{{Short description|3rd season of the Speedway Grand Prix}} {{Infobox SGP Season |Year =1997 |Name = |Image = |Dates =May 17 - September 20 |Events =6 |Cities =6 |Country=6 |per=17 |wc=1 |tr= |Heats =144 |P1f=USA |P1 =[[Greg Hancock]] |P2f=USA |P2 =[[Billy Hamill]] |P3f=POL |P3 =[[Tomasz Gollob]] }} The '''1997 Speedway Grand Prix''' was the 52nd edition of the official World Championship.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.speedwaygb.co.uk/worldfinalindex|title=WORLD INDIVIDUAL FINAL - RIDER INDEX|website=British Speedway|access-date=10 July 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.speedway.org/history/|title=HISTORY SPEEDWAY and LONGTRACK|website=Speedway.org|access-date=10 July 2021}}</ref> It was the third season in the [[Speedway Grand Prix]] era used to determine the [[Speedway World Championship|Speedway World Champion]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://wwosbackup.proboards.com/thread/6933/world-champions|title=Speedway riders, history and results|website=wwosbackup|access-date=10 July 2021}}</ref>
[[Greg Hancock]] from the United States became the World Champion with 118 points beating fellow American [[Billy Hamill]] into second place. The bronze medal went to Pole [[Tomasz Gollob]].<ref>{{cite news |title= Hoare, T. (1997) 'Relaxed Hancock lifts world crown'|work=The Times|date=22 September 1997|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/IF0502232917/GDCS?u=oxfshlib&sid=bookmark-GDCS&xid=97da3091| via = Gale Primary Sources|access-date=11 July 2021}}</ref>
== Event format == During 1997 the initial SGP scoring system was used for the final time. Each rider raced every other in the meeting with the top 4 qualifying for a final - the points for all other riders determined their finishing position in the meeting and therefore their championship Grand Prix points. The 4 finalists scored 25, 20, 18 and 16 points, with the remainder scoring 14, 13, 12, 11, 9, 8, 7, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1.
== Qualification for Grand Prix == {{main|1997 Speedway Grand Prix Qualification}} The 1997 season had 17 permanent riders and one wild card at each event. The permanent riders are highlighted in the results table below.
== Calendar == {{SGP Calendar|rounds= {{SGP Calendar/r|1997|CZE|1|May 17|[[Markéta Stadium]] |[[Prague]] |USA |[[Greg Hancock]] |USA |[[Billy Hamill]] |POL |[[Tomasz Gollob]] |POL |[[Slawomir Drabik]]}} {{SGP Calendar/r|1997|SWE|2|June 14|[[Motorstadium (Linköping)|Motorstadium]] |[[Linköping]] |POL |[[Tomasz Gollob]] |USA |[[Greg Hancock]] |SWE |[[Tony Rickardsson]]|DEN |[[Hans Nielsen (speedway rider)|Hans Nielsen]] }} {{SGP Calendar/r|1997|GER|3|July 5|[[Stadion Ellermühle]] |[[Landshut]] |DEN |[[Hans Nielsen (speedway rider)|Hans Nielsen]] |DEN |[[Brian Andersen]] |USA |[[Greg Hancock]]|USA |[[Billy Hamill]] }} {{SGP Calendar/r|1997|GBR|4|August 9|[[Odsal Stadium]] |[[Bradford]] |DEN |[[Brian Andersen]] |USA |[[Billy Hamill]] |SWE |[[Jimmy Nilsen]] |GBR |[[Mark Loram]]}} {{SGP Calendar/r|1997|POL|5|August 30|[[Olimpic Stadium (Wrocław)|Olympic Stadium]] |[[Wrocław]] |USA |[[Greg Hancock]] |USA |[[Billy Hamill]] |POL |[[Tomasz Gollob]]|POL |[[Piotr Protasiewicz]] }} {{SGP Calendar/r|1997|DEN|6|September 20|[[Vojens Speedway Center|Speedway Center]] |[[Vojens]] |GBR |[[Mark Loram]] |SWE |[[Tony Rickardsson]] |USA |[[Greg Hancock]]|POL |[[Tomasz Gollob]] }} }}
== Final standings == {{SGP Table|1997|CZE|SWE|GER|GBR|POL|DEN|RIDERS= {{SGP Table/r|Q|P1|USA|3|[[Greg Hancock]] |a|25|b|20|c|18|e|12|a|25|c|18}} {{SGP Table/r|Q|P2|USA|1|[[Billy Hamill]] |b|20|e|12|d|16|b|20|b|20|e|13}} {{SGP Table/r|Q|P3|POL|13|[[Tomasz Gollob]] |c|18|a|25|f|1|e|14|c|18|d|16}} {{SGP Table/r|Q|4 |SWE|4|[[Tony Rickardsson]] |e|11|c|18|e|14|e|13|e|14|b|20}} {{SGP Table/r|Q|5 |GBR|7|[[Mark Loram]] |f|7|e|13|f|8|d|16|e|12|a|25}} {{SGP Table/r|Q|6 |DEN|12|[[Brian Andersen]] |f|9|e|14|b|20|a|25|f|4|f|8}} {{SGP Table/r|Q|7 |DEN|2|[[Hans Nielsen (speedway rider)|Hans Nielsen]] |f|8|d|16|a|25|f|7|f|7|e|12}} {{SGP Table/r|Q|8 |SWE|11|[[Jimmy Nilsen]] |e|13|f|7|e|13|c|18|f|9|e|11}} {{SGP Table/r|P|9 |GBR|8|[[Chris Louis]] |e|12|f|4|e|12|f|4|e|13|e|14}} {{SGP Table/r|P|10|AUS|10|[[Leigh Adams]] |f|6|f|6|f|9|f|9|f|3|f|9}} {{SGP Table/r|P|11|POL|14|[[Sławomir Drabik]] |d|16|f|2|f|6|f|2|e|11|f|1}} {{SGP Table/r|P|12|SWE|6|[[Peter Karlsson (speedway rider)|Peter Karlsson]] |f|4|e|11|f|3|f|6|f|6|f|7}} {{SGP Table/r|P|13|POL|15|[[Piotr Protasiewicz]] |f|1|n||e|11|f|0|d|16|f|3}} {{SGP Table/r|P|14|GBR|18|[[Andy Smith (speedway rider)|Andy Smith]] |n||f|9|f|4|f|3|n||f|6}} {{SGP Table/r|P|15|SWE|5|[[Henrik Gustafsson]] |e|14|f|3|x||f|1|f|2|n|}} {{SGP Table/r|P|16|SWE|17|[[Mikael Max|Mikael Karlsson]] |n||f|1|n||e|11|n||f|2}} {{SGP Table/r|P|17|GBR|9|[[Simon Wigg]] |f|3|n||f|2|n||f|8|n|}} {{SGP Table/r|w|18|AUS|16|[[Jason Crump]] |x||f|8|x||x||x||x|}} {{SGP Table/r|w|19|GBR|16|[[Joe Screen]] |x||x||x||f|8|x||x|}} {{SGP Table/r|w|20|GER|16|[[Robert Barth (speedway rider)|Robert Barth]] |x||x||f|7|x||x||x|}} {{SGP Table/r|w|21|DEN|16|[[Jesper B. Monberg|Jesper B. Jensen]] |x||x||x||x||x||f|4}} {{SGP Table/r|w|22|CZE|16|[[Tomáš Topinka]] |f|2|x||x||x||x||x|}} {{SGP Table/r|w|23|POL|16|[[Rafał Dobrucki]] |x||x||x||x||f|1|x|}}|NC= {{SGP Table/r|r| |USA|19|[[Sam Ermolenko]] |x||x||n||x||x||x|}} }}
== See also == * [[motorcycle speedway]]
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070203093546/http://www.speedwayworld.tv/ Official Speedway GP site]
{{Speedway Grand Prix seasons}} {{1997 Speedway Grand Prix}}
[[Category:1997 Speedway Grand Prix| ]] [[Category:Speedway Grand Prix seasons|1997]] [[Category:1997 in speedway|World I]]