 19 20 22 23 26 29 31 37 40 43 46 46
1 Mark Loram 2 3 3 f,ex 8
2 Gary Havelock © 3 1 2 1 7
3 Lee Richardson 2 3 3 2 A 10
4 Joe Screen 2 3 3 3 B 11
5 Sean Wilson † 2 1 2 1 A 6
GREAT BRITAIN 2 5 7 9 11 12 15 18 21 22 25 28 31 33 35 38 40 41 41 42 N 42
1 Lukas Dryml 1 3 1 2 D 7
2 Bohumil Brhel 3 1 0 4^ O 8
3 Tomas Topinka 0 1 0 1 N 2
4 Ales Dryml 3 1 1 0 E 5
5 Toni Kasper † 1 2 1 2 D 6
CZECH REPUBLIC 3 3 4 7 8 11 12 13 14 16 16 17 17 18 19 19 20 24 26 28 28
1 Robert Barth 1 0 2 0 1 4
2 Mathias Kroger ret 0 0 0 0
3 Joachim Kugelmann 0 0 0 - 0
4 Robert Kessler 0 2 2 1 f,ex^ 5
5 Steffen Mell † 0 0 0 - 0
GERMANY 0 1 1 1 1 3 3 3 3 3 5 5 7 7 7 8 8 8 9 9 9
Time 64.3 65.6 64.8 64.3 65.1 65.0 64.5 65.2 65.2 65.5 66.9 67.9 69.0 68.5 69.6 69.8 69.1 70.2 69.7 71.7

EVENT 2 : Mon 05.08 : Poole, Great Britain Referee : Mick Bates (GB)
Sweden 55 Denmark 41 Finland 32 Hungary 19
Team Manager: Tony Olsson Team Manager: Jacob Olsen Team Manager: Ila Teromaa Team Manager: Norbert Barath

Poole 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Total
1 Tony Rickardsson 3 3 3 3 3 15
2 Peter Karlsson 3 3 3 0 ret 9
3 Stefan Andersson 2 3 1 1 3 10
4 Mikael Karlsson 3 3 3 3 2 14
5 Niklas Klingberg † 3 2 1 1 7
SWEDEN 3 5 8 11 14 17 20 23 26 28 31 32 35 38 39 40 43 43 46 47 50 50 52 55 55
1 Nicki Pedersen f,ex 2 2 2 3 9
2 Ronni Pedersen 3 1 0^ 1 1 2 8
3 Bjarne Pedersen 2 1 3 2 3 11
4 Hans Andersen ret 2 2 3 3 1 11
5 Charlie Gjedde † ex-2 - 2 - 2
DENMARK 0 3 3 5 5 6 8 9 11 11 13 16 18 19 21 24 26 27 29 32 34 37 40 41 41
1 Kaj Laukkanen 2 2 4^ 2 1 1 12
2 Kauko Nieminen 0 1 1 0 2 4
3 Tomi Reima f,ex 0 1 0 1
4 Toni Salmela 2 - 0 - 1 3
5 Joonas Kylmakorpi † 1 3 3 3 2 0 12
FINLAND 2 2 4 4 5 7 8 12 12 15 16 18 19 19 22 22 22 25 26 28 29 31 32 32 32
1 Attila Stefani 1 0 0 0 1
2 Sandor Tihanyi 1 1 0 0 2 0 4
3 Laszlo Szatmari 1 0 2 2^ 0 2 7
4 Norbert Magosi 1 0 0 2 1 4
5 Csaba Hell 2 1 - - 0 3
HUNGARY 1 2 3 4 6 6 6 6 7 8 8 8 8 10 10 12 14 16 16 16 16 17 17 19 19
Time 64.58 63.30 63.10 62.86 65.20 61.97 63.39 63.20 62.29 63.59 60.97 62.22 62.52 62.02 63.10 62.66 61.75 63.86 62.72 63.40 63.13 63.08 62.84 62.60

EVENT 3 : Tue 06.08 : Eastbourne, Great Britain Referee: Mick Bates (GB)
Poland 57 USA 49 Russia 24 Slovenia 19
Team Manager: Marek Kraskiewicz Team Manager: Richard Child Team Manager: Igor Dmitriev Team Manager: Franc Kalin

Eastbourne 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Total
1 Tomasz Gollob 2 3 2 f,ex 7
2 Piotr Protasiewicz 3 3 1 3 3 13
3 Jaroslaw Hampel 3 3 2 3 3 14
4 Krzysztof Cegielski 2 3 3 ret 3 11
5 Grzegorz Walasek 3 3 2 1 3 12
POLAND 2 5 8 10 13 16 19 22 25 28 31 33 34 36 38 41 41 44 44 45 48 51 54 57 57
1 Greg Hancock 3 2 4^ 3 3 2 17
2 Brent Werner 1 0 3 1 2 7
3 Billy Hamill 3 2 3 3 f,ex 11
4 Ryan Fisher 2 1 - f,ex 3
5 Billy Janniro 2 1 3 3 2 11
USA 3 4 6 9 11 11 13 15 16 17 21 24 27 30 33 33 36 37 40 43 45 47 47 49 49
1 Roman Povazhny 1 4^ 0 2 1 8
2 Sergey Kuzin f,ex 1 ex-2 0 1 2
3 Sergey Darkin 2 2 0 0 2 2 8
4 Denis Sayfutdinov 1 0 1 2 0 1 5
5 Eduard Shaikhullin 1 f,rm - - 1
RUSSIA 1 3 4 4 5 9 10 10 12 12 12 12 12 13 13 15 17 17 19 19 20 21 23 24 24
1 Denis Stojs f,ex - - 1 1
2 Matej Zagar 0 0 1 4^ f 5
3 Ales Dolinar ret f,ex 0 1 0 1
4 Izak Santej 1 - 1 2 1 0 5
5 Jernej Kolenko 0 1 1 2 1 2 f,ex 7
SLOVENIA 0 0 0 1 1 2 2 3 3 5 6 7 9 9 10 11 12 16 17 19 19 19 19 19 19
Time 56.0 56.2 57.1 56.8 57.0 57.2 57.0 57.6 58.2 58.0 57.2 58.3 58.7 58.8 59.3 58.5 59.4 59.0 58.6 59.6 58.7 59.0 59.5 58.6

RACE-OFF (1st & 2nd to Final) 5-rider races: scoring 4-3-2-1-0
Thu 08.08 : Peterborough, Great Britain FIM Official Att: 4,000 Referee: Mick Posselwhite (GB)
Czech Rep. 54 Denmark 51* USA 51 Great Britain 49 Finland 19
Team Manager: Josef Lastovka Team Manager: Jacob Olsen Team Manager: Richard Child Team Manager: Neil Middleditch Team Manager: Ila Teromaa
Abandoned after ht 22 (rain) - result stands
* Denmark awarded 2nd place by F.I.M, having scored more race wins than the USA

Peterborough 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Total
1 Tomas Topinka 0 1 3 3 3 10
2 Ales Dryml 3 4 2 1 3 13
3 Bohumil Brhel 4 0 3 ex-2 7
4 Lukas Dryml 3 4 3 3 13
5 Toni Kasper 2 3 3 3 11
CZECH REPUBLIC 0 3 7 10 12 13 17 17 21 24 27 29 32 35 38 41 42 42 45 48 51 54 54
1 Nicki Pedersen 4 3 4 4 f 15
2 Charlie Gjedde 1 ret 2 1 4
3 Hans Andersen 2 0 4 4 10
4 Ronni Pedersen 1 3 2 1 7
5 Bjarne Pedersen 4 4 4 2 1 A 15
DENMARK
 4 5 7 8 12 12 15 19 22 22 24 28 32 34 38 39 43 44 46 50 51 51 B 51
1 Billy Hamill 3 4 3 3 A 13
2 Greg Hancock 4 4 2 8^ 4 N 22
3 Ryan Fisher 3 1 1 2 ret D 7
4 Brent Werner 0 2 0 - 4 O 6
5 Billy Janniro 1 2 0 ex - N 3
USA 3 7 10 10 11 15 16 18 20 24 24 27 29 30 30 38 38 41 45 47 47 51 E 51
1 Gary Havelock © 1 ret 2 1 D 4
2 Joe Screen 2 3 4 1 10
3 Sean Wilson 1 1 1 2 5
4 Carl Stonehewer 4 2 1 3 4 14
5 Lee Richardson 3 3 4 4 2 16
GREAT BRITAIN 1 3 4 8 11 14 14 17 18 20 24 25 26 30 32 34 37 41 42 43 47 49 49
1 Kaj Laukkanen 2 1 ex-t 2 5
2 Tomi Reima 0 0 1 2 2 5
3 Kauko Nieminen ret 1 1 0 1 3
4 Joonas Kylmakorpi 2 2 0 0^ ret 4
5 Toni Salmela 0 2 0 - 2
FINLAND 2 2 2 4 4 6 8 9 9 10 11 11 11 11 12 12 14 16 16 16 18 19 19
Time 61.7 63.0 63.1 63.4 63.5 63.4 63.0 63.5 63.5 64.3 64.3 63.5 64.6 64.6 65.0 64.6 65.0 64.9 65.9 68.4 68.9 68.9

FINAL 5-rider races: scoring 4-3-2-1-0
Sat 10.08 : Peterborough, Great Britain FIM Official Attendance : 5,500 Referee: Marek Wojaczek (Pol)
Australia 64 Denmark 58 Sweden 54 Poland 48 Czech Republic 36
Team Manager: Neil Street Team Manager: Jacob Olsen Team Manager: Tony Olsson Team Manager: Marek Kraskiewicz Team Manager: Josef Lastovka

Peterborough 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Total
1 Todd Wiltshire 3 3 1 4 2 13
2 Jason Lyons ex-t 0 1 f,ex 2 3
3 Leigh Adams 4 3 3 4 3 17
4 Jason Crump 2 4 3 3 2 14
5 Ryan Sullivan 3 2 4 4 4 17
AUSTRALIA 3 3 7 9 12 15 15 18 22 24 25 26 29 32 36 40 40 44 47 51 53 55 58 60 64 64
1 Nicki Pedersen 2 2 2 2 3 3 14
2 Ronni Pedersen f,ex ret 2 2 3 7
3 Charlie Gjedde 2 1 - 2 - 5
4 Hans Andersen 0 4 3 1 4 12
5 Bjarne Pedersen 2 4 6^ 4 0 4 20
DENMARK 2 2 4 4 6 10 14 16 16 17 23 26 30 32 34 34 36 38 40 41 44 47 51 55 58 58
1 Tony Rickardsson 1 2 2 6^ 4 15
2 Niklas Klingberg 3 3 ret 3 1 10
3 Peter Karlsson 3 2 1 3 1 3 13
4 Mikael Karlsson 3 3 2 1 2 11
5 Stefan Andersson 4 1 0 f,ex - 5
SWEDEN 1 4 7 10 14 16 19 20 22 25 27 27 29 29 30 33 36 37 37 43 44 48 49 52 54 54
1 Piotr Protasiewicz 0 2 3 1 ret 6
2 Tomasz Gollob 4 4 4 2 2^ 1 17
3 Krzysztof Cegielski 0 3 4 1 1 9
4 Jaroslaw Hampel 4 4 1 1 4 14
5 Grzegorz Walasek 1 ex-2 1 0 - 2
POLAND 0 4 4 8 9 9 11 15 18 22 26 30 31 32 35 36 37 37 38 40 44 46 46 47 48 48
1 Ales Dryml 4 0 2 3 4 0 13
2 Tomas Topinka 2 1 ret - 0 3
3 Lukas Dryml 1 1 4 8^ ret 0 14
4 Bohumil Brhel 1 ex-t ret 2 2 5
5 Toni Kasper 0 1 0 - 0 1
CZECH REPUBLIC 4 6 7 8 8 9 10 10 11 11 11 13 13 17 17 19 27 30 34 34 34 34 36 36 36 36
Time 62.1 62.6 61.9 62.4 63.4 63.8 63.9 63.9 64.2 64.2 64.1 64.4 64.9 65.1 64.4 64.9 65.2 64.4 64.5 64.4 64.8 64.5 65.2 65.2 64.9

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† reserve ; ^ Double-point "Joker" ride (allowed when 6 pts behind leading team in 4-rider races, or 8pts behind in 5-rider races)
ef = engine failure ; ex = excluded ; ex-t = excluded-tapes ; ex-2 = excluded-2 minutes ; f = fell ; ret = retired
Note: Mikael Karlsson (Swe) later became Mikael Max
Contributors : Charles McKay, David Austin, Roger Stevens

2001 2003

© Brian Collins