1998 Speedway Grand Prix Qualification

The 1998 Speedway Grand Prix Qualification or GP Challenge was a series of motorcycle speedway meetings used to determine the 16 riders that qualified for the 1998 Speedway Grand Prix^[1] to join the other 8 riders that finished in the leading positions from the 1997 Speedway Grand Prix.^[2]

1998 Speedway Grand Prix Qualification
← 1997 1999 →

There was a late change to the qualifying when the Grand Prix increased to 24 permanent riders. Therefore 4 riders would qualify straight from the Intercontinental and Continental finals and 9 riders would qualify through the GP Challenge (originally just 4).^[3] The final 3 GP places would go to wildcards.

Piotr Protasiewicz won the GP Challenge.

Format

• First Round - 5 riders each from Sweden & Denmark, 3 riders each from Finland & Norway to Scandinavian Final
• First Round - 32 riders from Continental quarter finals to Continental semi-finals
• First Round - 8 riders from British final to Overseas Final
• First Round - 4 riders from Australian/New Zealand 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 - 7 riders from positions 9-15 from the 1997 Grand Prix to GP Challenge
• Third Round - 2 riders from the Continental Final to 1998 Grand Prix and 4 to GP Challenge
• Third Round - 2 riders from the Intercontinental Final to 1998 Grand Prix and 5 to GP Challenge
• Final Round - 9 riders from the GP Challenge to the 1998 Grand Prix

First round

Continental quarter finals

QF (1 May Terenzano) Pos Rider Points 1 Armando Castagna 13 2 Zoltán Adorján 12 3 Alessandro Dalla Valle 12 4 Zdenek Schneiderwind 11 5 Christophe Dubernard 11 6 Antonín Kasper Jr. 10 7 Andrea Maida 10 8 Izak Šantej 8 9 Maik Groen 6 10 Csaba Hell 5 11 Sergej Eroschin 5 12 Stéphane Trésarrieu 4 13 Massimo Mora 4 14 Oleg Kurguskin 4 15 Thomas Stadler 3 16 Helmut Lercher 2

QF (4 May Czestochowa) Pos Rider Points 1 Sebastian Ułamek 14 2 Dariusz Śledź 13 3 Igor Marko 13 4 Rinat Mardanshin 12 5 Nikolaj Kokins 11 6 Václav Milík Sr. 10 7 Wieslaw Jagus 9 8 Vladimir Trofimov 8 9 Vladimir Voronkov 7 10 Rene Aas 5 11 Björn Danielczik 5 12 Michal Makovský 4 13 Mirko Wolter 4 14 Waldemar Walczak 3 15 Grigorij Charchenko 1 16 Frederic Brisseau 0 17 Robert Jucha 0 18 Artur Pietrzyk 0

QF (4 May Ljubljana) Pos Rider Points 1 Robert Sawina 13 2 Piotr Świst 13 3 Robbie Kessler 12 4 Andreas Bössner 11 5 Matej Ferjan 11 6 Nikolaj Manev 9 7 Gerhard Lekse 9 8 Norbert Magosi 8 9 Emiliano Sanchez 8 10 Martin Peterca 7 11 Sándor Tihanyi 4 12 Alessandro Milanese 4 13 Alexander Liatosinski 4 14 Krunoslav Zganec 3 15 Milen Nikolajev 2 16 Renato Kuster 1

QF (19 May Abensberg) Pos Rider Points 1 Gerd Riss 15 2 Jacek Krzyżaniak 13 3 Roman Povazhny 11 4 Tomáš Topinka 11 5 Robert Barth 11 6 Bohumil Brhel 10 7 Jacek Gollob 10 8 Sergej Darkin 9 9 Jaroslav Gavenda 8 10 Laszlo Bodi 7 11 Heinrich Schatzer 4 12 Gabor Röth 4 13 Vladimir Visvader 3 14 Alexander Biznia 3 15 Simone Tadiello 1 16 Patrik Verbrugge 0

Second round

Overseas Final

Main article: 1997 Overseas Final

8 riders to Intercontinental Final

Scandinavian Final

8 riders to Intercontinental final

(7 Jun 1997 Hyvinkää)
Pos	Rider	Points
1	Peter Nahlin	12
2	Jesper B Jensen	12
3	Stefan Dannö	11
4	Kai Laukkanen	10
5	Ronni Pedersen	10
6	John Jørgensen	10
7	Frede Schött	10
8	Stefan Andersson	9
9	Rune Holta	8
10	Niklas Klingberg	8
11	Hans Clausen	6
12	Lars Gunnestad	5
13	Niklas Karlsson	3
14	Marko Hyyryläinen	2
15	Kenneth Borgenhaug	2
16	Jonas Kylmäkorpi	1

Continental semi finals

Continental semi-finals - 16 riders from to Continental final

SF 8 June 1997 St. Johann im Pongau District Pos. Rider Points 1 Robert Sawina 14 2 Antonín Kasper Jr. 12 3 Piotr Świst 12 4 Andreas Bössner 10 5 Zoltán Adorján 10 6 Robbie Kessler 10 7 Armando Castagna 10 8 Andrea Maida 8 9 Zdenek Schneiderwind 8 10 Izak Šantej 7 11 Matej Ferjan 5 12 Alessandro Dalla Valle 4 13 Norbert Magosi 4 14 Nikolaj Manev 2 15 Christophe Dubernard 2 16 Gerhard Lekse 2	SF2 7 June 1997 Pocking Pos. Rider Points 1 Jacek Gollob 14 2 Bohumil Brhel 12 3 Tomáš Topinka 11 4 Roman Povazhny 10 5 Jacek Krzyżaniak 10 6 Rinat Mardanshin 10 7 Robert Barth 9 8 Sebastian Ułamek 9 9 Sergej Darki 9 10 Dariusz Śledź 7 11 Gerd Riss 7 12 Václav Milík Sr. 5 13 Michal Makovský 4 14 Vladimir Trofimov 2 15 Björn Danielczik 1 16 Igor Marko 0 17 Jaroslav Gavenda (R) 0

Third round

• 7 riders from positions 9-15 from the 1997 Speedway Grand Prix to GP Challenge

Intercontinental Final

Main article: 1997 Intercontinental Final

2 riders direct to Grand Prix, 5 riders to GP Challenge

Continental Final

• 2 riders direct to Grand Prix, 4 riders to GP Challenge
• 26 July 1997 Lonigo

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Armando Castagna	13
2	Zoltán Adorján	12
3	Tomáš Topinka	12
4	Sebastian Ułamek	10
5	Piotr Świst	9
6	Jacek Krzyżaniak	8
7	Antonín Kasper Jr.	8
8	Roman Povazhny	8
9	Jacek Gollob	8
10	Rinat Mardanshin	6
11	Bohumil Brhel	6
12	Andrea Maida	5
13	Robbie Kessler	5
14	Robert Sawina	5
15	Andreas Bössner	4
16	Zdenek Schneiderwind	1
17	Sergej Darkin	0

Final Round

GP Challenge

4 riders (changed to 9) to 1998 Grand Prix

• 5 October 1997 Wiener Neustadt

Pos.	Rider	Points
1	Piotr Protasiewicz	14
2	Stefan Dannö	13
3	Leigh Adams	12
4	Craig Boyce	11
5	Andy Smith	9
6	Chris Louis	8
7	Henrik Gustafsson	7
8	Peter Karlsson	7
9	Sebastian Ułamek	7
10	Sam Ermolenko	7
11	Jacek Krzyżaniak	6
12	Tomáš Topinka	5
13	Piotr Świst	5
14	Joe Screen	4
15	Kelvin Tatum	2
16	Sławomir Drabik	1
17	Ronni Pedersen	1