Hancock Has It

Greg 'Herbie' Hancock is now just one round away from securing the Speedway GP Championship after winning round nine in Vojens, Denmark. Hancock won six of his seven rides, including the final, to earn another twenty-two points, taking his tally to 139 which is thirty-one points ahead of second placed Jaroslaw Hampel.

Jason Crump and Andreas Jonsson both move ahead of Thomasz Gollob in the overall standings after the reigning Champion once again looked to have given up for this season, accumulating a mere five points. Crump came second in the final with fellow Australian, Holder, in third and Freddie Lindgren fourth.

Hancock won his semi-final with Holder second ahead of third placed Nicky Pedersen and fourth placed Emil Sayfutdinov. The other semi-final was won by Crump with Lindgren second, Kenneth Bjerre finished third and the biggest shock saw Laguta progress to the semis but finished fourth. Laguta's highest points tally in one meeting was seven before Vojens, his second highest was two, but he showed us why he qualified for this year's GP series and accumulated nine points.

There was drama in the opening heat of the night when Holta hit the floor, he was able to get back up and move off the track to allow the heat to continue. Linback won the heat ahead of Jonsson and Gollob. Hancock won his opening heat after a restart due to Nicky Pedersen causing the wildcard Bjarne Pedersen to fall and was subsequently disqualified. Kenneth Bjerre was impressive during the heats and won heat three ahead of Hampel, Laguta and Harris. Holder took heat four ahead of Lindgren, Crump and Kolodziej.

Hancock made it two heats from two in the fifth heat with Gollob bringing up the rear. Andreas Jonsson won heat six with Sayfutdinov making it back to back second places. Nicky Pedersen came back from his disqualification to win heat seven and Hampel kept the pace with Hancock by winning heat eight ahead of Crump.

Bjerre won his second heat of the night in heat nine with Gollob again finishing fourth, Crump finished second for the second consecutive heat. Hampel made it to wins in a row with Hancock finishing third, meaning Hampel lead Hancock in the meeting at this stage. Laguta continued to impress in this meeting and won heat eleven. Nicky Pedersen also made it two wins in a row by winning heat twelve.

Gollob looked to have turned his night around with a win in heat thirteen, Hampel finished fourth to leave the door wide open for Hancock. Bjerre won his third heat of the night in heat fourteen and Hancock followed suite in heat fifteen to move ahead of Hampel on the night. Lindgren took heat sixteen with Laguta in second.

Chris Harris had had a miserable night taking just two points from his first four rides, but he ended the night on a high with a win in heat seventeen, Gollob ended the night third to end his miserable outing. Crump won his only heat of the night after originally false starting, causing a restart and Laguta finished second. Sayfutdinov won his only heat of the night in heat nineteen to book his place in the semis, Hampel finished fourth to fail to qualify for the semis and virtually give the title to Hancock. The American made all the more certain by winning the twentieth heat.

Hancock won the meeting and took the most points, Crump came second with seventeen points. Despite not making the final, Bjerre earned thirteen points as did Lindgren. Holder finished with eleven points with Nicky Pedersen on ten and Laguta and Sayfutdinov both picked up nine points. Gollob ended the night with five points and Hampel had eight.

This means that with two meetings left, Hancock has that thirty-one point lead over Hampel and can secure the Championship in the penultimate meeting in Croatia. Hampel has 108 points with Jonsson also hitting the century mark in third. Crump is on 96 while Gollob has slipped to fifth on 93. Holder and Sayftudinov are on 88 with Bjerre on 85 all looking to qualify for next year's GP series.