Sunday, 29 August 2010

Speedway Grand Prix, Round 8

Round 8 of the Speedway Grand Prix calender saw the bikes travel to Gorican, Croatia. With Gollob only five points ahead of Hampel, everything was still up for grabs and Crump wasn't too far behind either. However it looked as if the two Poles were going to battle it out with as a fewer points as possible with Gollob finishing third and Hampel fourth in their first heats of the meeting.

The first bout of drama came in heat 9 when Lindgren clipped the back of Bjerre's bike, which sent Lindgren to the floor however all four riders restarted and it was this heat where Hampel won his first heat of the night. Gollob followed this by winning his first heat two heats later but Crump looked to be in fine form and was closing the gap on the Poles.

Heat 13 saw a bizarre decision by the referee as Andreas Jonsson collided into Crump but both riders stayed on their bikes and would have been able to finish the race. But the referee decided to stop the race and exclude Jonsson. The restart saw Crump finish second and gain one extra point than what he would have earned if the race hadn't have been restarted.

The penultimate heat saw the two leading Poles go head to head, however the start was slightly delayed by a clutch problem for Chris Holder which saw him excluded and Slovenian substitute Duh entered the fray for one heat only. Gollob got the better of Hampel by winning the heat and Hampel finished third.

Brit Chris Harris accumulated the most points of the meeting with 14 and battled Lindgren (who scored 9), Hampel (who scored 8) and Holder (who scored 7) in the first semi-final. Harris came out as winner and progressed into the final along with Lindgren. The second semi-final saw American veteran Greg Hancock (who scored 13) battle Crump (who also scored 13), Gollob (who scored 9) and Holta (who scored 6). It was to be the 40-year old American who won the semi-final and Crump completed the final line-up.

Brit Harris was denied only his second Grand Prix win by Greg Hancock. Jason Crump picked up two crucial Championship points after finishing third and Swede Lindgren finished fourth. The championship standings after eight round sees Gollob on 117, Hampel on 110 and Crump just three points behind on 107. All three are still within a chance with just three rounds left in the Speedway Grand Prix calender.

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