2002 Speedway Grand Prix Qualification

The 2002 Speedway Grand Prix Qualification or GP Challenge was a series of motorcycle speedway meetings used to determine the 12 riders that would qualify for the 2002 Speedway Grand Prix to join the other 10 riders that finished in the leading positions from the 2001 Speedway Grand Prix.

The format changed significantly, in that only 6 riders would qualify through the GP Challenge. The other six places would go to riders seeded through - Rune Holta, Matej Ferjan, Andreas Jonsson, Grzegorz Walasek, Sebastian Ułamek and Krzysztof Cegielski.

Greg Hancock won the GP Challenge.

Format

• First Round - 5 riders from Sweden, 5 from Denmark, 3 from Norway, 3 from Finland to Scandinavian Final
• First Round - 32 riders from Continental quarter finals to Continental semi-finals
• First Round - 6 riders from British Final to Overseas Final
• First Round - 5 riders from Australian Final to Overseas Final
• First Round - 1 rider from Canadian Final to Overseas Final
• First Round - 4 riders from United States Final to Overseas Final
• Second Round - 8 riders from Scandinavian Final to Intercontinental Final
• Second Round - 8 riders from Overseas Final to Intercontinental Final
• Second Round - 16 riders from Continental semi-finals to Continental Final
• Third Round - 9 riders (outside the top 10) from the 2001 Grand Prix & World U21 champion to GP Challenge
• Third Round - 5 riders from the Continental Final to GP Challenge
• Third Round - 9 riders from the Intercontinental Final to GP Challenge
• Final Round - 6 riders from the GP Challenge to the 2002 Grand Prix

First round

Continental quarter finals

QF (28 Apr Lonigo) Pos Rider Points 1 Krzysztof Jabłoński 15 2 Armando Castagna 14 3 Andrea Maida 12 4 Mirko Wolter 10 5 Alessandro Dalla Valle 8 6 László Szatmári 8 7 Pavel Ondrašík 8 8 Sergej Darkin 8 9 Steffen Mell 7 10 Jernej Kolenko 6 11 Manuel Hautzinger 6 12 Piotr Dym 5 13 Francesco Ulian 5 14 Oleg Kurguskin 3 15 Igor Borisenko 2 16 Igor Epifanov 1 17 Simone Tadiello 1

QF (1 May Debrecen) Pos Rider Points 1 Marián Jirout 14 2 Robert Kościecha 14 3 Tomasz Bajerski 13 4 Sándor Tihanyi 13 5 Andrej Korolev 10 6 Walter Nebel 9 7 Attila Stefáni 9 8 Matej Žagar 8 9 Thomas Stadler 8 10 Sandor Fekete 6 11 Alexander Biznya 5 12 Josef Koren 4 13 Christian Miotello 3 14 Soni Francovig 2 15 Uilke Kooistra 1 16 Eddie Turksema 1 17 Csaba Hell 0

QF (12 May Krško) Pos Rider Points 1 Aleš Dryml Jr. 14 2 Sebastian Ułamek 12+3 3 Václav Milík Sr. 12+2 4 Lukáš Dryml 11 5 Zlatko Krznaric 10 6 Izak Šantej 10 7 Jacek Rempala 10 8 Jacek Krzyżaniak 10 9 Michal Makovský 9 10 Björn Danielczyk 5 11 Adrian Rymel 5 12 Stéphane Trésarrieu 4 13 Stephan Katt 4 14 Christophe Dubernard 1 15 Fabrice Ostyn 1 16 Stanko Glava 1 17 Primoz Klenovsek 1 18 Thomas Cyril 1

QF (26 May Pocking) Pos Rider Points 1 Wiesław Jaguś 14 2 Antonín Kasper Jr. 13+3 3 Bohumil Brhel 13+2 4 Róbert Nagy 11 5 Robbie Kessler 10 6 Damian Baliński 10 7 Eduard Shaihullin 8 8 Joachim Kugelmann 7 9 Norbert Magosi 7 10 Matthias Kröger 7 11 Rene Aas 6 12 Rinat Mardanshin 6 13 Josef Franc 3 14 Richard Wolff 3 15 Radek Smolik 1 16 Dennis Popovic 1

Second round

Scandinavian Final

8 riders to Intercontinental Final

(17 June 2001 Pori)
Pos	Rider	Points
1	Kai Laukkanen	15
2	Andreas Jonsson	12
3	Stefan Andersson	11
4	Lars Gunnestad	10
5	Hans Clausen	10
6	Niklas Karlsson	10
7	Jesper B Jensen	9
8	Kauko Nieminen	9
9	Bjarne Pedersen	8
10	Charlie Gjedde	7
11	Björn G Hansen	5
12	Stefan Ekberg	5
13	Freddie Eriksson	3
14	Joonas Kylmäkorpi	3
15	Claus Kristensen	2
16	Roy Håland	1

Continental semi finals

Continental semi-finals - 16 riders from to Continental final

SF 16 June 2001 Terenzano Pos. Rider Points 1 Wiesław Jaguś 12 2 Bohumil Brhel 12 3 Michal Makovský 12 4 Alessandro Dalla Valle 11 5 Damian Baliński 10 6 Zlatko Krznaric 10 7 Andrea Maida 10 8 Robert Kościecha 9 9 Aleš Dryml Jr. 8 10 Attila Stefáni 6 11 Joachim Kugelmann 5 12 Krzysztof Jabłoński 5 13 Matej Žagar 4 14 László Szatmári 3 15 Norbert Magosi 3 16 Walter Nebel 0 17 Adrian Rymel 0 18 Jernej Kolenko 0

SF 16 June 2001 Mšeno Pos. Rider Points 1 Sebastian Ułamek 15 2 Tomasz Bajerski 11 3 Róbert Nagy 11 4 Jacek Rempala 9 5 Armando Castagna 9 6 Andrej Korolew 9 7 Marián Jirout 9 8 Antonín Kasper Jr. 8 9 Sergej Darkin 8 10 Robbie Kessler 6 11 Sándor Tihanyi 5 12 Eduard Shaihullin 5 13 Izak Šantej 4 14 Jacek Krzyżaniak 4 15 Thomas Stadler 3 16 Steffen Mell 2 17 Pavel Ondrašík 2

Third round

• 9 riders (outside the top 10) from the 2001 Grand Prix & World U21 champion to GP Challenge

Continental Final

• 5 riders to GP Challenge
• 12 August 2001 Gdańsk

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Sebastian Ułamek	13
2	Bohumil Brhel	12
3	Wiesław Jaguś	12
4	Antonín Kasper Jr.	11
5	Damian Baliński	11
6	Tomasz Bajerski	10
7	Andrej Korolew	10
8	Jacek Rempala	8
9	Róbert Nagy	7
10	Armando Castagna	6
11	Robert Kościecha	6
12	Zlatko Krznaric	6
13	Marián Jirout	4
14	Andrea Maida	3
15	Michal Makovský	1
16	Alessandro Dalla Valle	0

Final Round

GP Challenge

6 riders to 2002 Grand Prix

• 13 October 2001 Krško

Pos.	Rider	pre-event	main-event	sf	Final
1	Greg Hancock	x	2, 3	2	3
2	Nicki Pedersen	x	1, 3, 3	2	2
3	Scott Nicholls	0, 3, 3	3, 2	3	1
4	Lukáš Dryml	3, 2	0, 3, 3	3	0
5	Carl Stonehewer	x	2, 1, 2	1	x
6	Andy Smith	x	3, 3	1	x
7	Peter Karlsson	x	2, 2,	0	x
8	Piotr Protasiewicz	x	0, 2, 2	0	x
9	Chris Louis	2, 1, 3	3, 0, 1	x	x
10	Andreas Jonsson	1, 2, 2	2, 0, 1	x	x
11	Sebastian Ułamek	3, 1, 2	3, 1, 0	x	x
12	Sam Ermolenko	3, 3	1, 2, 0	x	x
13	Brian Andersen	x	1, 1	x	x
14	Matej Ferjan	x	1, 1	x	x
15	Bohumil Brhel	2, 3	0, 0	x	x
16	Stefan Andersson	3, 2	0, 0	x	x
17	Jason Lyons	1, 3, 1	x	x	x
18	Damian Baliński	2, 0, 1	x	x	x
19	Kai Laukkanen	2, 0, 0	x	x	x
20	Gary Havelock	0, 2, 0	x	x	x
21	Wiesław Jaguś	0, 1	x	x	x
22	Lars Gunnestad	1, 1	x	x	x
23	Sean Wilson	1, 0	x	x	x
24	Antonín Kasper Jr.	0, 0	x	x	x

References