2003 Speedway Grand Prix Explained

The 2003 Speedway Grand Prix was the 58th edition of the official World Championship^{[1] [2] [3]} and the ninth season in the Speedway Grand Prix era used to determine the Speedway World Champion. The world title was won by Nicki Pedersen of Denmark.^[4]

Event format

The system first used in 1998 continued to be adopted with 24 riders, divided into two classes. The eight best would be directly qualified for the "Main Event", while the sixteen others would be knocked out if they finished out of the top two in 4-man heats on two occasions - while they would go through if they finished inside the top two on two occasions. This resulted in 10 heats, where eight proceeded to the Main Event, where exactly the same system was applied to give eight riders to a semi-final.

The semi-finals were then two heats of four, where the top two qualified for a final - there was no consolation final. The 4 finalists scored 25, 20, 18 and 16 points, with 5th and 6th place getting 13, 7th and 8th 11, and after that 8, 8, 7, 7, etc. Places after 8th place were awarded according to the time a rider was knocked out and, secondly, according to position in the last heat he rode in.

Qualification for Grand Prix

See main article: 2003 Speedway Grand Prix Qualification. The 2003 season had 22 permanent riders and two wild cards at each event. The permanent riders are highlighted in the results table below.

2003 event schedule and winners

Calendar

width=100	Date	width=130	Grand Prix	width=200	Venue	width=150	Winner	width=200	Result
17 May	Europe	Stadion Śląski, Chorzów	Tony Rickardsson	2003 European GP[5]
31 May	Sweden	Stadion Brovalla, Avesta	Ryan Sullivan	2003 Swedish GP[6]
14 June		Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	Nicki Pedersen	2003 British GP[7]
28 June	Denmark	Parken Stadium, Copenhagen	Jason Crump	2003 Danish GP[8]
12 July	Slovenia	Matija Gubec Stadium, Krško	Leigh Adams	2003 Slovenian GP[9]
30 August	Scandinavia	Ullevi, Gothenburg	Ryan Sullivan	2003 Scandinavian GP[10]
6 September	Czech Republic	Markéta Stadium, Prague	Jason Crump	2003 Czech Republic GP[11]
20 September	Poland	Polonia Stadium, Bydgoszcz	Tomasz Gollob	2003 Polish GP[12]
4 October	Norway	Vikingskipet, Hamar	Greg Hancock	2003 Norwegian GP[13]

Final 2003 standings

width=20	Pos	width=200	Rider	width=50	Total	width=30	EUR	width=30	SWE	width=30	GBR	width=30	DEN	width=30	SVN	width=30	SCA	width=30	CZE	width=30	POL	width=30	NOR
1		152	20	8	25	16	20	7	18	18	20
2		144	11	5	20	25	11	16	25	20	11
3		127	25	13	18	20	13	6	20	6	6
4		126	11	18	13	11	25	18	11	11	8
5		121	8	16	16	18	11	13	6	8	25
6		111	16	8	3	13	16	11	8	25	11
7		102	6	2	13	11	18	20	6	13	13
8		98	13	11	11	13	8	5	16	8	13
9		94	6	25	7	8	8	25	5	3	7
10		76	-	2	11	7	7	13	13	7	16
11		63	13	6	8	6	2	3	4	16	5
12		58	18	20	8	7	5	-	-	-	-
13		52	7	13	5	1	3	8	7	5	3
14		51	2	7	4	5	-	3	8	4	18
15		51	4	11	7	6	13	5	2	1	2
16		45	7	1	4	-	-	8	7	11	7
17	Hans Andersen	41	3	4	-	-	-	11	11	6	6
18		32	5	-	-	-	7	4	4	7	5
19		30	2	5	5	2	1	6	3	3	3
20		29	1	6	2	8	3	2	1	2	4
21		28	1	3	6	4	6	-	2	4	2
22		26	5	3	1	5	-	1	5	5	1
23	Ronni Pedersen	23	-	4	6	3	-	1	-	1	8
24		15	8	7	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
25	Jarosław Hampel	13	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	13	-
26		13	-	-	-	-	-	-	13	-	-
27	David Howe	8	-	-	2	-	6	-	-	-	-
28	Peter Ljung	7	-	-	-	-	-	7	-	-	-
29	Roman Povazhny	6	-	-	-	2	4	-	-	-	-
30	Matej Žagar	5	-	-	-	-	5	-	-	-	-
31	Lars Gunnestad	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4
32	David Ruud	4	-	-	-	-	-	4	-	-	-
33	Charlie Gjedde	4	-	-	-	4	-	-	-	-	-
34	Sebastian Ułamek	4	4	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
35	Izak Šantej	4	-	-	-	-	4	-	-	-	-
36	Aleš Dryml, Jr.	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	-
37	Rafał Kurmański	3	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
38	Simon Stead	3	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	-	-
39	Robert Dados	3	-	-	-	3	-	-	-	-	-
40	Joonas Kylmäkorpi	3	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	1
41	Rafał Szombierski	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-
42	Sándor Tihanyi	2	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-
43	Jesper B. Jensen	1	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-
44	Magnus Zetterström	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
45	Josef Franc	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-
46	Chris Harris	1	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
47		1	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-

External links

• List of results from Official Speedway GP site

Notes and References

1. Web site: WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX. British Speedway. 10 July 2021.
2. Web site: HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK. Speedway.org. 10 July 2021.
3. Web site: Speedway riders, history and results. wwosbackup. 10 July 2021.
4. Web site: Grand Prix of Norway - Nicki is new world champ . Crash.net . 11 July 2024.
5. Web site: Grand Prix result . Speedway World . 5 July 2024.
6. Web site: Grand Prix result . Speedway World . 5 July 2024.
7. Web site: Grand Prix result . Speedway World . 5 July 2024.
8. Web site: Grand Prix result . Speedway World . 5 July 2024.
9. Web site: Grand Prix result . Speedway World . 5 July 2024.
10. Web site: Grand Prix result . Speedway World . 5 July 2024.
11. Web site: Grand Prix result . Speedway World . 5 July 2024.
12. Web site: Grand Prix result . Speedway World . 5 July 2024.
13. Web site: Grand Prix result . Speedway World . 5 July 2024.