2008 Speedway Grand Prix
The 2008 Speedway Grand Prix season was the 14th season in the Speedway Grand Prix era used to determine the Speedway World Champion. It was the second under the promotion of IMG.
| 2008 Speedway Grand Prix | |
|---|---|
| Season details | |
| Dates | April 26 - October 18 |
| Events | 11 |
| Cities | 10 |
| Countries | 8 |
| Riders | 15 permanents 1 wild card(s) 2 track reserves |
| Heats | 253 + 1 Super Prix (in 11 events) |
| Winners | |
| Champion |  DEN Nicki Pedersen |
| Runner-up | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} AUS Jason Crump |
| 3rd place |  POL Tomasz Gollob |
Event format
The format for 2008 was the same as that used in 2007 with 16 riders taking part in each Grand Prix. Over the course of 20 heats each rider raced against every other rider once. The top eight scorers advanced to a semi-final and from each semi-final the first and second placed riders advanced to the GP final.
All rides count towards Grand Prix points totals, including the semi-final and final, which counts double (6-4-2-0) and therefore the maximum points for a single Grand Prix is 24 (five heat wins, semi final win and final win). This format means that the winner of each Grand Prix may not be the rider who scores most GP points from each race.
Qualification
For the 2008 season, there were 15 permanent riders who were joined at each Grand Prix by one wild card and two track reserves.
2007 Grand PrixThe top eight riders from the 2007 championship qualified as of right. These eight qualifiers were, in championship order:
|
Grand Prix ChallengeThe top eight riders from 2007 were joined by three riders who qualified via the Grand Prix Challenge. These riders were, in order by qualifying position:
NominationsThe final four riders were nominated by series promoters, Benfield Sports International, following the completion of the 2007 season.
|
2008 Riders
Cities
Calendar
The Final Classification
| Qualifies for next season's Grand Prix series |
| Full-time Grand Prix rider |
| Wild card, track reserve or qualified reserve |
| Pos. | Rider | Points | SVN  | EUR | SWE  | DEN | GBR  | CZE  | SCA | LAT  | POL | ITA  | GER  |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
(1) Nicki Pedersen |
174 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 20 | 11 | 22 | 14 | 18 | 21 | 6 | 13 |
 |
(3) Jason Crump |
152 | 10 | 8 | 12 | 18 | 22 | 17 | 12 | 19 | 9 | 18 | 7 |
 |
(4) Tomasz Gollob |
148 | 19 | 12 | 8 | 19 | 4 | 12 | 8 | 16 | 20 | 9 | 21 |
| 4 |  (6) Greg Hancock |
144 | 8 | 20 | 6 | 10 | 20 | 13 | 12 | 13 | 18 | 9 | 15 |
| 5 | (5) Hans N. Andersen |
139 | 14 | 6 | 8 | 11 | 9 | 16 | 20 | 7 | 10 | 21 | 17 |
| 6 | (2) Leigh Adams |
125 | 5 | 20 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 21 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 15 |
| 7 | (10) Andreas Jonsson |
100 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 6 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 12 |
| 8 | (7) Rune Holta |
80 | 5 | 4 | 17 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 7 |
| 9 | (8) Scott Nicholls |
77 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 8 | 7 |
| 10 | (15) Fredrik Lindgren |
73 | 7 | 7 | 22 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 9 |
| 11 | (11) Bjarne Pedersen |
69 | 4 | – | – | 7 | 14 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 17 | 3 |
| 12 | (12) Niels Kristian Iversen |
59 | 8 | 10 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 6 | ns |
| 13 | (9) Chris Harris |
58 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 9 | 5 | ns | 4 |
| 14 | (14) Krzysztof Kasprzak |
57 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 5 |
| 15 | (13) Lukáš Dryml |
47 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 8 |
| 16 | (16) Jarosław Hampel |
16 | – | 16 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 17 | (16) Kenneth Bjerre |
11 | – | – | – | 11 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 18 | (16) Wiesław Jaguś |
9 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 9 | – | – |
| 19 | (16) (19) Luboš Tomíček, Jr. |
8 | – | 3 | 5 | – | – | 0 | – | – | – | – | – |
| 20 | (16) Matej Žagar |
7 | 7 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 21 | (16) (17) Jonas Davidsson |
7 | – | – | 7 | – | – | – | ns | – | – | – | – |
| 22 | (16) Edward Kennett |
4 | – | – | – | – | 4 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 23 | (16) Peter Ljung |
3 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 3 | – | – | – | – |
| 24 |  (16) Grigory Laguta |
2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2 | – | – | – |
| 25 | (17) Mattia Carpanese |
2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2 | – |
| 26 | (18) Billy Forsberg |
2 | – | – | 2 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 27 | (17) Nicolai Klindt |
1 | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 28 | (17) (18) Krzysztof Buczkowski |
1 | – | ns | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – |
| 29 | (17) (18) Maciej Janowski |
1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ns | – | 1 |
| 30 | (16) Guglielmo Franchetti |
0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 0 | – |
| 31 | (16) Martin Smolinski |
0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 0 |
| 32 | (17) Sebastian Aldén |
0 | – | – | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 33 | (17) Maksims Bogdanovs |
0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 0 | – | – | – |
| 34 | (18) Alessandro Milanese |
0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 0 | – |
| 35 | (18) Grzegorz Zengota |
0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 0 |
| Rider(s) not classified | |||||||||||||
| (17) Izak Šantej |
— | ns | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| (17) Damian Baliński |
— | – | ns | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| (17) Tai Woffinden |
— | – | – | – | – | ns | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| (17) Adrian Rymel |
— | – | – | – | – | – | ns | – | – | – | – | – | |
| (18) Denis Štojs |
— | ns | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| (18) Patrick Hougaard |
— | – | – | – | ns | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| (18) Simon Stead |
— | – | – | – | – | ns | – | – | – | – | – | – | |
| (18) Filip Šitera |
— | – | – | – | – | – | ns | – | – | – | – | – | |
| (18) Thomas H. Jonasson |
— | – | – | – | – | – | – | ns | – | – | – | – | |
| (18) Kasts Poudzuks |
— | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ns | – | – | – | |
| Pos. | Rider | Points | SVN | EUR | SWE | DEN | GBR | CZE | SCA | LAT | POL | ITA | GER |
See also
| Speedway World Championship |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Speedway Grand Prix (SGP) | ||
| See also | ||
No brakes, no gears, no fear | ||
References
- Age in 2008.