{{Short description|4th season of the Speedway Grand Prix}} {{Infobox SGP Season |Year =1998 |Name = |Image = |Dates =May 15 - September 18 |Events =6 |Cities =6 |Country=6 |per=21 |wc=3 |tr= |Heats =144 |P1f=SWE |P1 =[[Tony Rickardsson]] |P2f=SWE |P2 =[[Jimmy Nilsen]] |P3f=POL |P3 =[[Tomasz Gollob]] }} The '''1998 Speedway Grand Prix''' was the 53rd 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 fourth 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>
[[Tony Rickardsson]] won the World title, which included three wins from the six Grand Prix events. The Swede's win was his second World title success and he secured the gold medal comfortably ahead of nearest rivals [[Jimmy Nilsen]] and [[Tomasz Gollob]].<ref>{{cite news |title= Hoare, T. (1998) 'Hamill crashes out in Poland',|work=The Times|date=21 September 1998|url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/IF0501266861/GDCS?u=oxfshlib&sid=bookmark-GDCS&xid=be865b93| via = Gale Primary Sources|access-date=11 July 2021}}</ref>
== Event format ==
The system used was a new one for the 4th SGP season 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 and the last two going towards the consolation final. The 4 finalists scored 25, 20, 18 and 16 points, with 5th to 8th scoring 15, 14, 12 and 10 point, 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 == {{main|1998 Speedway Grand Prix Qualification}} The 1998 season had 21 permanent riders and 3 wild card at each event. The permanent riders are highlighted in the results table below.
== Calendar == {{SGP Calendar|rounds= {{SGP Calendar/r|1998|CZE|1|May 15|[[Markéta Stadium]] |[[Prague]] |SWE |[[Tony Rickardsson]] |USA |[[Billy Hamill]] |SWE |[[Jimmy Nilsen]] |POL |[[Tomasz Gollob]] }} {{SGP Calendar/r|1998|GER|2|June 6|[[Rottalstadion]] |[[Pocking]] |SWE |[[Tony Rickardsson]] |SWE |[[Jimmy Nilsen]] |USA |[[Billy Hamill]] |POL |[[Tomasz Gollob]] }} {{SGP Calendar/r|1998|DEN|3|June 19|[[Vojens Speedway Center|Speedway Center]] |[[Vojens]] |DEN |[[Hans Nielsen (speedway rider)|Hans Nielsen]] |GBR |[[Chris Louis]] |SWE |[[Tony Rickardsson]] |AUS |[[Jason Crump]] }} {{SGP Calendar/r|1998|GBR|4|August 7|[[Brandon Stadium]] |[[Coventry]] |AUS |[[Jason Crump]] |SWE |[[Jimmy Nilsen]] |POL |[[Tomasz Gollob]] |AUS |[[Ryan Sullivan]] }} {{SGP Calendar/r|1998|SWE|5|August 28|[[Motorstadium (Linköping)|Motorstadium]] |[[Linköping]] |SWE |[[Tony Rickardsson]] |GBR |[[Chris Louis]] |SWE |[[Peter Karlsson (speedway rider)|Peter Karlsson]] |USA |[[Greg Hancock]] }} {{SGP Calendar/r|1998|POL|6|September 18|[[Stadion Polonii Bydgoszcz|Polonia Stadium]] |[[Bydgoszcz]] |POL |[[Tomasz Gollob]] |AUS |[[Ryan Sullivan]] |SWE |[[Jimmy Nilsen]] |DEN |[[Hans Nielsen (speedway rider)|Hans Nielsen]] }} }}
== Final standings == {{SGP Table|1998|CZE|GER|DEN|GBR|SWE|POL|RIDERS= {{SGP Table/r|Q|P1|SWE|4|[[Tony Rickardsson]] |a|25|a|25|c|18|f|8|a|25|e|10}} {{SGP Table/r|Q|P2|SWE|8|[[Jimmy Nilsen]] |c|18|b|20|f|8|b|20|e|15|c|18}} {{SGP Table/r|Q|P3|POL|3|[[Tomasz Gollob]] |d|16|d|16|f|8|c|18|e|14|a|25}} {{SGP Table/r|Q|4 |DEN|7|[[Hans Nielsen (speedway rider)|Hans Nielsen]] |f|8|e|12|a|25|f|7|f|8|d|16}} {{SGP Table/r|Q|5 |GBR|18|[[Chris Louis]] |e|15|f|8|b|20|f|6|b|20|f|6}} {{SGP Table/r|Q|6 |USA|1|[[Greg Hancock]] |f|6|e|10|e|14|e|15|d|16|f|8}} {{SGP Table/r|Q|7 |AUS|9|[[Ryan Sullivan]] |e|12|f|7|f|3|d|16|e|10|b|20}} {{SGP Table/r|Q|8 |AUS|10|[[Jason Crump]] |f|3|f|3|d|16|a|25|f|7|f|8|pts=3}} {{SGP Table/r|P|9 |USA|2|[[Billy Hamill]] |b|20|c|18|f|6|e|12|f|5|f|1|pts=N}} {{SGP Table/r|P|10|GBR|5|[[Mark Loram]] |f|6|f|7|e|10|f|7|f|8|e|14}} {{SGP Table/r|P|11|AUS|15|[[Leigh Adams]] |e|10|f|6|f|4|f|4|e|12|e|15}} {{SGP Table/r|w|12|CZE|22) (23) (24|[[Antonín Kasper, Jr.]] |f|7|f|4|e|15|e|14|f|3|f|7}} {{SGP Table/r|P|13|SWE|14|[[Stefan Dannö]] |e|14|f|6|f|7|e|10|f|5|f|7}} {{SGP Table/r|P|14|GBR|17|[[Andy Smith (speedway rider)|Andy Smith]] |f|2|e|14|f|5|f|4|f|6|e|12}} {{SGP Table/r|P|15|SWE|19|[[Henrik Gustafsson]] |f|8|e|15|f|6|f|6|f|2|f|6}} {{SGP Table/r|P|16|DEN|6|[[Brian Andersen]] |f|5|x||f|7|f|8|f|7|f|4}} {{SGP Table/r|w|17|SWE|23) (25|[[Peter Karlsson (speedway rider)|Peter Karlsson]] |f|1|f|8|x||x||c|18|x|}} {{SGP Table/r|P|18|ITA|11|[[Armando Castagna]] |f|1|f|5|f|3|f|3|f|6|f|5}} {{SGP Table/r|P|19|HUN|12|[[Zoltan Adorjan]] |f|7|f|5|f|2|f|3|f|1|f|3}} {{SGP Table/r|P|20|AUS|16|[[Craig Boyce]] |f|3|f|4|f|1|f|1|f|4|f|5}} {{SGP Table/r|P|21|POL|13|[[Piotr Protasiewicz]] |f|2|f|1|f|5|f|2|f|3|f|3}} {{SGP Table/r|P|22|DEN|21|[[Jesper B. Monberg|Jesper B. Jensen]] |f|4|x||f|1|f|5|f|2|f|2}} {{SGP Table/r|w|23|DEN|22|[[Brian Karger]] |x||x||e|12|x||x||x|}} {{SGP Table/r|P|24|POL|20|[[Sebastian Ułamek]] |x||f|1|f|2|f|1|f|4|f|2}} {{SGP Table/r|w|25|GER|22) (24|[[Gerd Riss]] |f|4|f|2|x||x||x||x|}} {{SGP Table/r|w|26|CZE|23|[[Bohumil Brhel]] |f|5|x||x||x||x||x|}} {{SGP Table/r|w|26|GBR|23|[[Joe Screen]] |x||x||x||f|5|x||x|}} {{SGP Table/r|w|28|NOR|24|[[Lars Gunnestad]] |x||x||f|4|x||f|1|x|}} {{SGP Table/r|w|29|POL|24|[[Jacek Gollob]] |x||x||x||x||x||f|4}} {{SGP Table/r|w|30|POL|27|[[Jacek Krzyżaniak]] |x||f|3|x||x||x||x|}} {{SGP Table/r|w|31|GER|23|[[Robert Barth (speedway rider)|Robert Barth]] |x||f|2|x||x||x||x|}} {{SGP Table/r|w|32|GBR|24|[[Martin Dugard (speedway rider)|Martin Dugard]] |x||x||x||f|2|x||x|}} {{SGP Table/r|w|33|POL|23|[[Robert Dados]] |x||x||x||x||x||f|1}} }}
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070203093546/http://www.speedwayworld.tv/ Official Speedway GP site]
{{Speedway Grand Prix seasons}} {{1998 Speedway Grand Prix}}
[[Category:1998 Speedway Grand Prix| ]] [[Category:Speedway Grand Prix seasons|1998]] [[Category:1998 in speedway|World I]]