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 to join the other 8 riders that finished in the leading positions from the 1997 Speedway Grand Prix.

1998 Speedway Grand Prix Qualification

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). 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 Częstochowa)
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