Italian SGP

After the World Cup break, Grand Prix Speedway returned for the sixth round of eleven. This time they were in Terenzano, Italy, which is a wholly different track to normal as it made from shale instead of pure mud and dirt, but also the straights are longer than most tracks.

There was a big shock as Gollob, Crump and Holder all failed to make the semi-finals. This meant that Hancock could extend a big lead at the top of table, bidding to win his second SGP title after his first in 1997. But it was actually Andreas Jonsson of Sweden who won the meeting.

The big news before the meeting was that Artem Laguta was still missing in action, meaning that Magnus Zetterstrom got another Grand Prix meeting under his belt. Here's how the meeting went:
Heat 1: The Slovenian wildcard Matej Zagar won the heat with Zetterstrom second. Sayfutdinov finished third with Bjerre fourth.
Heat 2: This was restarted after both Holder and Gollob moved before the start. All four riders restarted and World Cup winner Kolodziej won it ahead of Holder, Hancock and Gollob (the top three riders).
Heat 3: Another Polish World Cup winner, Jaroslaw Hampel, won the heat with Britain's Chris Harris in third.
Heat 4: Jonsson won his opening ride of the night with Jason Crump starting off in last place.
Heat 5: Sweden were having a good night with Antonio Lindback taking this heat ahead of Jonsson.
Heat 6: Hampel made it two wins from two rides as Gollob could only manage third, scoring one point from his first two rides.
Heat 7: Chris Harris won this heat, Hancock finished last to keep up the poor start from the big riders.
Heat 8: Wildcard Zagar also made it two wins from two rides. Holder managed second while Crump finished fourth behind Nicky Pedersen. No points so far for Crump.
Heat 9: Crump turned his night around with his first win of the meeting. It was initially restarted due to Gollob again going to early, all four riders restarted and Gollob managed second.
Heat 10: Kenneth Bjerre took the tenth heat with his fellow Dane, Pedersen, in third. Kolodziej was second with his fellow Pole, Holta, fourth.
Heat 11: Freddie Lindgren packed up during the heat. Emil Sayfutdinov won it with Holder in second place.
Heat 12: Hancock took his first heat of the night to put huge pressure on Gollob. Wildcard Zagar finished fourth.
Heat 13: Hancock made it two wins in a row, in consecutive heats, with Nicky Pedersen finishing third behind Lindgren.
Heat 14: Bjerre won his second heat on the night, in two consecutive heats for him. Holder could only manage fourth and looked out of contention for a semi-final place, Jonsson finished second.
Heat 15: Crump also made it two wins in his last two rides to give himself an outside chance of qualifying. Kolodziej finished second and Hampel fourth, the Russian Sayfutdinov split the Poles.
Heat 16: Gollob could only finish fourth to eliminate him from the semi-finals. Lindback won his second race of the night with Zagar second.
Heat 17: The only incident of the night saw Holta clipped down by Zetterstrom. All four riders restarted and Hampel took his third race of the night, Holder finished last and also missed out on a place in the semis.
Heat 18: Lindback followed Hampel by winning his third heat of the night. Hancock was third which was just enough while Crump finished last and was out of contention.
Heat 19: Gollob managed second but it was too little too late. Sayfutdinov took his second win of the night.
Heat 20: Lindgren won the final heat of the night with Kolodziej second, Zagar third and Harris fourth.
Semi-Final 1: The wildcard Zagar qualified for the semis and faced Sayfutdinov along with Jonsson and Lindback of Sweden. The Swedes progressed with Lindback winning the semi-final, Zagar finished last.
Semi-Final 2: Greg Hancock came from the most uninfluential starting gate to win the second semi-final ahead of Kenneth Bjerre. Hampel finished third with Kolodziej last.
Final: Jonsson took the final chequered flag for his sixth GP victory of his career. Hancock gained a huge second place with Lindback third and Bjerre fourth.

Jonsson won the meeting but finished on seventeen points, level with Lindback. Hancock acquired fifteen valuable points with Hampel and Bjerre picking up twelve apiece. Sayfutdinov earned eleven, Kolodziej ten and Zagar won nine points. More importantly, Holder and Crump only managed six points whereas Gollob only had five.

This means that after six meetings, Hancock now leads by twenty-two points (two points below a perfect race meeting) with ninety-five points. Gollob is on seventy-three with Hampel well behind on sixty-five. Holder now drops to fourth but is only two points behind Hampel. Sayfutdinov is fifth on fifty-nine points with both Crump and Pedersen just three points behind. Jonsson completes the top eight on fifty-three points.