Scandinavian Grand Prix Dominated By Poles

It was round seven of the Speedway Grand Prix and it was held in Malilla, Sweden. After Poland's World Cup success two weeks ago the Poles looked set to make it another intriguing night for all those concerned. All eyes were on the battle between Gollob and Hampel for the lead of the Championship standings with Crump looking for a good night to possibly close the gap with four meetings left after this.

Drama started in just the second heat when a returning from Nicki Pedersen collided with Hans Andersen which meant Pedersen got excluded and despite racing in his second heat he retired from the meeting shortly after. The restart of heat 2 gave Hampel his first heat win after being miles behind the also returning Emil Sayfutdinov in the original heat. Gollob responded in heat 3 and won his race keeping within two points of Hampel. The two Poles would then meet in heat 6 for an exciting encounter which Gollob won and Hampel finished third meaning points were all tied up. Three heats later and Hampel would be in another titanic hustle with Crump but Hampel overcame the Aussie and possibly ended Crump's dwindling campaign. Heat 1o saw substitute Sundstrom enter the fray but his first race ended in an unsurprising fourth place.

Heat 15 would be the final gigantic heat as Gollob, Holta and Crump all met, substitute Ludvig Lindgren entered his first heat of the night and really was picking up the rear as Gollob surged into his fourth heat win out of four and looked unstoppable. That was until heat 17 when Gollob collided with an unfortunate Sayfutdinov which saw the unbeaten Gollob excluded and Sayfutdinov forced out due to injury meaning Sundstrom got another race.

The semi-finals seemed a little unfair as the first was just an almighty race between the big three; Gollob (who finished on 12 points after the heats), Hampel (who finished on nine) and Crump (who also finished on nine), plucky Brit Chris Harris would be the unfortunate who had to compete with these three. It was Gollob who secured the win and Crump finished second to also make the final meaning Gollob could open up a lead on Hampel who finished third. The second semi-final was won by Holta (who finished the heats on 11 points), second was Lindgren to secure that remaining final spot (who finished on nine), third was American veteran Greg Hancock (who finished on eleven) and Kenneth Bjerre finished last (picked up nine points).

With two Poles in the final there was a fifty percent chance of a Pole winning it and one of them did. It would be Rune Holta followed by the Aussie Jason Crump. Gollob picked up an extra vital two championship points in third while home boy Lindgren finished fourth. This leaves Gollob on 107 and Hampel on 102 with four meetings left and just for the record my money is on the veteran Gollob to take the title.