Two weeks ago, Greg Hancock had a ten point lead in the overall Speedway standings, but that has now been cut down to just a single point as Chris Holder mesmerised in Cardiff. The Australian won four of his fives heats on his way to winning the British GP, leapfrogging Nicky Pedersen into second place.
Holder took the meeting ahead of 2008 World U-21 Champion, Krzyszstof Kasprzak, who replaced the injured Kenneth Bjerre. Antonio Lindback followed his Terenzano victory by getting third place in Cardiff, ahead of fellow Swede Freddie Lindgren.
Holder also won the first semi-final ahead of Lindback, forcing Tomasz Gollob and Hans Andersen to depart at the penultimate stage. Lindgren had an awful start to the night, but came through to win the second semi-final ahead of Kasprzak. Emil Sayfutdinov came third with Nicky Pedersen getting forced out into fourth.
Kasprzak started the night finishing fourth in the opening heat, Sayfutdinov came third behind Hancock and Lindback. Nicky Pedersen started the night by gaining a point of the World Champion, taking heat two ahead of Holder, Andreas Jonsson and Gollob. Martin Vaculik continued his run deputising for Jaroslaw Hampel by winning heat three. Hampel is due back for the next round and Vaculik will then deputise for Bjerre for the remaining three rounds. Andersen took heat four ahead of wildcard Scott Nicholls, Chris Harris and Lindgren.
Nicholls would make it two second places in two heats as he finished behind Hancock. Andersen then made it two wins in two, taking heat six ahead of Crump and Nicky Pedersen. Then it was the turn of Kasprzak to light up the stage with a win in heat seven, Gollob could only manage third behind Vaculik whilst Harris picked up the rear. Holder started his charge to the podium by winning heat eight .
Nicky Pedersen continued to put pressure on Hancock by taking his second heat in the ninth, the American would only finish third, meaning Pedersen had gained a further two points in the overall standings. Lindback was pushed to floor on the start of heat ten, forcing a restart. All four riders came back and it would be Jonsson who beat Lindback to the chequered flag. Holder made it two wins in a row before Jason Crump lost control in heat-12 and hit the fence hard. He was subsequently excluded, allowing Gollob to kick start his night with his first victory.
There was a false start in heat-13, causing another restart. Again it would be Gollob who was the quickest at the second time of asking to make it two in two, Hancock again could only finish third. Holder began to put serious pressure on the American by winning his third heat in the 14th. Lindgren turned his night around with victory in heat-15, ahead of Kasprzak, Crump and Jonsson. Sayfutdinov also took his first heat of the night in the 16th with Nicky Pedersen only managing third.
Holder made it four from five in heat-17 after Hancock packed up, closing the gap even further. Lindgren then made it two in a row ahead of Gollob before Nicky Pedersen won his third heat of the night. Nicholls was overtaken by Kasprzak on the last lap of that heat, putting Kasprzak through to the semi-finals and Nicholls out. Sayfutdinov ended the heats with his second victory in a row.
Hancock does remain in the lead with three rounds of the Championship remaining. He's on 118 but Holder is now breathing down his neck on 117. Nicky Pedersen has dropped to third but remains just six points behind Hancock. Crump still has an outside chance of victory on 103, but it's going to be a tough ask.
Sayfutdinov now extends his lead over Gollob to three points on 96 in the battle for fifth place. Lindgren sits on 89 with Jonsson filling the final place for automatic qualification into next year's Championship on 76. Lindback will be fighting his fellow Swede tooth and nail for that eighth as he sits on 74 points, just two behind Jonsson.
Everyone else is quite a way off with Andersen sitting in tenth on 53 points. Harris is a further point behind with Vaculik now on an impressive 49 points, just three behind Harris. Hampel returns to action in the next round and will be looking to build on his tally of 46. Peter Ljung failed to pick up a point in the meeting and remains on 44, sitting 14th. Bjerre's final tally is 41 and will undoubtedly finish 16th as Bjarne Pedersen is just one point behind. Kasprzak's second place sees him go into 17th with a one round score of 13 points.
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